The Abolition of The Slave Trade

Of the Africans who reached the United States, 90 percent came from Senegambia (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali), the Upper Guinea Coast (Sierra Leone, Guinea), the Gold Coast (Ghana), the Bight of Biafra (eastern Nigeria, Cameroon), and west-central Africa (Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon). Almost half of the arriving Africans came from two areas — Senegambia and west central Africa.

Although the demographic figures are revealing, the statistics can disguise the odyssey undertaken by each individual forced to cross the Atlantic on a slave ship. Ethnic and regional categories can provide a window through which to examine the slave trade, but the personal histories of individuals are essential in examining the impact on society, both in Africa and in the Americas, of this forced migration and enslavement.

Biography reveals the experience of Africans and their descendants as they were integrated into the Diaspora in the Americas. It is fortunate that autobiographical and biographical accounts have been recorded for several thousand individuals, and while most relate the experiences of people in the nineteenth century, some accounts of individuals born in Africa in the eighteenth century inform our understanding of the defining period of the African Diaspora.

• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Vol. I:
• Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon, the High Priest of Boonda in Africa
• Narrative of the Enslavement of Ottobah Cugoano, a Native of Africa; Published by Himself, in the Year 1787
• Interview of Abd-Al Rahman from African Repository (May 1828)
• A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself
• A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself
• Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua...
• Historic Sketches of the South
• The Population History of Luanda During the Late Atlantic Slave Trade, 1781 - 1844

Regional Origins of Africans Arriving in the United States

		Senegambia	Sierra Leone	Windward Coast	Gold Coast	Bight of Benin	Bight of Biafra	West Central Africa	South-east Africa		Totals
1628-1630		0	0	0	0	0	0	100	0		100
1631-1640		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
1641-1650		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
1651-1660		0	0	0	0	0	631	434	0		1,065
1661-1670		1,511	0	0	0	0	0	866	0		2,377
1671-1680		331	0	0	568	518	983	0	56		2,456
1681-1690		1,592	0	0	0	0	514	0	448		2,554
1691-1700		2,299	0	0	0	0	2,924	0	1,461		6,684
1701-1710		3,214	0	0	3,424	872	5,295	231	96		13,132
1711-1720		2,812	311	0	2,849	740	4,392	220	1,354		12,678
1721-1730		11,755	1,342	1,806	5,457	1,392	9,798	4,434	851		36,835
1731-1740		12,968	0	0	2,286	783	14,120	31,582	439		62,178
1741-1750		5,583	1,846	330	1,977	0	8,576	2,833	0		21,145
1751-1760		12,866	4,952	2,635	5,087	1,001	8,869	7,226	311		42,947
1761-1770		12,454	6,498	7,043	8,610	1,289	2,739	8,061	0		46,694
1771-1780		10,073	5,876	3,387	6,280	1,117	767	3,319	0		30,819
1781-1790		3,514	1,186	987	5,076	425	362	2,644	0		14,194
1791-1800		1,606	7,142	630	4,143	0	0	868	0		14,389
1801-1810		8,072	14,663	4,966	10,488	981	3,710	27,929	2,164		72,973
1811-1820		905	1,080	0	0	0	1,010	1,230	410		4,635
1821-1830		0	0	0	0	0	91	0	0		91
1831-1840		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
1841-1850		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
1851-1860		0	0	0	0	110	0	303	0		413
Totals		91,555	44,896	21,784	56,245	9,228	64,781	92,280	7,590		388,359
Percent		23.6	11.6	5.6	14.5	2.4	16.7	23.8	2.0

Africans in the Chesapeake Tidewater

	Senegambia	Sierra Leone	Windward Coast	Gold Coast	Bight of Benin	Bight of Biafra	West Central Africa	South-east Africa	Totals
1628-1630	0	0	0	0	0	0	100	0	100
1631-1640	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1641-1650	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1651-1660	0	0	0	0	0	631	0	0	631
1661-1670	1,511	0	0	0	0	0	96	0	1,607
1671-1680	331	0	0	568	518	983	0	0	2,400
1681-1690	1,592	0	0	0	0	381	0	255	2,228
1691-1700	2,299	0	0	0	0	2,924	0	0	5,223
1701-1710	3,214	0	0	3,197	872	5,295	231	0	12,809
1711-1720	1,832	311	0	1,379	266	3,912	220	1,102	9,022
1721-1730	1,913	329	1,806	4,059	0	9,300	3,505	674	21,586
1731-1740	8,233	0	0	1,222	783	8,538	9,597	0	28,373
1741-1750	2,251	897	0	405	0	7,198	1,343	0	12,094
1751-1760	3,524	1,185	868	716	110	4,145	4,042	0	14,590
1761-1770	3,391	618	2,167	2,616	592	1,263	2,306	0	12,953
1771-1780	750	409	0	1,051	0	617	681	0	3,508
1781-1790	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1791-1800	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1801-1860	0	0	0	68	0	0	0	0	68
Totals	30,841	3,749	4,841	15,281	3,141	45,187	22,121	2,031	127,192
Percent	24.2	2.9	3.8	12.0	2.5	35.5	17.4	1.6

Africans in the Carolinas and Georgia

	Senegambia	Sierra Leone	Windward Coast	Gold Coast	Bight of Benin	Bight of Biafra	West Central Africa	South-east Africa	Totals
1700-1710	0	0	0	227	0	0	0	0	227
1711-1720	846	0	0	899	0	480	0	0	2,225
1721-1730	5,168	1,013	0	866	0	498	306	0	7,851
1731-1740	3,468	0	0	447	0	5,582	18,362	0	27,859
1741-1750	769	0	330	219	0	1,378	287	0	2,983
1751-1760	7,369	2,559	1,526	2,654	529	4,724	3,184	311	22,856
1761-1770	7,368	5,029	4,354	3,368	697	1,476	5,755	0	28,047
1771-1780	7,888	4,849	3,387	4,876	1,117	150	2,638	0	24,905
1781-1790	3,309	1,186	987	5,076	0	362	2,445	0	13,365
1791-1800	1,606	6,863	630	3,512	0	0	474	0	13,085
1801-1810	6,795	13,545	4,966	9,243	811	3,710	26,440	1,170	66,680
1811-1820	95	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	95
1821-1830	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1831-1840	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1841-1850	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1851-1858	0	0	0	0	0	0	303	0	303
Totals	44,681	35,044	16,180	31,387	3,154	18,360	60,194	1,481	210,481
Percent	21.2	16.6	7.7	14.9	1.5	8.7	28.6	0.7