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The early Europeans came to Africa looking for trade rather than colonization or control. When the trade in Africa boomed after 1650, these principles stayed the same. The African merchants sold slaves by the coast to traveling Europeans but none wanted to stick around. The European colonization did not take effect at all and the change to slave trade was slow. Africa's other commodities were still high in value. The African merchants cared about what products they received for slaves. A trade ship coming in with low quality products could not easily buy cargo for a profit. To help out with trading, Europeans made guidebooks to what products went for higher prices in the different regions. For example, the people of the Gold Coast in the early eighteenth century preferred brass pans while the people of Sierra Leone wanted large iron kettles. The taste for items may have differed from place to place, but the main desire was for guns, textiles, and hardware. Over sixty percent of goods traded in Africa were European and Indian textiles. Both sides tried to force the deal in favor of themselves but, Africans had the upper hand due to the demand for slaves. The price for slaves over the eighteenth century could have doubled or even tripled!

West Africa had great trading strengths due to the African governments controlling the Slave and Gold Coasts. These governments made Europeans respect trading customs and disabled them from attacking to undermine the African government. The many European trading outposts in African lowered their bargaining strength further. In 1700, Willem Bosman, the head of the Dutch East India Company, decided that if they needed a competitive edge, they would have to include gunpowder and weapons with trades. This added to the Africans' military powers. Bosman later said that before buying slaves in Whydah, his men must pay a customs duty. Then, he would pay only premium price for the slaves the king was selling. Bosman's trading technique allowed for the rise of Dahomey in the 1720s.

Although Dahomey rapidly grew, so did two of its neighbors. The neighbor to the north, Oyo, had cavalry take over Dahomey in 1730. After that point, Dahomey had to pay tribute to keep its independence. The Asante kingdom to the west expanded in 1680 but neither it or Oyo were completely dependent on Atlantic trade like Dahomey. The sea trade built a reasonable part of the economies of both but the vast land trade helped even things out. These great empires were helped by trade but not bound by it.

Many ask how African kings and merchants got slaves for sale. Outsiders liked to think that men sold their wives, parents sold their children, and brothers sold each other. That only happened of very few accounts where the necessity was there. Most of the slaves being sold are those that are prisoners of war, captured by the enemy and are sold as treasure. A nineteenth century Asante king felt that he should not create war to take slaves like a thief in the night. He said that if he were at war and killed a king, all his slaves, people, and gold shall be his because that is how white kings did things.

By: Sawyer R. Gara