Peoples & MigrationThe 17th century

Peoples & Migration in the 17th century

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged peoples and migration — settlement, movement and displacement, narrowed to the 17th century — 10 of them, drawn from 10 nations, running from 1600 to 1690. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
10
Nations
10
Earliest
1600
Latest
1690
Africa
7
Europe
2
North America
1

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. — Africa:

    Ghana

    The Atlantic slave trade

    European demand for plantation labour turned the coastal castles into holding pens of the transatlantic slave trade; vast numbers of enslaved Africans were shipped through forts such as Elmina to the Americas in conditions of extreme violence.

    Era: European forts, gold, and the Atlantic slave trade

    Sources: Elmina Castle, Ghana · International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Elmina Castle · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  2. — Africa:

    Guinea-Bissau

    The Atlantic slave trade via Cape Verde

    Administered through Cape Verde, the Rivers of Guinea became a major source of enslaved people; tens of thousands were carried to the islands' plantations and onward to the Americas, especially during the Iberian Union (1580–1640).

    Era: The Rivers of Guinea and the Atlantic slave trade

    Sources: Guinea-Bissau (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Guinea-Bissau · Wikipedia, A Guide to the History of Recognition: Guinea-Bissau · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

  3. — Europe:

    Ireland

    Scottish settlement of Antrim and Down

    The private settlement of the Ayrshire Scots James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery brought hundreds of Scottish families to north Down from 1606, and others settled in Antrim; these two counties lay outside the official Plantation of Ulster.

    Era: Anglo-Norman Invasion, Plantation and Conquest

    Sources: The Plantation: When? · Ulster-Scots Agency (Discover Ulster-Scots), The Ulster Plantation · Ulster Historical Foundation

  4. — North America:

    United States

    First Africans landed in Virginia

    An English ship brought roughly twenty enslaved Africans to Point Comfort, Virginia, marking the beginning of African slavery in the English mainland colonies.

    Era: European colonisation and the Thirteen Colonies

    Sources: Arrival of the First Africans in 1619 · U.S. National Park Service

  5. — Africa:

    Angola

    Atlantic slave trade at its height

    Luanda became the leading slave-trading port of the entire Atlantic, funnelling vast numbers of captives seized in interior wars to the Americas, overwhelmingly to Brazil.

    Era: Luanda, Queen Njinga and the Atlantic slave trade

    Sources: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (Estimates) · SlaveVoyages.org, Luanda, Angola (1576– ) · BlackPast.org, Slavery in Angola · Wikipedia

  6. — Africa:

    South Africa

    Slavery at the Cape

    The Company began importing enslaved people from Madagascar, East Africa, India and the Indonesian archipelago, founding a slave society whose labour underpinned the colony for nearly two centuries.

    Era: The Dutch Cape Colony and the frontier

    Sources: History of slavery and early colonisation in South Africa · South African History Online, South Africa (country, history and government) · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  7. — Africa:

    Togo

    Founding of Aného (Petit-Popo)

    Ane settlers fleeing conflict around Elmina in present-day Ghana founded Aného on the Togolese coast; it grew into the region's chief commercial and slaving port and would later briefly serve as a colonial capital.

    Era: The coast, the Guin and the Slave Coast

    Sources: Aného · Wikipedia, Togo (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  8. — Africa:

    Benin

    Ouidah and the Atlantic slave trade

    The port of Ouidah served for nearly two centuries as a leading point of embarkation on the Slave Coast, through which more than a million enslaved Africans are estimated to have been deported across the Atlantic.

    Era: Ouidah, the slave trade, King Ghezo and the Agojie

    Sources: Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving Port 1727–1892 (Robin Law) · Boydell & Brewer via Cambridge Core, Ouidah · Wikipedia, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (Bight of Benin / Ouidah) · SlaveVoyages

  9. — Africa:

    Ivory Coast

    Akan states form on the eastern frontier

    As the Asante Empire rose in present-day Ghana, Akan groups such as the Abron founded states near the eastern edge of modern Côte d'Ivoire, beginning a long era of Akan migration into the region.

    Era: The Akan migrations: Baoulé and Agni kingdoms

    Sources: History of Ivory Coast · Wikipedia, History of Côte d'Ivoire · Encyclopædia Britannica

  10. — Europe:

    Kosovo

    Migrations and a shifting population

    Over the Ottoman centuries many Orthodox Serbs emigrated and parts of the population converted to Islam, while the Albanian-speaking share grew, probably forming a majority by the 18th century.

    Era: Ottoman Rule and the Albanian National Awakening

    Sources: Kosovo: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica