The Atlantic slave trade was abolished by the British parliament in 1807. This caused great problems for West African slave traders who had experienced a period strong growth in industry towards the end of the 19th century. the 18th century. They now had to focus on more legal and legitimate means of commerce. The types of industries that often replaced the slave trade were agricultural based products such as palm oil. Potential problems faced by traders were "exacerbated by the fact that this coincided with other problems in West Africa's foreign trade". This refers to the Anglo-French wars which made the demand for West African exports very unreliable. The rise of the palm oil industry, however, has softened the blow to West Africa. Before the 19th century, palm oil was mainly used in soap making or as a cooking oil, but due to the British Industrial Revolution, the demand for palm oil increased significantly, as it was needed as a lubricant for machines. The period of transition in 19th-century West Africa, between Britain's abolition of the slave trade and the move toward more legitimate trade, was controversially described by AG Hopkins as " adaptation crisis. He argues that West African states have struggled to make this change and the evidence of this can be seen in economic factors as well as the outbreak of the Yoruba wars. However, this view has been widely contested, as many other historians (such as Ann McDougall and Martin Lynn) believe that the transition period was smooth thanks to other, more legitimate forms of trade which took over the West African economy. Slavery itself still existed in Africa at this time and so, after abolition, large numbers of slaves were able to work in the fields, increasing paper production. first time. The key industry in West Africa has evolved from a heavily monopolized industry where very few people received profits to a much more competitive market with significantly higher numbers of working Africans. This hardly sounds like a crisis. As Lynn and McDougall argue, the increase in palm oil exports (caused in part by the increase in the number of slaves available to work in the country) more than offset the decline of the slave trade. Even though there was a palm oil price crisis in the second half of the century, this cannot be used as evidence of an "adaptation crisis", as Africa from the West had already adapted to its new legitimate economy. Ultimately, the period of transition from the slave trade to legitimate commerce went more smoothly than Hopkins claims: it was more evolutionary than revolutionary...