In the 16th century, Europeans began transporting African slaves across the Atlantic. But slavery is nothing new in Africa. For centuries, Africans sold other Africans as slaves to Arabs. However, the transatlantic slave trade continued until it reached enormous proportions.
In the 18th century, British ships carried goods to Africa. From there they took slaves to the West Indies and brought sugar back to England. This is called triple trading. (Many other European countries also participated in the slave trade). Some Africans were sold into slavery because they committed crimes. However, many slaves were captured during raids by other Africans. Europeans were not allowed to roam these lands in search of slaves. Instead, Africans brought slaves to the coast. A slave who was not sold was killed or used as a slave by another African.
The slave trade would not have been possible without the cooperation of Africans, many of whom earned their money from the slave trade. Meanwhile, from the 16th to the 18th centuries, Barbary pirates off the coast of North Africa robbed Spanish and Portuguese ships. They also brought slaves from the shores of Europe. In the 16th century the Turks conquered most of the North African coast. They invaded Egypt in 1517 and by 1556 most of the coast was in their hands. Moreover, South Africans went on to establish a powerful kingdom. The Kanem-Bornu Kingdom expanded in the 16th century with weapons taken from the Turks. However, in the 16th century, Ethiopia was alive but weak and important.
Meanwhile, Europeans established their first empire in Africa. The Portuguese settled Angola and Mozambique in the 16th century, while the Dutch established a colony in South Africa in 1652.
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