The Atlantic slave trade
The forced transport of millions of Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, the largest forced migration in recorded history, and a system that reshaped Africa, Europe and the Americas.
- Period
- c. 1500 – 1866 (legal trade ended in stages from 1807)
- Scale
- About 12.5 million people embarked, about 10.7 million arrived, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
- Regions
- West and West-Central Africa, Southeast Africa, the Americas, Europe
- Related systems
- Trans-Saharan, Red Sea and Indian Ocean slave trades
Key takeaways
- Scale: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database records roughly 12.5 million embarkations and 10.7 million arrivals.
- Carriers: Portuguese and Brazilian traders carried the largest share, followed by British, French, Spanish, Dutch and American ships.
- In Africa: some states took part in the trade, some resisted, and many regions suffered depopulation and violence; the effects differed by place and period.
- Resistance: shipboard revolts, maroon communities and the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804 are central to the history.
- Ending: Britain abolished its trade in 1807, and enforcement of the bans took decades.
A system, not an event
The trade supplied labour for plantations producing sugar, tobacco, cotton and coffee, and its profits financed European ports and industries. Enslaved Africans came from many societies and carried languages, crafts and religious traditions that shaped the Americas.
African experiences
The trade did not affect all regions in the same way. Some coastal states grew rich as intermediaries; others were raided; the Kongo court protested in writing in the 16th century. GHA Volumes V and VI examine these differences and the later abolition.
Memory and research
Descendants, historians and museums are working to document the trade through archives, ship records and oral tradition. The Slave Voyages database and the new GHA volume on diasporas are important tools.
References
- UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. V, ch. 4 “Africa in world history: the export slave trade from Africa and the emergence of the Atlantic economic order” [Tier 1]
- UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. V, ch. 5 “The African diaspora in the Old and New Worlds” [Tier 1]
- UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VI, ch. 4 “The abolition of the slave trade” [Tier 1]
- UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VI, ch. 28 “The African diaspora” [Tier 1]
- Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database