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Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Origins of Slaves
Details of where slaves were taken from Africa and how many.

Slaves for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were initially sourced in Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Around 1650 the trade moved to west-central Africa (the Kingdom of the Kongo and neighbouring Angola). For more details on this, read How Many Slaves Were Taken From Africa?

Map showing where slaves were sourced in Africa for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.




Table giving the numbers of slaves exported from various regions in Africa.

Trans-Atlantic Slave exports, 1650-1900
Region 1650
to
1700		 1700
to
1750		 1750
to
1800		 1800
to
1850		 1850
to
1900		 Total
Sene-
gambia		 51,100 109,800 205,100 113,900 - 479,900
Upper
Guinea		 4,100 20,000 210,900 160,100 16,100 411,200
Wind-
 ward
Coast		 800 18,500 124,700 38,600 600 183,200
Gold
Coast		 85,800 374,100 507,100 68,600 - 1,035,600
Bight
  of
Benin		 246,800 708,200 515,000 520,300 25,900 2,016,200
Bight
  of
Biafra		 108,900 205,200 695,900 446,400 7,300 1,463,700
West
Central		 ? 806,400 1,525,400 1,458,200 155,000 3,945,000
South
East		 ? 19,400 44,000 380,700 26,800 470,900
Total 497,500 2,261,600 3,828,100 3,186,800 231,700 10,005,700
Source: Transformations in Slavery by Paul E. Lovejoy
Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-78430-1
Derived from tables: 4.1, 3.4, and 7.4



More of this article
How Many Slaves Were Taken From Africa?

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Expanding European empires in the New World lacked one major resource -- a work force. The result was the infamous triangular trade and the horrors experienced by Africans on the middle passage.
The Role of Islam in African Slavery
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