Women made up the majority of captives in Africa when it came to slavery, but between the West African countries of Senegal and GambiaIn in the years 1300 to around 1900, nearly one-third of the entire population were enslaved. In the 1700s the Portuguese, then united with Spain, primarily controlled the African slave trade, which made up nearly half of the people. Not as well known is that Western African slaves had already been traded domestically within their own tribes long before that time. The tribesmen who were in lowest regard were often born into slavery by the status of their families, who may have already been slaves. The slaves were often used as household servants within the tribes.
African tribes were separate entities, much like the American Indians. Inter-tribal wars were not uncommon, and during the early 1600s, some tribes like the Ashanti often raided other tribes and during these raids, captives were taken. The captives became the slaves of their captors, and were forced to tend to that tribe's needs. They were also sold into the European slave trade, where they were either directly sent to a buyer, or were taken to one of the nearest trading centers, called baracoons.
When the Europeans couldn't purchase slaves directly from the tribes, they hired Africans to be "slave catchers." Groups of men were instructed to go into villages and raid them. They captured the tribespeople and delivered them to their benefactors. The captives then became part of the group collection, temporarily kept at the baracoons. Other free Africans were also employed to stand guard over the captured slaves. In Northern Africa, between the 1600s and 1700s, some captives were freed if they converted to the Muslim religion.
With the African people helping with the capturing of slaves for the Europeans, the "collecting" moved inland in the early 1700s. African chiefs were willing to use their own tribespeople to lead, collect, and trade more people into slavery. Raids were staged and tribespeople were herded into one area, then sometimes fastened together with "Y" shaped sticks that went about their necks. On other occasions, they were chained together by the legs and tied into groups of four, then marched to the sea.
Slavery began in America around 1619 and continued for 250 years. African slaves were in the highest abundance during the 18th century. Slaves had no rights and no representation, but in the 1750s that began to change as attitudes toward slavery changed. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was the beginning of the end for American Slavery, which finally came to its demise in 1865 with the 13th Amendment ratification, just after the end of the Civil War.
In the first part of the 20th century, slavery was mostly abolished, but it had established roots and never completely disappeared. The lack of legal slaves hindered many from making the kind of money and growth they once had, so it never really ended. Today there are still slaves in Africa. For instance, West Africa is known for its enslavement of women since before the colonial era. These women who were once killed as a war sacrifice are now held as hierodulic slaves. More than 8,000 women are estimated as captive, doing work as domestics, working in temples, and as agricultural and sex slaves.