Which statement describes the event most associated with the beginning of the European slave trade?

Which statement describes the event most associated with the beginning of the European slave trade?

• A. Ruy Do Sequeira began the European slave trade in 1472.
• B. Gonclavez Antam brought Africans to Portugal in 1441.
• C. The Royal African Company chartered by the Crown.
• D. The Middle Passage connected Africa to Asia.

Answer: (A)

The question is about when Europeans first launched a sustained involvement in transporting enslaved Africans. By the early 1400s the Portuguese were experimenting along the West African coast, capturing and shipping captives back to Europe. Around 1472, actions led by figures such as Ruy de Sequeira helped turn these voyages into a regular, organized pattern of exchange, laying the groundwork for the Atlantic slave trade. This moment is often cited as the beginning of Europe’s formal slave-trading enterprise because it marks the shift from isolated captures to a continuing, commercial process that would expand across the Atlantic. The other options reference later developments or incorrect geography, so they don’t align with the idea of the start of a sustained European-involved slave trade.

The question is about when Europeans first launched a sustained involvement in transporting enslaved Africans. By the early 1400s the Portuguese were experimenting along the West African coast, capturing and shipping captives back to Europe. Around 1472, actions led by figures such as Ruy de Sequeira helped turn these voyages into a regular, organized pattern of exchange, laying the groundwork for the Atlantic slave trade. This moment is often cited as the beginning of Europe’s formal slave-trading enterprise because it marks the shift from isolated captures to a continuing, commercial process that would expand across the Atlantic. The other options reference later developments or incorrect geography, so they don’t align with the idea of the start of a sustained European-involved slave trade.