The Africans who survived the Atlantic crossing were disembarked in the ports of the Americas. Scholars have identified 179 ports in total, but most of the slaves (about 8 million) ended up in only 20 ports including: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Kingston in Jamaica, Cap Français in present-day Haiti, Havana in Cuba, Charleston in South Carolina.

Upon landing at American ports, African prisoners were prepared for sale: they were washed, shaved and smeared with palm oil to hide any wounds caused by the journey. They were usually immediately sold to plantation owners or intermediary traders through public auctions or direct sales.

The bodies and teeth of chained Africans were examined by potential buyers in the same way as cattle to ascertain their physical abilities and good health. In the early centuries of trafficking, young males were generally preferred over females because they were considered stronger and more productive. Over time, however, the number of women began to increase due to their value as reproducers of labour as well as workers.

Highly ramified systems of slave routes, originating from the ports and consisting of roads and rivers, transported slaves to plantations, mines and cities. The arrival was therefore almost always just the beginning of a new journey of hundreds of kilometres which penetrated the South American continent as far as Bolivia or Ecuador, hopping from island to island in the Caribbean, or from one plantation to another in Jamaica, Cuba or the Southern United States.

Olaudah Equiano‘s account of his arrival in Barbados:

“At last we came in sight of the island of Barbadoes [···]. Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was in the evening. They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively. They also made us jump, and pointed to the land, signifying we were to go there. We thought by this we should be eaten by these ugly men, as they appeared to us; [···] Soon after we were landed [···] we were conducted immediately to the merchant’s yard where we were all pent up together like so many sheep in a fold, without regard to sex or age  [···].

We were not many days in the merchant’s custody before we were sold after their usual manner, which is this: — On a signal given, (as the beat of a drum) the buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best.”

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African, Gloucester, Dodo Press, 2009

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