slave-trades

Definition

Noun (plural, often used with a singular verb): - The business of capturing, transporting, and selling human beings as property: "slave-trades" refers specifically to the historical commerce in enslaved people, particularly the transatlantic trade of Africans to the Americas from the 15th to the 19th century. This term is almost always used in a historical or critical context.

Usage Examples
  • (The historical commerce in enslaved people.)
  • (The business of selling human beings.)
  • (The end of the legal commerce in enslaved people.)
Advanced Usage

  • "Triangular slave-trades": a specific historical pattern where ships carried goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved people from Africa to the Americas, and raw materials back to Europe.

    • The triangular slave-trades enriched port cities like Liverpool and Bristol. (The three-legged route of the slave trade.)

  • "Internal slave-trades": the commerce in enslaved people within a country, such as the domestic slave trade in the United States after the international trade was banned.

    • The internal slave-trades continued to fuel plantation economies in the American South. (Domestic commerce in enslaved people.)
Variants and Related Words

  • Slave trade (n, singular): the same concept, often used interchangeably with the plural form.

    • The slave trade was outlawed in Britain in 1807. (The singular form of the commerce.)

  • Slave trader (n): a person who engages in the slave trade.

    • The slave trader profited from the misery of others. (A person who buys and sells enslaved people.)

  • Slave-trading (adj or n): relating to or engaging in the slave trade.

    • Slave-trading nations faced international pressure to abolish the practice. (Countries involved in the commerce.)
Synonyms

  • Human trafficking: the illegal trade of human beings for forced labor or exploitation (modern context).

    • Modern human trafficking is often compared to the historical slave-trades. (Contemporary equivalent.)

  • Enslavement: the act of making someone a slave.

    • The slave-trades were a system of organized enslavement. (The process of enslaving people.)
Related Idioms
  • "The slave-trades of history": a phrase used to refer broadly to all historical systems of buying and selling people.
    • The slave-trades of history are a dark chapter in human civilization. (All such historical practices.)