 The transatlantic slave trade , which took place between the 16th and late 19th centuries , had huge effects on the Igbo because so many young people were taken , and warfare increased for the taking of captives . Most Igbo slaves were taken from the Bight of Biafra ( also known as the Bight of Bonny ) . This area included modern day southeastern Nigeria , Western Cameroon , Equatorial Guinea and parts of Northern Gabon . Major trade ports for goods and slaves in the area included Bonny and Calabar Town . A large number of slaves from the Bight of Biafra would have been Igbo . Slaves were usually sold to Europeans by the Aro Confederacy , who kidnapped or bought slaves from Igbo villages in the hinterland . Most Igbo slaves were not victims of slave @-@ raiding wars or expeditions , but were sometimes debtors and people who committed what their communities considered to be abominations or crimes . Igbo slaves were known to the British colonists as being rebellious and having a high rate of suicide to escape slavery . For still unknown reasons , there is evidence that traders sought Igbo women . 
