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The Portuguese who launched the voyages of discoivery south built the first fort in Africa at Arguin in present day Mauritania (1448). The profits achieved by the Portuguese attracted the interest of other larger European powers. Traders from other countries in the 16th century established rival trading stations and in some cases seized the Portuguese trading stations. Spain began the slave trade (1479). England entered the slave trade (1562). Other countries gradually joined in the rade: the Netherlands(1625), France (1642); Sweden (1647); and Denmark (1697). From Senegal south to Cameroons there were about 60 forts that served as trading posts for the slave trade. The Europeans differed from the Arabs in that they did not normally conduct raids themselves, but usually bougth slaves from Arab slave brokers and African chiefs. Europeans built trading post and forts all along the coast of West Africa. The Europeans exchanged rum, cloth, guns, and other trade goods for their human cargo. Imense fortues were made in the trade.
The Portuguese who launched the voyages of discoivery south built the first fort in Africa at Arguin in present day Mauritania (1448). The profits achieved by the Portuguese attracted the interest of other larger European powers. Traders from other countries in the 16th century established rival trading stations and in some cases seized the Portuguese trading stations. Spain began the slave trade (1479). Portugal and Spain were especially important because they had American colonies that needed labor. England entered the slave trade (1562). Other countries gradually joined in the rade: the Netherlands(1625), France (1642); Sweden (1647); and Denmark (1697).
The Europeans differed from the Arabs in that they did not normally conduct raids themselves, but usually bougth slaves from Arab slave brokers and African chiefs.
From Senegal south to Cameroons there were about 60 forts that served as trading posts for the slave trade. These forts were called baracoons. Here the captives were brought from interior and held in dugdeon like conditions until the slave ships would arrive to purchase them. Facil,ities also include trading areas, wearhouses, and port facilities. Several areas were especially important for these baracoons, normally mouths of rivers. The baracoon in the 19th century shifted a little upriver to make it difficicult for Royal Navy coastal patrols to monitor operations.
Gallinas is located in modern Sierra Leone (a former Spanish/British colony) close to the Liberian border. During the slave trade of course, the area was not yet colonized. Slavers referred to the Galinas River. Galinasswas, however, an estuarine area created by the Kerefe and Moa Rivers. Galinas is notable because it where the baracoons were located from which the Amistad captives were shipped. Most of course were captured furtherinland and only shipped from Galinas. The captives shipped throuh Galinas commonly came from the Mende, the Kisi, the Kono, and various other interior tribes. Records from the 1820s and 1830s show that slave ships stopped at the mouth of the Gallinas. About 2,000 slaves a year were shipped through Galinas. Galinas was an ibternational market place. Here European, Arab (most ethnic Arabs and Arabized Africans) and African slavers mingled and made their business deals. An Ameican trader described Galinas in 1939 as “not only the centre of an extensive and lucrative traffic, but the theatre of a new order of society and a novel form of government ...." It was not a vey healty place, essentially a swampy enviroment, rife with tropical diseases. A satellite town grew up around the baracoons, warehouses, and trading center aling the river banks. A slave ship would stop usually about once a month. They were fast-sailing ships, usually brigs or schooners. As the Royal Navy began to patrol the area, the slavers carefully prepared to quickly transfer the captives from the baracoons to the ships. The ships would pull in as close as possible. The captives were transferred over the sand bars ahd surf by large canoes. The first load of captives would be chained belo deck before the next canoe load arrived. Royal Navy patrols during the 1820s-30s disrupted operations, usuallu only temprarily. The Royal Navy becamne much more aggresive in the 1840s, attacking the baracoons ahnd lsargely closung down the operation.
The Europeans exchanged rum, cloth, guns, and other trade goods for their human cargo. Imense fortues were made in the trade.
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