While the enslavement of people had been abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833, it continued to be a common practice among West African states where it formed an important part in maintaining social status. In Britain, abolitionists such as Thomas Fowell Buxton sought to end the enslavement of all people and agitated for expeditions to force other nations to end the practice.

In 1839, Buxton had established the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and for the Civilization of Africa in order to achieve this aim. The society had the support of Prince Albert and intended to create a ‘New Africa’, where Christianity and European ideas of commerce would replace Indigenous religions and customs. Despite claiming that it was acting in the interests of Africa by ending slavery, the Society was a colonial endeavour and sought to make a profit from exploiting the resources found across the continent.

This book, presented to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in August 1840, was published to extol the society’s aims and discusses the slave trade in West African nations with methods to encourage its abolition. The society sponsored a missionary expedition into Nigeria in 1841, with the backing of the British government, in an attempt to achieve their aims (see RCINs 1074173 & 1092690). The expedition did manage to sign some treaties with the Aboh and Igala kingdoms, but, without protection from the diseases found in West Africa, around 50 of the 150 Europeans died and 130 suffered from fever. Due to the high death toll, the mission was abandoned, and the remaining members returned to Britain in 1842.