Here is a map depicting the area of West Africa from where the majority of African slaves were captured and eventually transported to the New World.

A close up of the Venice center of the North African slave trade at the Kura Hulanda Museum on the Otrobanda side of Willemstad, Curacao. (Dec. 1, 2018)

Inside the slavery exhibits at the Kura Hulanda Museum on the Otrobanda side of Willemstad, Curacao. (Dec. 1, 2018)

I think most people have seen representations of or read accounts of the conditions aboard these slave ships with the expression ‘packed in like sardines’ often applied. More likely it was the sardines that were packed in like slaves as this practice was far older than the canning of sardines. At the Kura Hulanda Museum Rudolph led us down a narrow ladder to the replica interior of a slave ship. This picture says all I could write about the conditions on board. There’s not just people on the top row, but underneath as well. Chained together they had to eat, sleep and defecate where they lay. The hold was washed out once a week.On a replica slave ship, visitors crawl into its belly and imagine the worst.

The shackles at the Kura Hulanda Museum on the Otrobanda side of Willemstad, Curacao, was one of many ways used to control slaves. Iron wrist shackles with a locking end clamp bear witness to the cruelty of slavery. Shackles were used in the African slave trade; similar kinds of restraints were employed to punish uncooperative slaves. (Dec. 1, 2018)

Mambo Beach (Dec. 3, 2018)

Mambo Beach (Dec. 3, 2018)