1622-1807: Old Calabar, situated near the modern border of Nigeria and Cameroon, established itself as a premier port in the Bight of Biafra by the middle of…

1622-1807: Old Calabar, situated near the modern border of Nigeria and Cameroon, established itself as a premier port in the Bight of Biafra by the middle of the seventeenth century. The port’s commerce was dominated by major trading houses controlled by resident African Efik traders who managed the internal supply of captives. British ships from London, Bristol, and Liverpool carried the largest share of captives from this port prior to the 1807 abolition act. As a result, the vast majority of enslaved Africans departing from Old Calabar were destined for the British Americas.