The Killing Age

The Killing Age

Map 4.1. West Africa and West-Central Africa

This map shows the movement of enslaved peoples from West and West-Central Africa.

back to images & maps The Atlantic Slave Trade went on for over 350 years. It grew to monstrous proportions in the eighteenth and into the nineteenth centuries. Most enslaved people went to Brazil and the West Indies, as this map demonstrates. As research continues, we are developing an ever more detailed understanding of the […]

Ch4.3. Duke Town

Illustration from an important port town along the Western African coast. Thousands of slaves left this town, followed in later decades by palm oil.

back to images & maps Duke Town, with Old Calabar, 1850. This image comes not from the era of the Atlantic slave trade, which the British had abolished in the early part of the nineteenth century, but from the beginning of the age of European imperialism. Note the variety of African and European vessels. In […]

Ch4.5. Nkisi figure

Nkisi sculpture from Congo. These artistic works were meant to provide their owners with spritual protection.

back to images & maps Ch4.5. Nkisi figure Nkisi figure, Kongo. Metropolitan Art Museum. Europeans considered sculptures like these “fetishes”; often they destroyed them. Many, however, have survived. Nkisi generally offered people protection from evildoers. Their makers empowered the sculptures by driving nails into the wood and pressing substances into cavities. Doing so “hid” power […]

Ch4.4. King Duke

Photograph of West African warlord, ca. 1890. Western guns were important sources of African power.

back to images & maps Ch4.4. King Duke King Duke, Old Calabar, ca. 1890. Private Collection. The eighteenth century and throughout much of the nineteenth century was the age of warlords. There was a proliferation of these historical figures along the West African coast in the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Some prospered, even […]

Ch4.2. William Corrantee

Illustration of the son of a famous West African warlord who was himself enslaved then freed.

back to images & maps Ch4.2. William Corrantee William Corrantee The eighteenth century and throughout much of the nineteenth century was the age of warlords. There was a proliferation of these historical figures along the West African coast in the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Some prospered, even if their lives were often uncertain. […]

Ch4.1. “Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh”

Illustration of the famous "Amazons", female warriors from the Kingdom of Dahomey. The warrior is armed with a musket.

back to images & maps Ch4.1. “Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh” Ch4.1. “Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh.” Amazon Warrior from Dahomey. British Library. The so-called “Amazons” from the Kingdom of Dahomey are one of the few examples of a mostly female fighting force. Many were slaves or former slaves, not serving the Dahoman king. While we do not have the exact dates of […]