Charleston, South Carolina, a city that has been seen by the public as the place where the American Civil War started and where Fort Sumter is located. But, ironically the first battle of the slavery induced Civil War took place in what was the slave trading capital of mainland North America. Charleston was host to an event that spanned over a century and that is the great migration of Africans to America by as many means as possible from the slave trade to piracy. Due to its geographic location and need for slaves, Charleston became the principal port for slave trading on the mainland. The slave trade database is only as good as the ledgers of legal and recorded voyages made them to be. That being said there are many voyages not recorded
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This crop being domesticated rice seed, due to the similar climates of the Gold Coast and rich lowlands inland from Charleston allotted for nearly unlimited slave trade which were not represented well in the database but my research found otherwise, “In the 17th century, planters from Barbados, accompanied by their African slaves, immigrated to South Carolina looking for arable lands. The planters were well aware that African slaves had skills and attributes well-suited to the semi-tropical environment of South Carolina. Hence, South Carolinian planters imported Africans in large numbers, and in 1710, African-born slaves outnumbered American-born slaves.” These immigrants started a revolution in the slave trade to America even so that "By the time the (South Carolina) colony's Proprietors gave way to a royal government in 1720, Africans had outnumbered Europeans for more than a decade." So that gives a perspective of just how many Africans were in the colony at this time early in the history of the continent. Our main source, the slave trade database does not show significant journeys until the mid-1720’s, then Charleston took off with almost always having over a thousand disembarked slaves in a calendar year. The primary driver to these numbers of slaves was rice, rice was a labor intensive crop that required much tending and knowledge of the crop itself and who knew better than the Africans who were the real reason it was even here in the first place. The slave trade was steady through most of the 18th century and the slaves kept piling in South Carolina and Georgia through Charleston. Rice farming was hard and required strength and resistance to diseases along with knowledge of rice farming. ”Carolina planters developed a vision of the "ideal" slave – tall, healthy, male, between the ages of 14 and 18, "free of blemishes," and as dark as possible. For these ideal slaves
This crop being domesticated rice seed, due to the similar climates of the Gold Coast and rich lowlands inland from Charleston allotted for nearly unlimited slave trade which were not represented well in the database but my research found otherwise, “In the 17th century, planters from Barbados, accompanied by their African slaves, immigrated to South Carolina looking for arable lands. The planters were well aware that African slaves had skills and attributes well-suited to the semi-tropical environment of South Carolina. Hence, South Carolinian planters imported Africans in large numbers, and in 1710, African-born slaves outnumbered American-born slaves.” These immigrants started a revolution in the slave trade to America even so that "By the time the (South Carolina) colony's Proprietors gave way to a royal government in 1720, Africans had outnumbered Europeans for more than a decade." So that gives a perspective of just how many Africans were in the colony at this time early in the history of the continent. Our main source, the slave trade database does not show significant journeys until the mid-1720’s, then Charleston took off with almost always having over a thousand disembarked slaves in a calendar year. The primary driver to these numbers of slaves was rice, rice was a labor intensive crop that required much tending and knowledge of the crop itself and who knew better than the Africans who were the real reason it was even here in the first place. The slave trade was steady through most of the 18th century and the slaves kept piling in South Carolina and Georgia through Charleston. Rice farming was hard and required strength and resistance to diseases along with knowledge of rice farming. ”Carolina planters developed a vision of the "ideal" slave – tall, healthy, male, between the ages of 14 and 18, "free of blemishes," and as dark as possible. For these ideal slaves