Atlantic Slave Trade 19analyzed ex-slave memoir is Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting
Narrative. In many ways, his life opens an instructive win-
dow into the internal workings of the slave trade as well
as the critiques and fears of European traders as voiced
by enslaved Africans. Despite recent commentary to the
contrary, Equiano’s account includes verifi able informa-
tion and perhaps epitomizes an “authentic” Igbo account
of enslavement and the Middle Passage. Kidnapped in 1756
from the Igbo village of Essaka—a minor eastern tributary
of the Kingdom of Benin—Equiano was held as a slave by
various African merchants for six months before fi nally ar-
riving at the coast of Calabar. He apparently embarked on
a ship in the Bight of Biafra with other Igbo-speakers, for
it was among some of his own language cohort that young
Equiano found some degree of comfort.
Th e brutality of the European crew and the intolerable
conditions on this ship confi rmed Equiano’s belief that he
had indeed been handed over to evil spirits and demons
who intended to eat his fl esh. Th is apparently was a ubiq-
uitous belief among captives from the Bight of Biafra who
witnessed the various horrors and inhumane abuses made
famous by the European traffi ckers of enslaved Africans. It
was in this horrid context that two of his countrymen com-
mitted suicide by jumping into the ocean. Equiano himself
noted an intense interest in following the path of his com-
rades. At least according to this particular account, the al-
leged Igbo propensity for suicide was directly related to the
savage treatment they received at the hands of European
shippers. In this particular regard, then, enslaved Africans
voiced their collective opposition to abuse at the hands of
Europeans through the most drastic means. Th is perhaps
solidifi es the point that Africans perceived qualitative dif-
ferences in their status as slaves once they were handed over
to Europeans.
Slavery, in its variety of forms, was widespread in At-
lantic Africa primarily because enslaved Africans were
the principal form of private, income-producing property
throughout the region. In an area with an overabundance of
land, gaining access to—and control over—additional labor
became a primary motivator for Atlantic African kingdoms
and city-states. In this regard, the concept of private land
ownership never fully developed in Atlantic Africa and,
when kingdoms or city-states expanded militarily, the goal
was typically to gain control over more people by captur-
ing smaller polities or villages and forcing them to pay
tribute. In sum, the Atlantic African ruling classes keenlyIberia, Portuguese navigators encountered a series of king-
doms and smaller polities in West and West-Central Africa.
Th is contact with Atlantic Africans, beginning in the period
aft er 1444, culminated in the erection of Elmina Castle by
the Portuguese on the aptly named Gold Coast. Given the
names the Portuguese chose for their castle and for the re-
gion they established it in, it should be no surprise that gold
and gold-mining became the central elements of commer-
cial activity for the fi rst century aft er contact. Even before
this historical moment, a number of economic and political
forces converged to explain the eventual rise of the Atlantic
slave trade. First, the Portuguese and the Spanish colonized
a number of Atlantic islands, beginning in the 14th century.
Second, sugar and sugar-cultivation techniques were rap-
idly spreading eastward from West Asia and Arabia. Th ird,
since at least the 12th century ce, the trade in enslaved West
African women to serve primarily as domestic servants in
North Africa and Arabia produced a lucrative stream of
commerce. It was this convergence of Iberian colonization
from the north, Asian sugar from the east, and African slav-
ery from the south that allowed for the enormous trade in
enslaved Africans and their transportation across the At-
lantic for more than three centuries.
It is important to note, however, that though slavery
existed in Africa before European contact, it could oft en be
quite diff erent from chattel bondage in the Americas. While
it is always diffi cult to evaluate whether a system of slavery
was “benign” or “mild,” quite a few qualitative diff erences
are evident: slaves in Atlantic Africa were oft en manumitted;
slavery did not transcend generation, it was not an inherit-
able status and, thus, race or nativity were never employed as
signifi ers of caste; slaves could, at times, achieve high social
rank, status, and wealth; and the relationships between slaves
and their African owners were not always mediated by the
use or threat of force. With this said, it is also quite true that
a continuum of slave experiences existed in Atlantic Africa
from brutal chattel slavery to relatively milder forms of cli-
entage and debt servitude. Perhaps the most important dif-
ference between African and European/American variants
of slavery was that women were the most signifi cant group
of enslaved Africans in Atlantic Africa and, in the Atlantic
slave trade, men were strongly preferred by European slave
buyers.
Qualitative diff erences between African and European/
American variants of slavery were given voice in a number
of ex-slave narratives. Perhaps the most written about and