1808-1838: The slave traffic from the port of Bonny declined dramatically following the official British abolition of the trade in 1807.

1808-1838: The slave traffic from the port of Bonny declined dramatically following the official British abolition of the trade in 1807. Because the port was geographically susceptible to naval blockades, local elites were forced to adapt to the changing international political landscape. Many traders in Bonny shifted their economic focus toward the export of palm oil, which provided a viable and increasing alternative source of income. During this transitional period, Spanish and French traders replaced the previously dominant British and served a much wider range of destinations across the nineteenth-century Americas.