Description: The Atlantic Slave Trade from West Central Africa, 1780-1867 traces the inland origins of slaves leaving West Central Africa at the peak period of the transatlantic slave trade. Drawing on archival sources from Angola, Brazil, England, and Portugal, Daniel B. Domingues da Silva explores not only the origins of the slaves forced into the trade but also the commodities for which they were exchanged and their methods of enslavement. Further, the book examines the evolution of the trade over time, its organization, the demographic profile of the population transported, the enslavers' motivations to participate in this activity, and the Africans' experience of enslavement and transportation across the Atlantic. Domingues da Silva also offers a detailed 'geography of enslavement', including information on the homelands of the enslaved Africans and their destination in the Americas.
Brief description: Daniel B. Domingues da Silva is Assistant Professor of African history at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Review Quotes: Advance praise: 'This is a valuable addition to the growing scholarship on the Angolan slave trade. While grounding his book on African dynamics and contexts, Domingues da Silva explores historical linkages with the wider Atlantic world. This book will immediately become a reference for scholars of the slave trade and abolition in the Atlantic world.' Roquinaldo Ferreira, Brown University, Rhode Island