1) Early contact between Europeans and West Africans involved small trading stations along the coast where goods like gold, ivory, and spices were exchanged. Slavery began as Europeans sought labor for colonies in the Americas. 2) The triangular slave trade emerged, transporting over 60,000 Africans per year in cramped conditions on ships to be sold into slavery in the Americas. This generated huge profits but caused massive social disruption in Africa. 3) The slave trade had long lasting effects on African societies through population loss, wars, weakened communities, and cultural diffusion as Africans worked to preserve their identity under slavery. Abolition movements in Europe and America ended the Atlantic slave trade by the 1800s.

1. African Slave Trade