Nantes was the capital of the slave trade in France: it organised 43% of the French slave trade shipments and its ships deported around 450,000 black captives to the American colonies.
During the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in 1998, Nantes City Council adopted the principle of building a monument on the Quai de la Fosse. The City wanted to assume its past and give shape to the memory via a powerful political gesture.
Located on the Quai de la Fosse, a symbolic place in the city that has seen many slave ships to Africa, the Memorial commemorating the abolition of slavery will open to the public in March 2012.