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A 1729 map showing the Slave Coast The Slave Coast is still marked on this c. 1914 map by John Bartholomew & Co. of Edinburgh. Major slave trading areas of western Africa, 15th–19th centuries. The Slave Coast is a historical region along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, encompassing parts of modern-day Togo, Benin, and Nigeria.
The coast of Benin with Cotonou port in the background. The Bight of Benin has a long association with slavery, its shore being known as the Slave Coast. From 1807 onwards—after slave trading was made illegal for Britons—the Royal Navy created the West Africa Squadron in order to suppress and crush the slave trade.
Herman Moll's 1727 map labels these "Grain Coast", "Slave Coast", and "Gold Coast". "Negroland" was the territory to the north of this, along the east–west axis of the Niger River, and the west-facing coast. Moll's map labels Gambia, Senegal, Mandinga and many other territories.
To the west of it is the former Popo Kingdom, where most of the European slave traders lived and worked. The area gives its name to the native whydah bird, and to Whydah Gally, a slave ship turned pirate ship owned by pirate captain "Black Sam" Bellamy. Its wreck has been explored in Massachusetts.
Homann Heirs map of the slave trade in West Africa, from Senegal and Cape Blanc to Guinea, the Cacongo and Barbela rivers, and Ghana Lake on the Niger River as far as Regio Auri (1743) Various forms of slavery were practised in diverse ways in different communities of West Africa prior to European trade. [23]
From Senegal’s Gorée Island at Africa’s westernmost point to the Nigerian port of Badagry, the sites where slaves spent their final days on African soil have turned into places of pilgrimage ...
The Gold Coast, Slave Coast, Pepper Coast (or Grain Coast) and Ivory Coast were named after the main export resources found there, respectively. [2] Early uses of the term Gold Coast refer strictly to the coast and not the interior. [2] It was not until the 19th century that the term came to refer to areas that are far from the coast. [2]
Cape Coast Castle (Swedish: Carolusborg) is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or trading post , established in 1555, which was named Cabo Corso .