European slave traders

European slave traders kidnapped people from their homes or local West African chiefs sold them to these slave traders. Africans were often kidnapped by fellow Africans. They would sell them to European slave traders for things like guns, whisky, cloth and metal goods like knives and basins. European slave traders set up bases on the coast of West Africa. Africans would bring African captives to these bases and would exchange them for guns and other goods. Those Africans captured by the slave traders themselves were marched to the coastal trading centres. The captives were kept in prisons called barracoons at the coastal bases until they were sold. Once the slaves were sold, the slave traders used a red-hot iron to brand them with the mark of the particular European company that had bought them. The slaves were then taken by ship across the Atlantic Ocean.