What is emancipation

The colonies in the Caribbean were important suppliers of tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee. However as the Europeans were unwilling to work in distant and unfamiliar lands, it led to a shortage of labor in plantations. This shortage was met by triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa and America. 
2. The slave trade began in the 17th century when French merchants sailed to the African coasts, where they bought slaves from the local chieftains. These slaves were then branded, shackled and then packed tightly into ships for a 3 month long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. 
3. There they were sold to the plantation workers who used them to meet the growing demands in European markets for sugar, coffee and indigo. 
4. Slavery was abolished in France by the Constitution of 1791 but it was not extended to all French subjects including those in the colonies. 
5. It was during the Jacobins reign that the Convention abolished slavery in the French colonies in 1794. Napoleon re introduced slavery in France. Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.