The Coastal Origins of Slaves Leaving West Central Africa, c.1780–1867

The transatlantic slave trade connected Africa to the Americas through links that stretched beyond the regional level. The supply of slaves on the African coast was organized independently in various ports. Each port had its own connections to the interior, supported by several slaving paths that brought millions of enslaved individuals for sale into the Atlantic. West Central Africa comprised a number of these ports. Together they shipped a large share of all slaves that sailed across the ocean, but their regional participation has been difficult to estimate. However, Voyages: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database offers an opportunity to address such a challenge by providing data on the coastal origins of slaves leaving West Central Africa from the late eighteenth century until the end of the transatlantic slave trade.