Explore the tangled web of the Transatlantic Slave Trade as we uncover the unsettling question: "Why did Africans sell Africans?"

As European powers entered Africa, they exploited existing divisions among African states. Contrary to popular belief, only a fraction of African elites engaged in enslaving and selling their own people, driven by economic gain and a need for protection against European encroachment. Some African kingdoms traded slaves for European weapons, seeing them as essential for defense.

Though African societies had their own systems of enslavement tied to crime, debt, or war, the unprecedented scale of the transatlantic slave trade was fueled by European demand for enslaved labor in plantation economies. This demand, combined with existing African slave networks, led to an increase in capturing and selling Africans. #history #slavery #africa #transatlantic #slavetrade

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