1664–1829: French Guiana experienced a relatively modest and erratic inflow of enslaved Africans compared to other Caribbean colonies, with most arrivals man…

1664–1829: French Guiana experienced a relatively modest and erratic inflow of enslaved Africans compared to other Caribbean colonies, with most arrivals managed by merchants from Nantes and Le Havre. For a brief period between 1796 and 1807, while the colony was under British control, Liverpool-based traders became the primary suppliers of captives to the capital city of Cayenne. The captives who arrived in this territory represented a wide range of African coastal regions, from Senegambia to Southeast Africa. This broad demographic mix occurred because most slaving vessels bound for the larger Caribbean markets passed by French Guiana and frequently sold small groups of captives there.