First Direct Atlantic Slave Voyage (Congo to Caribbean)
The first documented direct transatlantic voyage carrying enslaved Africans to the Americas—from the Congo region to the Caribbean—occurred in the 1520s, with 1526 often cited as an early example of the organised trade triangle. Earlier voyages had carried enslaved Africans via the Canary Islands or directly from Portugal, but the direct Congo-to-Caribbean route represented the mature form of the transatlantic slave trade. The trade at this stage was a Portuguese monopoly, supplying labour to Caribbean sugar plantations after the near-total collapse of the Taíno workforce. This direct route became the model for subsequent centuries of organised mass human trafficking.
- Year: 1526 CE
- Category: Social
