Anyone know anything about the American slave trade??

Question

I'm wondering which countries the slaves that were sent to South Carolina came from. I'm trying to look up my family history but because slaves weren't considered citizens they didn't really keep good records of them.

It's a no-brainer that they came from West Africa but I'm trying to figure out which specific countries they were from.

Answer 1

There were really no particular countries that West Africans came from. There were a few city-states like Timbuktu, but not really countries. There were many tribes in this area with really no set boundries. The areas which most slaves came from became colonies of Europe. The link below provides a map of this area in the 1700s that is definitely European dominated. Good luck on your search. I hope you can find your ancestors.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/guinea.html

Answer 2

It's going to be hard, but in the past I've suggested you first start with your oldest living relatives. If possible, they may recall the town their family was from which would give a location. Then go to that County's records and search the tax roles. Slaves were property and, therefore, taxed.
Also ask about "family" names. Many former slaves took the name of their "owners" (ugly word), having no other to draw from. They also often took the names of nearby towns or villages OR people like Lincoln or Washington.
The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) has a terrific website which allows you to search your geneology for free and is expanding all the time.
The Mormons also provide ship manifests of the era which may help if someone can point you to a time frame. Most of the early ships came into New York having started out from England or Bremerhaven.
Many free Blacks fought in the Revolution so names and birthplaces can be found on muster roles. This is also true for the Civil War where military records can be found.
We can't all be Oprah and run our DNA.
GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 3

I did a little research last semester trying to make sense of the slave trade. It isn't straight forward. Europeans on the West coast and others on the East did what they could to exploit humans for profit and I don't think they wrote it all down in records. The problem is the Africans were traded along the coast, but many came from the Interior. David Livingstone, Missionary and explorer writes of passing Africans that had been left to die on the road or trail side, those who could not make the trek. Many Africans died on route to the coast. Also, apparently tribes would migrate as the slave trade moved toward them. This created a pattern shift in Africa. People are now trying to do DNA testing to search for where there family migrated from. You might search there.

There was also a slave trade for the Indian Ocean on the eastern Coast of Africa as well. (So it's not a no-brainier that they came from West Africa) ;p

Answer 4

Slave trading was established by the Dutch and they originally started trading in the West Indies and the Caribbean Islands. Once the English became involved in it (what was called indentured servitude) they started originally with white men that had a criminal offense in England, and they were sent to the new world to repay their "debt". Slaves from the African continent didn't start until later in the Americas.

Answer 5

They probably came out of Nigeria, but may have been originally kidnapped in other countries. My family shipped out of Hamburg, Germany, but came from adjacent countries. Family legend has it that my grandfather walked across Europe to get there. Good thing too...35 years later the Nazis told the locals they could keep anything they could steal from the Jews. In three days, the 1/3 of the community who were Jews, who'd been living there 300 years, was wiped out. But I digress. You might try working back from Nigeria.

Answer 6

They were purchased buy a buyer, not by the state, it would be nearly impossible to trace your heritage through the slave trade but hell good luck!