1817–1845: British-led efforts to suppress the international slave trade led to the creation of Courts of Mixed Commission at various Atlantic locations.

1817–1845: British-led efforts to suppress the international slave trade led to the creation of Courts of Mixed Commission at various Atlantic locations. These courts adjudicated the cases of vessels suspected of illegal slaving that had been detained by naval patrols in international waters. Captives on board ships condemned by the courts were liberated, and detailed registers were compiled including their names, ages, heights, and physical markings. The registers established at Freetown, Sierra Leone, are particularly significant, providing the largest surviving database on the identities of Africans forced into the trade.