Daniel B. Domingues da Silva is Assistant Professor of African history at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

'Through the masterful application of quantitative methods, Domingues da Silva rewrites the history of the slave trade from West Central Africa. No longer do we have to guess at slaving patterns and at the demographic impact of those patterns on particular communities. Indeed, Domingues da Silva shows the value of carefully constructed databases for answering questions that have been debated time and time again.' Walter Hawthorne, Michigan State University

• List of figures; List of tables; Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The Atlantic slave trade in the century of abolition; 2. The commercial organization of the slave trade; 3. The origins of slaves leaving West Central Africa; 4. The demographic profile of the enslaved population; 5. African patterns of consumption; 6. Experiences and methods of enslavement; Conclusion; Appendix A. Slave origins data; Appendix B. Slave prices data; Appendix C. Exchange commodities data; Bibliography; Index.