• The impact of slavery
• Africa
• Fact Focus
• The Atlantic slave trade

The impact of slavery

Both slavery and the slave trade existed in Africa long before the Portuguese and Spanish began their explorations by sea of Africa's Atlantic coast in the mid-1400s. Most historians agree that the Africans practiced a milder form of slavery than the ancient Romans or Greeks, and nowhere near as harsh as what awaited Africans in the European colonies of the Americas (South and North America).

For centuries before African slaves were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, the peoples of West Africa had exported slaves, gold, and other goods by way of overland trade routes (through the Sahara Desert)...