Atlantic slave trade

Definition

The forced transport of Africans across the Atlantic to be enslaved in the Americas, carried out by merchants, companies and governments of several nations over roughly four centuries. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, as described by the National Endowment for the Humanities, records about 12.5 million Africans put aboard ships and about 10.7 million who survived the crossing between 1526 and 1866. These are scholarly estimates that are still refined. See also: triangular trade, Middle Passage, forced migration, and the guide Historiography and Why the Numbers Are Debated.