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The Slave Coast is a historical region along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, encompassing parts of modern-day Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. It is located along the Bight of Biafra and the Bight of Benin that is located between the Volta River and the Lagos Lagoon.^[1]^[2]

The name is derived from the region's history as a major source of African people sold into slavery during the Atlantic slave trade from the early 16th century to the late 19th century.^[3]^[4] During this time, this coastal area became a major hub for the export of enslaved Africans to the Americas. European powers, including the Portuguese, British, Dutch, and French, established forts and trading posts in the region to facilitate the slave trade. The area was so named due to the high volume of enslaved people transported from its shores, profoundly impacting both the local societies and the broader Atlantic world.

The Slave Coast is estimated to have been the point of departure for approximately two million enslaved Africans, representing about 16% of the estimated 12.5 million individuals transported to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade.^[5] This equates to an average of around 20 individuals leaving the Slave Coast each day for over two centuries. A significant number of these individuals, likely more than half, were embarked from the beach south of Ouidah, which lacked formal port facilities.^[5] The other primary port from which slaves embarked was Lagos.^[6] These figures represent only those who survived the conditions prior to departure, including the harsh waiting and loading periods.^[5]

Other nearby coastal regions were historically known by their prime colonial export are the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast (or Windward Coast), and the Pepper Coast (or Grain Coast).^[7]

Forced labour and slavery
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^ Law (1989), p. 46
^ "Change and Continuity in Coastal Bénin", West Africa During the Atlantic Slave Trade : Archaeological Perspectives, Bloomsbury Academic, 2001, doi:10.5040/9781474291064.ch-005, ISBN 978-1-4742-9104-0, retrieved 2020-08-31
^ "Freedom", The Atlantic World, Cambridge University Press, pp. 615–660, 2009-02-16, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511816604.018, ISBN 978-0-511-81660-4, retrieved 2020-08-31
^ "The history of the transatlantic slave trade". National Museums Liverpool. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Fuglestad, Finn (2018-08-01), "Introduction", Slave Traders by Invitation, Oxford University Press, pp. 1–18, doi:10.1093/oso/9780190876104.003.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-087610-4, retrieved 2024-09-30
^ Law, Robin; Mann, Kristin (1999). "West Africa in the Atlantic Community: The Case of the Slave Coast". The William and Mary Quarterly. 56 (2): 307–334. doi:10.2307/2674121. ISSN 0043-5597.
^ Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo (2005-09-19), "Lower Guinea: Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Slave Coast/Bight of Benin", Slavery and African Ethnicities in the Americas, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 101–125, doi:10.5149/9780807876862_hall.9, ISBN 978-0-8078-2973-8, retrieved 2020-08-31

Slave Coast of West Africa