European participation

European participation in the slave trade Although Europeans were the market for slaves, Europeans rarely entered the interior of Africa, due to fear of disease and fierce African resistance. [ 32 ] The enslaved people would be brought to coastal outposts where they would be traded for goods. Enslavement became a major by-product of internal war in Africa as nation states expanded through military conflicts in many cases through deliberate sponsorship of benefiting Western European nations. During such periods of rapid state formation or expansion ( Asante or Dahomey being good examples), slavery formed an important element of political life which the Europeans exploited: As Queen Sara's plea to the Portuguese courts revealed, the system became "sell to the Europeans or be sold to the Europeans". In Africa, convicted criminals could be punished by enslavement, a punishment which became more prevalent as slavery became more lucrative. Since most of these nations did not have a prison system, convicts were often sold or used in the scattered local domestic slave market. [ 33 ] The Atlantic slave trade peaked in the last two decades of the 18 th century, [ 34 ] during and following the Kongo Civil War . [ 35 ] Wars amongst tiny states along the Niger River's Igbo-inhabited region and the accompanying banditry also spiked in this period. [ 28 ] Another reason for surplus supply of enslaved people was major warfare conducted by expanding states such as the kingdom of Dahomey , [ 36 ] the Oyo Empire and Asante Empire . [ 37 ]