Slave Trade Reaches Peak Annual Volume in the 1760s

The 1760s saw the transatlantic slave trade at its highest sustained volume — approximately 70,000–80,000 Africans shipped annually. The Bight of Benin, Gold Coast, and Angola were most devastated. British, Portuguese, French, and Rhode Island traders dominated. Mortality rates during the Middle Passage averaged 12–15 percent. This decade saw more Africans enslaved and transported than any previous ten-year period.