1619–1775: Over 95 percent of the enslaved people who arrived in the Chesapeake Bay area directly from Africa were transported on ships outfitted in the majo…

1619–1775: Over 95 percent of the enslaved people who arrived in the Chesapeake Bay area directly from Africa were transported on ships outfitted in the major British ports of London, Bristol, and Liverpool. The Bight of Biafra served as the single most important African trading region for these vessels, providing a substantial portion of the labor force for the region’s tobacco estates. Approximately 128,000 captives were documented as disembarking in the Chesapeake during this period. The demographic link between the Bight of Biafra and the Chesapeake created a distinct cultural heritage within the African American population of the Mid-Atlantic.