The Slavers : 227 



slave traffic. These were the prosperous and respectable British mer- 

 chants and operators and later those of the New England coast and 

 other American ports. They were the power behind the slave trade 

 and to them went the lion's share of its profits. Later, when the 

 human and economic costs of the system became apparent and when 

 it became unpopular, their descendants were leaders in the movement 

 for reform. The whirligig of time brings in its changes. 



The term "slave coast" was very generally and very loosely used. 

 It meant different places at different times. In a general sense it ex- 

 tended all the way from the port of Dakar in Senegal to Cape St. 

 Martha in Angola or Portuguese East Africa in the south. 



Beginning in the fourteenth century with the arrival of the Portu- 

 guese trading vessels, slave ships from various nationalities carried 

 on the trade for a period of approximately 400 years. The first slave 

 shipments were secured from the northern ports of this vast coast- 

 line. As the supply of slaves that could be easily secured in one part 

 of the coast became exhausted, newer ports and stations were estab- 

 lished farther south and so, over a period of time, the trade moved 

 southward around the bulge of Africa and into the Bight of Benin 

 and later to the Congo region and to Angola. 



This did not mean, however, that the older stations were aban- 

 doned. Even after they had passed the peak of their volume of trade 

 they were still used as collecting centers, as places of internment and 

 storage of the slave captives and as trading centers. 



Native traders from tribes along the coast picked up the tricks of 

 the trade and in turn became traders, securing their captives from 

 tribes farther in the interior. Thus, with the passage of time, raiding 

 and trading parties penetrated farther and farther into the hinter- 

 land of Africa. These native expeditions were equipped, armed and 

 trained by white traders. 



A good deal has been written about slave ships and it is sometimes 

 supposed that this referred to a particular type of vessel. This, how- 

 ever, was not the case as must be apparent even from the foregoing 

 condensed and abbreviated account of the slave traffic. 



The first slave ships were the vessels of exploration that Henry 

 the Navigator sent to the West African coast. Later Portuguese com- 

 mercial vessels of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries carried some 

 slaves to Europe but they were not vessels especially designed for 

 the slave trade. Along with some slaves, they carried back to Europe 



