The Gambia's Forts: Power Brokers of the Slave Trade

While most histories focus on the Americas or West Africa’s great kingdoms, this episode turns to the narrow, winding waterways of the Gambia River. We explore how European powers like Britain and France built fortified trading posts—most notably Fort James and Fort Saint Louis—not as colonies, but as secure warehouses for human beings. We examine the role of local African middlemen, including the powerful Serer and Wolof elites, who controlled access to inland captives and negotiated terms with Europeans from behind walls. The conversation details the daily life within these forts, the brutal economics of the 'factory' system, and the complex diplomatic games played between rival European nations vying for control of the river’s interior trade routes during the eighteenth century. #GambiaRiver #FortJames #AtlanticSlaveTrade #SererPeople #WolofKingdom #SlaveryHistory #ColonialForts #EuropeanAfricanRelations #18thCenturyHistory #MiddlePassage #TradingFacts #WestAfricaHistory #BritishEmpire #FrenchEmpire #HumanRightsHistory #EconomicHistory #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo