1650-1850: Political boundaries and ethnolinguistic identities along the Gold Coast and Bight of Benin underwent significant shifts as the slave trade reache…

1650-1850: Political boundaries and ethnolinguistic identities along the Gold Coast and Bight of Benin underwent significant shifts as the slave trade reached its historical peak. The Asante confederacy rose to dominate the western portion of the region, while the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Oyo Empire became powerful forces further east. These large political units often provided the organizational structure for the deportation of Akan-, Ewe-, and eventually Yoruba-speaking captives to the Americas. By the nineteenth century, the Kingdom of Benin remained a notable exception, as it never became a major participant in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.