The hardest blow against the civilized societies of black Africa was the slave trade. It is impossible to say just how many men, women and children were dragged away from their villages in chains to distant lands. According to one authoritative source at least 9 million people were uprooted from their homes before 1776 and taken mainly to America.
A recent American investigation considered this figures too low. At least one million slaves died during the ocean crossings which were carried out in dreadful conditions. A British doctor who served on board one of these slave ships gives some sort of idea of how terrible they must have been. This doctor said the slaves were stowed in the deepest hold of the ship and crammed together, without even enough room to stand up or stretch out. They were kept in chains which shackled their right hand and their left foot for the whole journey which sometimes lasted for months.
The doctor also remarked that it was impossible for a white man to spend more than a few minutes in these slave holds without fainting.
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