Abolition of slavery

Slavery has been present in almost all civilisations around the globe at some point. The British Parliament introduced the first moves for abolition of the slave trade between Africa and the Americas at the end of the 18^th century. Upper Canada was the first province in the British Empire to begin abolition moves, under the guidance of Lt Governor John Graves Simcoe. Buying and selling slaves was banned by the British Parliament in 1807, and slavery was banned everywhere in the British Empire in 1833.

Many thousands of slaves in the United States who managed to escape would follow the North Star, often assisted by the Christian antislavery organisation the Underground Railroad, and find their way to Canada, where they would settle.