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The European slavers were
unable to capture the Africans
themselves, having no desire to
venture inland. Europeans rarely
entered Africa’s interior, due to fear
of disease and fierce African
resistance. They could not afford to
make enemies of their suppliers, so
they confined themselves to visiting
marketplaces, examining prospective
slaves and shipping them out.
Most of the slaves were adult
males, as Africans tended to retain
their females, in that they were
useful for domestic and agricultural
work and childbearing, while
children were not economical, the
cost of shipping them being the
same as for an adult, while the
prices that could be commanded for
them were substantially less.
The Atlantic crossing took 25 to
60 days, depending on the wind and
where the boat was headed, and
about 16 percent of slaves died in
transit. The trade in slaves peaked in
the late 18th century, when the
largest number of slaves were
captured on raiding expeditions into
the interior of West Africa. These
forays were typically made by
coastal African states against weaker
African tribes and peoples. These
mass slavers included the Oyo
empire (Yoruba), the Kong empire,
the kingdoms of Benin, Dahomey,
Fouta Djallon, Fouta Tooro, Koya,
Khasso, Kaabu, and the Fante and
Ashanti confederacies.
During the 1790s, the
Abolitionist movement gathered
strength in England and later in
America, with calls for the ending
of slavery and the repatriation of
slaves to Africa.
The Parliamentary campaign
against the slave trade was led by
William Wilberforce, who expressed
his feelings with clarity and
forcefulness: “Never, never will we
desist, until we have wiped away
this scandal from the Christian name,
released ourselves from the load of
guilt, under which we at present
labor, and extinguished every trace
of this bloody traffic, of which our
posterity, looking back to the history
of these enlightened times, will
scarce believe that it has been
suffered to exist so long a disgrace
and dishonor to this country.”
The British abolished the
transatlantic slave trade in 1807,
although it remained legal to own a
slave. To some West African states,
West Africa
LEFT:
William Wilberforce (1759-1833).
Engraved by E. Scriven.
OPPOSITE:
Although founded by freed
American and Caribbean slaves, Liberia
is mostly inhabited by indigenous
Africans, with slaves’ descendants
comprising 4 percent of the population.
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