Examines the slave trade in three areas of Africa: the old Congo kingdoms, the city states of the East Coast, and parts of the Guinea coast. Basil Davidson states that by examining three important areas of Africa in the history of slavery 'against a general background of their time and circumstance' he was taking 'a fresh look at the oversea slave trade, the steady year-by-year export of African labour to the West Indies and the Americas that marked the greatest and most fateful migration - forced migration - in the history of man.' North America: Times/Random House

"Read this book, then read it again. [Davidson's] is the story of one of the most enormous crimes in all human history." - THE NEW YORK TIMES

"...the most effective popularizer of African history and archaeology outside Africa." - THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS