Expansion of the Atlantic Slave Trade (1600s)

Timeline

1. 1601–1605Gulf of Guinea coast · West AfricaIn the early 1600s European merchants strengthened forts and trading posts on the Gold Coast, the Bight of Benin, and the Congo mouth, exchanging firearms and textiles for war captives and raided populations supplied by African rulers. Portugal still dominated, but Dutch and English influence penetrated rapidly.
2. 1606–1610Atlantic routes (Africa to Americas) · AtlanticIn the mid-to-late 1600s, slave voyages to Brazilian sugar plantations and Caribbean islands increased. Historians estimate that total transatlantic forced migration over the 17th century far exceeded the 16th century, with the 1600s as the starting point of this exponential growth; Middle Passage mortality remained high.
3. 1608–1610Atlantic triangular trade zone · AmericasBy around 1610, the triangular circulation of European manufactures–African people–American raw materials (sugar, tobacco, silver) had taken shape on a substantial scale. Slave trade profits drew in more European merchants and had a profound impact on West African political structures and social organization.