Slave Coast of West Africa

The area was so named due to the high volume of enslaved people transported from its shores, profoundly impacting both the local societies and the broader Atlantic world.

A significant number of these individuals, likely more than half, were embarked from the beach south of Ouidah, which lacked formal port facilities.

[6] While most European personnel either died or returned home after short tenures, those who stayed longer often formed relationships with local women and had children.

[12][13] Ports that exported these enslaved people from Africa include Ouidah, Lagos, Aného (Little Popo), Grand-Popo, Agoué, Jakin, Porto-Novo, and Badagry.

[citation needed] The transatlantic slave trade in West Africa began to decline earlier than in other regions.

[16] Most powerful slave-trading countries had begun abolitionist campaigns in 1807, while the volume of slave shipments began to decline in West Africa from 1787.

[16] This was due to colonial legislation creating favorable circumstances for abolition and greater economic opportunities, such as the cash crop revolution, empowering former slaves.

[16] The coast was also called "the White man's grave"[17][18] because of the mass amount of death from illnesses such as yellow fever, malaria, heat exhaustion, and many gastro-entero sicknesses.

[31] After the institution of slavery was abolished by successive European governments, the transatlantic slave trade continued for a time, with independent traders operating in violation of their countries' laws.

Historian Ana Lucia Araujo has noted that the process of enslavement did not end with arrival on Western Hemisphere shores; the different paths taken by the individuals and groups who were victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade were influenced by different factors—including the disembarking region, the ability to be sold on the market, the kind of work performed, gender, age, religion, and language.