1500 to 1860s
Money Drives the Slave Trade
“There exists a firm bond of sympathy between us and the Negro people of the Americas. The ancestors of so many of them come from this country.”
First president of Ghana, 1957
Marched to the coast in shackles and forced aboard ships that were little more than floating coffins, millions of Africans were caught in a transatlantic trade that lasted nearly 400 years. How did this tragedy occur?
Soon after Europeans began colonizing the Americas, they turned to enslaved labor to work their plantations and mines. European slave traders negotiated with African elites to procure captives. Most were taken as prisoners in African wars, others were captured by European-led expeditions. From the moment of captivity, millions of Africans fought for freedom.
History Matters
The transatlantic slave trade drained Africa’s population and produced unprecedented wealth in the Americas, transforming American economies.