Guided trail
Taken From, Brought To
Follow the line from the kingdoms of West-Central Africa, through the Middle Passage, to the docks of the Chesapeake and Charleston — and the culture that survived the crossing.
- 1ThreadWest-Central Africa (Kongo & Angola)
Begin in the kingdoms of Kongo and Ndongo — the homeland of America's first Africans.
- 2EventPortugal founds Luanda
Portugal builds Luanda and turns Angola into the Atlantic's great slaving port.
- 3EventQueen Njinga's war against the slave trade
Queen Njinga wages a decades-long war against the slavers.
- 4ThreadThe Transatlantic Slave Trade
The Middle Passage: 12.5 million taken, ~388,000 carried directly to North America.
- 5Event"20 and odd" Africans arrive at Point Comfort
1619: Kimbundu-speakers from Ndongo land at Point Comfort in Virginia.
- 6EventSullivan's Island — the gateway to North America
Charleston's Sullivan's Island becomes the doorway for nearly half of all arrivals.
- 7ThreadThe Rice Coast (Senegambia & Sierra Leone)
From the Rice Coast came the knowledge that built the Lowcountry.
- 8ThreadGullah Geechee & African Survivals
On the Sea Islands, that heritage survived as Gullah Geechee culture.