Title: A History of African Traders of Enslaved People
Headings: African Traders of Enslaved People
African Traders of Enslaved People
Motivations for Enslavement
A Self-Replicating Cycle
Opposition to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Enslavement as a Part of Life
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Content: A History of African Traders of Enslaved People
Humanities › History & Culture
African Traders of Enslaved People
Century Magazine illustration by E.W. Kemble for an article called "The Slave-Trade in the Congo Basin". Kean Collection / Getty Images
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By
Angela Thompsell
Professor of British and African History
Ph.D., History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
M.A., History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
B.A./B.S, History and Zoology, University of Florida
Angela Thompsell, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of British and African History at SUNY Brockport. our editorial process
Angela Thompsell
Updated June 15, 2020
During the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Europeans did not have the power to invade African states or kidnap enslaved Africans. Because of this, between 15 and 20 million enslaved people were transported across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa and purchased from traders of enslaved people throughout Europe and European colonies. 1 ﻿
There are still many questions people have about the triangular trade of enslaved people and goods during this time, such as the motivations of those in support of enslavement and how enslavement was woven into life. Here are some of the answers, explained. Motivations for Enslavement
One thing that many Westerners wonder about African enslavers is why they were willing to sell their own people. Why would they sell Africans to Europeans? The simple answer to this question is that they did not see enslaved people as "their own people." Blackness (as an identity or marker of difference) was at that time a preoccupation of Europeans, not Africans.