1775: The American Revolutionary War began, leading to a steep decline in the transatlantic slave trade as naval squadrons and privateers targeted merchant s…

1775: The American Revolutionary War began, leading to a steep decline in the transatlantic slave trade as naval squadrons and privateers targeted merchant shipping. Between 1777 and 1782, Dutch, American, and French participation in the traffic virtually ended due to the extreme risk of capture at sea. Interestingly, the trade to Brazil remained largely unaffected by the conflict, highlighting its relative isolation from the northern Atlantic political struggles. The end of the war in 1783 brought a rapid resurgence in the volume of captives carried across the ocean to supply the newly independent United States and remaining colonies.