Slavery in Africa was different in many ways from slavery in European colonies, particularly in how slaves became slaves and in the kind of life they led. Let's look at this in more detail.

Many slaves in Africa were captured as prisoners of war. Tribal leaders fought one another, and many times, the losers and their people were taken as slaves. People also entered into slavery as payment for debt and as punishment for crime. Sometimes they remained in slavery their entire lives. Sometimes they did not. Sometimes their children remained slaves, and sometimes they did not. After the slave trade began, some African leaders increased their pursuit and capture of slaves in order to engage in what they viewed as a new way to gain power and wealth. Slaves, of course, lived with the knowledge that they could and probably would face the dreaded Middle Passage.

In the European colonies, slavery was often more institutionalized with set rules and practices. After the first generation of African slaves, many—and later, most—slaves were born into slavery and lived as slaves their entire lives. Slaves in European colonies could and sometimes did purchase or gain their freedom, but this was relatively rare. Slaves in European colonies worked at many different tasks. There was, of course, labor on the plantations, but slaves also did their part in building many cities in the northern part of what would become the United States. They lived and worked as servants for residents of those cities as well.