“Many Americans…mistakenly believe that most slaves were captured by Europeans who landed on the African coast and captured or ambushed people. The majority of people who were transported to the America’s were enslaved by other Africans.”-digitalhistory.uh.edu.
“Europeans did not need to use any force to get those slaves. The slaves were sold…by their black owners. Scholars estimate about 12 million Africans were sold by Africans to Europeans ( most before 1776, the birth of America); and 17 million were sold to Arabs.”…”The Portuguese were first to use African slaves on their sugar plantations in their African colonies.”…The Dutch were first to import black slaves into North America,”but black slaves had already been employed all over the world, including South and Central America.”-scaruffi.com.
“West African rulers were instrumental in the slave trade. They exchanged their prisoners of war (rarely their own people) for firearms manufactured in…Britain. With their…weapons, Kings and Chiefs were able to expand their territories. The slave trade had a profound effect on the economy and politics of West Africa…”-nationalarchives.gov.uk.
“European slaving ships waited at coastal ports to pick up their cargoes of slaves….the captured Africans were held in “slave castles” along the coast. They remained their for months” until leaving on board European merchant ships. These ships carried the Africans to the West Indies (the islands of the Carribean)….”Many died on the march to the coast, in the cellars of slave castles and on the ships.”-nationalarchives.gov.uk.
“African captives typically suffered death rates of 20% or more while being marched” to the shore…another 10% died while waiting for slave ships along the coast….”The captives who survived…were then examined by European slave traders…those who were bought, were branded with hot irons, assigned numbers and forced aboard ships; the others were simply abandoned.”-digitalhistory.uh.edu.
“The Middle Passage”, which brought the slaves from West Africa to the West Indies, might take 3 weeks. Unfavorable weather conditions could make the trip much longer…the bodies of the dead were simply thrust overboard…those that could not be sold were left for dead.”-ushistory.org.
“For two hundred years, 1440-1640, Portugal had a monopoly on the export of slaves from Africa.”-thoughtco.com. 7/26/19. Portugal and Spain were under the same monarch until 1640, and were the pioneers of the transatlantic slave trade.-slaveryandremembrance.org. “Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4.5 million Africans (roughly 40% of the total, during the 4 1/2 centuries of the trans-atlantic slave trade.”-thoughtco.com. 7/26/19.
“During the 18th century…Britain was the worst transgressor, responsible for almost 2.5 million.”-thoughtco.com. 7/26/19.
“From 1526-1867, the Portuguese loaded almost 6 million Africans for Brazil.”-slaveryandremembrance.org.
“The arrival of the first captives to the Jamestown Colony (Virginia), in 1619, is often seen as the beginning of slavery in America, but enslaved Africans arrived in North America as early as the 1500’s.”-history.com. 8/14/19.
“Between 1525 and 1866, in the entire history of the slave trade to the New World, according to the trans-atlantic slave trade database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America. And how many of these 10.7 million Africans were shipped directly to North America? Only about 388,000. That’s right: a tiny percentage.” -pbs.org via The Root/ Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Conclusion: The trade in African slaves would not have existed without the enabling by the Africans themselves. The Kings, leaders, warlords, who’s most valuable, tradable commodity, was the human being. The perception that we, as Americans, have of ourselves, being one of the worst guilty party’s, when it comes to enslaving Africans, during that period of time, is proven wrong. / Done
