Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, people were kidnapped from the continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies and exploited to work as indentured servants and labour in the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton.
Slavery in America started in 1619 when a Dutch ship brought 20 African slaves ashore in the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
Although hard to say for certain, some historians estimate that 6 to 7 million black slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century alone, depriving the African continent of some of its healthiest and ablest men and women.
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In England, the early African companies developed English trade and trade routes in the 16th and 17th centuries, but it was not until the opening up of Africa and the slave trade to all English merchants in 1698 that Britain began to become dominant.
The cost to human life and property of the transatlantic slave trade has been treated by many scholars and writers.
Face2face Africa takes a look at 7 slave museums which shed light on the gruesome trade of Africans:
