After two months at sea, and headed for the coasts of Africa, our ship enters the Gulf of Guinea, where slave trading posts can be found. These trading posts were created and run by the French West India Company as early as 1664, then by the Senegal Company  (1673) and the Guinea Company  (1685). These different entities were then brought together as the Compagnie d’Occident in 1718.

The main trading posts were set up along the coasts of Congo and Angola. The largest posts were those in St. Catherine, Mayombé, Quilongué, Loango, Malembé, Cabendé, and Ambriz.
 
              Excerpt from the memoir of a captive  :




Trips to the Americas were considered risky since trading human beings involved unpredictable factors like revolts, epidemics, and suicide. The crossing took two months when men, women, and children were kept separate and when order and discipline were maintained among the crewmembers.