Carl Bernhard Wadström

Born in Stockholm in 1746 and dead in Versailles in 1799, Carl Bernhard Wadström was a Swedish assessor, writer, draftsman, painter, and political economist who is remembered above all for his anti-slavery work. Although Swedish by birth, he became closely involved with the British abolition movement and wrote in a way that reached readers far beyond Sweden.

Wadström is especially associated with plans for colonies in West Africa that he believed could support legitimate commerce and agriculture as alternatives to the slave trade. His best-known work, An Essay on Colonization, appeared in 1794–1795 and set out those ideas in detail. Modern accounts also describe him as a central figure in abolitionist circles connected to Sierra Leone and the wider campaign against the African slave trade.

He was a many-sided Enlightenment figure: practical, idealistic, and deeply engaged with the political questions of his time. Today he is chiefly remembered for bringing together economics, humanitarian reform, and abolitionist activism in a distinctive and ambitious body of writing.