Nantes slave trade

The Nantes slave trade resulted in the deportation, from the late 17th to the beginning of the 19th century, of more than 500,000 black African slaves into French ownership in the Americas, mainly in the Antilles. With 1,744 slave voyages, Nantes, France, was the principal French slave-trading port for the duration of this period. The slave trade was explicitly encouraged by the royal family and described by the church as an "ordinary occupation."^[1]

The town was the last centre for slave trade in France, until the abolishment of the practice in 1831, with the prohibition of the slave trade.^[2]