History of Slavery: Global Perspectives

Enslaved Africans

Individuals captured and forced into servitude, primarily from West, Central, and East Africa.

Portuguese

Acknowledged as the initiators of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Nino Tristao and Antonio Goncalves

Portuguese explorers who kidnapped twelve natives in West Africa in 1441, presenting them as gifts to Prince Henry the Navigator.

Domestic servants and artisans

Roles enslaved Africans were mainly used for in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Sugar plantations

Agricultural estates where enslaved Africans were utilized for cultivation, serving as a model for later practices in the Americas.

Principal areas of Africa

Regions from which enslaved Africans were primarily sourced: West Africa (55%), Central Africa (25%), and East Africa (20%).

Focal points of obtaining slaves

Successive areas where slaves were captured: Senegambia/Sierra Leone, Windward Coast, Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of Biafra, Congo/Angola, and Mozambique.

Slave importing countries

Top nations in the Americas importing slaves: Brazil (40%), Haiti (9%), Jamaica (8%), Cuba (7%), and the United States (4%).

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

The period when many African slaves were forcibly brought to the Americas as part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.