15. The African factories and forts were often as brutal as the ships
Although the Middle Passage was undeniably brutal, so was the First Passage, when captured Africans were taken to the forts and factories erected to support trade. Approximately twelve and a half million Africans boarded the slave ships along the African coast. Thousands did not survive the journey of the Middle Passage. But untold thousands more did not survive the First Passage, the capture, forced march, and imprisonment in the factories and forts. By the mid-18th century, the European powers, through treaty with local leaders, established stone fortresses to hold the factories, as well as protect their trade station from enemy nations. Nearly all of the European Wars of the 18th century saw naval raids by one nation on the African holdings of another. The raids demonstrated the slave trade’s importance to the economies of the European nations.
The trading centers were where captive slaves were led to await transport. The European nations sought to maintain local monopolies in slaves. In this, they were often thwarted by the African leaders, who recognized the advantages to them of establishing bidding wars. Thus, in times of peace, French ships stopped at British factories, and vice versa. At most factories, captives passed over for purchase by the Europeans were usually killed by their African captors. The number of Africans who died during the forced march or at the factories can only be estimated. Some scholars place their numbers above 1 million, others are more conservative. As with the Middle Passage, the length of time which the slaves had to endure to conditions in the factories contributed to their mortality rate. So did resistance and the inevitable punishment.