Istwa Nou

Cameroon was the smallest of the significant embarkation points in the Bight of Biafra and the last of them to enter the trade in any volume. Apart from a single early voyage, regular departures only began in the 1760s, at the point when Atlantic slaving as a whole was approaching its historical peak. The busiest years came in the early 1770s, when about two thousand people a year were recorded leaving the region. British traders ran the traffic until 1808. After Britain withdrew, Brazilian merchants took over most of what was left, and the captives they bought came largely from the Cameroon Highlands well inland. The route stayed open into the 1830s, decades after every major power had outlawed the trade on paper. A port that opened late outlasted the ports that opened first, because the last buyers standing were the ones furthest from any navy willing to stop them.