ABSTRACT
The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced movement of peoples in history, and up to the end of the period covered here it was the largest inter-continental movement of people of any status, free or coerced, ever to have taken place. Despite the regional importance of gold and ivory, the traffic dominated relations between Europe and Africa for three centuries, and of course, provided a vital source of labour for the Americas at a time when most commerce in the Atlantic was dependent in one way or another on plantations. The slave-trade era also immediately pre-dated the era of colonial partition and occupation, and for many scholars the former – a traffic of such unprecedented scale – led naturally to the latter. Europeans first dominated Africa through the slave trade and then, when the slave trade was no longer possible, a direct imperialism was instituted that seamlessly continued the European ability to shape the fortunes of the subcontinent.
