What made West Africa the primary source of slaves that came to the Western Hemisphere?

Question

What factors combined?

Answer 1

Geography explains most of it. The earliest European explorers ventured south along the African coast, Quickly they learned that Brazil was a short sail away from Africa, and the wind patterns favored a voyage south by west to reach the new wold.

Answer 2

Closest part of Africa to Western hemisphere - counted for a lot, as many slaves died enroute; the shorter the route, the more slaves survived.  Also, Western Africa the most densely populated part of Africa.

Answer 3

Geographical  position, closest to the Americas

Answer 4

Mostly for three reasons. Geography, politics, and quality of slaves. Geography is obvious. Local African politics at the time were tribal. Rarely did actual slave hunts(like the one in roots) happen. Tribes, warring with each other over land, cattle, and tribal rivalry, would capture and sell/trade rival tribesmen. As much could be bought from these tribes with very little expense (they thought glass beads were very nifty), it was consequently far easier to let someone else do the capturing. The third answer has to do primarily with the Africans resistances to diseases like smallpox. In comparison to Native Americans, who were said to have  made poor slaves.

Answer 5

West Africa is closer to the Atlantic which makes it accessible for trade.

The black Africans who captured other black Africans and sold them to the Portugeese (and to the Arabs) had easy access to rivers and ports to the Atlantic along a very long West African coast line.

Answer 6

A combination of factors:

1. It was relatively close to both Europe and the Americas (especially Brazil, the main destination for slaves since the 1500s)

2. Local rulers had long-established contact with European traders and could easily provide them with slaves in exchange for goods.

3. That's where all the black people lived.

Hope that helps!

Answer 7

When you are a slave trader, you enslave people...capture them and put them in chains and take them away to be sold for profit. That's the business.

So the way to do that, the way it was done, was to go to a village that had very little armed resistance, shoot those who resist and capture, enslave, the rest.

The best place to do that was West Africa. They had little villages, they had bows and arrows and spears, which are useless against shotguns.

As trading got bigger, and the trader could afford a larger staff, they looked for a bigger population, but that required a different strategy.

In a bigger place, the slave trader would pay off the tribal chieftains. Those guys in power would arrange to have their enemies enslaved to the traders.

So they got rid of their political adversaries and made money at the same time. Then they took them in ships across the Atlantic or even up to North Africa and sold them.

The Africans were regarded as savages and they looked different.  Race was a factor, but mostly it was armed theft and political hatred that caused it.

Answer 8

West Africa, closest part to the destination : The Americas

Most densely populated part of Africa with endemic warfare due to population pressures.

Well known to Europeans since times of the Portuguese explorations