Status Updates From Eine afrikanische Geschicht...

The first Europeans to reach the Cape in Southern Africa in 1488 were the Portuguese, as was usually the case.

Louverture said: 'I was born a slave, but nature gave me the soul of a free man.' He did not live to see the day of freedom. He died in prison in 1803.

Legislation abolishing the trade was enacted first by Denmark in 1803, Britain in 1807, the United States a year later, the Netherlands in 1814, France in 1818, Brazil in 1850 and Portugal as late as 1878.

If a white enslaver had children with a captive African woman, the children could be put to work.

In 1546 in Cabo Verde the Afro-Portuguese mixed-race community asked Portuguese officials if they could share civic power with them in the local government, a request that the Portuguese refused.

The colony of Luanda was established by the Portuguese in 1575. They had conquered the coastal areas of this part of Africa, and Luanda was the biggest of their slave trading hubs.

Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than Lisbon; all the streets run straight as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses.