The transatlantic slave trade
12.5 million people forced across the Atlantic
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Around 12.5 million people were shipped between 1526 and 1867; roughly 10.7 million survived the crossing. The system was triangular: manufactured goods to West Africa, people to the Americas, raw materials back to Europe. The plantation economy financed part of British industrialisation and shaped the demography of the entire hemisphere. The consequences in Africa were demographic, political and economic, with states becoming dependent on the trade. Slavery was abolished gradually from 1807 to 1888, last of all in Brazil.
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European ships carried millions of Africans across the Atlantic and sold them as slaves on plantations. The voyage was so brutal that many did not survive. The sugar, cotton and tobacco that made Europe rich were grown by people who received nothing for it.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org