But most Africans boarded slave ships in six distinct regions of the African coast: Upper Guinea, the Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of Biafra, West-Central Africa, and southeastern Africa. read more
Europeans rarely captured the slaves themselves. The principal slave traders were Poruguese, later replaced by the French. On the east coast of Africa, Arabic slave traders raided the interior of the continent, marched the slaves to the ports of today Kenya and Tansania, and sold them to anybody who was ready to pay for them. read more
When the Arab slave trade and Atlantic slave trade began, many of the local slave systems began supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa. Slavery in historical Africa was practiced in many different forms: Debt slavery, enslavement of war captives, military slavery, and criminal slavery were all practiced in various parts of Africa. read more