When did the buying and selling of slaves become prohibited in the British Empire?

Discover Canada records this in one direct sentence. The guide writes: In 1807, the British Parliament prohibited the buying and selling of slaves, and in 1833 abolished slavery throughout the Empire. The year the test wants is therefore 1807.

Two distinct dates for two distinct steps. Discover Canada commits the British abolition process to TWO specific years that mark TWO specific legal steps. 1807 is the year the British Parliament prohibited the buying and selling of slaves — meaning the trade itself was outlawed. 1833 is the year the British Parliament abolished slavery throughout the Empire — meaning the institution itself was ended. So the trade was prohibited 26 years before slavery itself was abolished — making 1807 the trade-prohibition year and 1833 the institution-abolition year.

Canada's role came earlier. Discover Canada commits the very first colonial step within the British Empire to 1793: "In 1793, Upper Canada, led by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, a Loyalist military officer, became the first province in the Empire to move toward abolition." So the chronological sequence is: 1793 (Upper Canada — first move toward abolition); 1807 (British Parliament — slave trade prohibited); 1833 (British Empire — slavery itself abolished). Canada was thus ahead of the British Parliament by 14 years on this human-rights step — making the 1793 Simcoe-led measure a Canadian moral milestone.

The Underground Railroad linked Canada to American freedom-seekers. Discover Canada writes that "thousands of slaves escaped from the United States, followed 'the North Star' and settled in Canada via the Underground Railroad, a Christian anti-slavery network." So the British-Empire abolition timeline made Canada a destination for freedom-seekers from the U.S. South — where slavery remained legal until 1863. The guide also names Mary Ann Shadd Cary as "an outspoken activist in the movement to abolish slavery in the U.S.A." who in 1853 became the first woman publisher in Canada. So when the test asks the year the buying and selling of slaves became prohibited, the source-precise answer is 1807 — the British Parliament's first major abolition step.

The question is testing whether new citizens know the year the slave trade was prohibited in the British Empire. Discover Canada commits to one year: 1807. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each pick a different year. "1793" is the year Upper Canada moved toward abolition first — not the year the British Parliament prohibited the slave trade. "1833" is the year slavery itself was abolished throughout the British Empire — not the year the trade was prohibited. The fourth answer year is not named in the source for any British-Empire abolition step. Only 1807 — the source's exact named year for the trade prohibition — matches.