Title: 
Headings: 

Content: In the case of
        Asante, for example, rulers of that kingdom are known to have supplied
        slaves to both Muslim traders in the north and to Europeans on the
        coast. Even so, the Asante waged war for purposes other than simply to
        secure slaves. They also fought to pacify territories that in theory
        were under Asante control, to exact tribute payments from subordinate
        kingdoms, and to secure access to trade routes--particularly those that
        connected the interior with the coast. It is important to mention, however, that the supply of slaves to the
        Gold Coast was entirely in African hands. Although powerful traditional
        chiefs, such as the rulers of Asante, Fante, and Ahanta, were known to
        have engaged in the slave trade, individual African merchants such as
        John Kabes, John Konny, Thomas Ewusi, and a broker known only as Noi
        commanded large bands of armed men, many of them slaves, and engaged in
        various forms of commercial activities with the Europeans on the coast. The volume of the slave trade in West Africa grew rapidly from its
        inception around 1500 to its peak in the eighteenth century. Philip
        Curtin, a leading authority on the African slave trade, estimates that
        roughly 6.3 million slaves were shipped from West Africa to North
        America and South America, about 4.5 million of that number between 1701
        and 1810. Perhaps 5,000 a year were shipped from the Gold Coast alone. The demographic impact of the slave trade on West Africa was probably
        substantially greater than the number actually enslaved because a
        significant number of Africans perished during slaving raids or while in
        captivity awaiting transshipment. All nations with an interest in West
        Africa participated in the slave trade.