1658-1838: Cameroon was the smallest of the major embarkation points in the Bight of Biafra and was the last to engage in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in a…

1658-1838: Cameroon was the smallest of the major embarkation points in the Bight of Biafra and was the last to engage in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in a significant way. Apart from a single early voyage, regular departures only began in the 1760s as the overall Atlantic traffic was reaching its historical peak. The highest volume of activity occurred in the early 1770s, when approximately 2,000 enslaved people were recorded leaving the region annually. While British traders predominated before 1808, Brazilian merchants took over much of the traffic in the nineteenth century, drawing captives largely from the Cameroon Highlands.