states, such as Benin, Dahomey, and
Oyo, that collected slaves from the inte-
rior and traded them for European goods
at the coast.
At first, most slaves came from
Senegambia—modern Senegal and
Gambia—where the major ethnic groups
included the Wolof, Fulani, Tukulor,
Serer, and Mandingo. Gradually, the area
for enslaving Africans expanded south and
east along the coast to the Bight of Biafra,
which extends from modern Nigeria to
modern Gabon; enslaved peoples from
this region included the Yoruba, Ibo, and
Fang. In the 17th century, Angola’s
Orimbunda, Mbanda, and Kongo peoples
became a major source of slaves.
Once enslaved, Africans were
grouped with other African captives who
spoke different languages and came from
far-off societies—an intentional strategy
on the part of traders to prevent commu-
nication that might foster mass revolt.
This strategy had long-term conse-
quences as well, making it difficult for
slaves to preserve for their descendants
the memory of their original homes.
Even so, enslaved Africans found ways of
saving some traces of their religious,
culinary, and musical heritage.
Great Britain outlawed the slave
trade within its empire in 1807, but that
did not end slavery in Hispanic America.
There slavery did not begin to be abol-
ished until the 1820s, when Chile and
Mexico, which had newly won independ-
ence from Spain, outlawed the institution
of slavery. In other parts of Hispanic
America, slavery persisted until late into
the 19th century, with Cuba the lastTHE ROOTS OF A PEOPLE 17The African Slave Trade
Between 1505 and 1870, millions of Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas as slaves. It is estimated that approximately
one in six enslaved Africans died en route to their destinations. All told, almost 9.5 million Africans made the journey, with roughly
1.5 million destined for Spain’s American colonies.