1670-1802: Le Havre distinguished itself as the first significant slave-trading port in France and remained active in the traffic until near its final years.

1670-1802: Le Havre distinguished itself as the first significant slave-trading port in France and remained active in the traffic until near its final years. Remarkably, nearly 40 percent of the port’s total historical traffic occurred during a narrow window between 1784 and 1792. During the eighteenth century, Le Havre merchants developed exceptionally strong ties with the port of Malembo on the northern West Central African coast. As a result of these connections, over half of the captives transported by Le Havre vessels were sold into the plantation economy of Saint-Domingue.