Why did David Livingstone believe commerce could help weaken the slave trade?

David Livingstone believed that the introduction of legitimate commerce into the African interior would serve as a powerful tool to weaken and ultimately destroy the slave trade at its roots.12

He viewed "Christianity, commerce, and civilization" as a trinity destined to open up the continent. By establishing routes for legal trade, Livingstone intended to provide economic alternatives that would undercut the profitability and necessity of the slave trade. His efforts were driven by a moral commitment to expose the horrors of enslavement and to replace it with a system of commerce that he believed would foster development and stability.132