Though not usually among the largest source areas when considered on its own, parts of present-day Cameroon were involved in major Atlantic slave-trading networks. Historians usually discuss the area as part of the larger “Bight of Biafra” region rather than as “Cameroon” alone.

The coast near modern Cameroon contributed enslaved Africans to the transatlantic slave trade, especially through ports and trading zones connected to the Bight of Biafra. Many captives from this broader region were transported to the Caribbean and the Americas during the 1700s and early 1800s.

The Bight of Biafra encompassed areas that are now part of southeastern Nigeria, Cameroon, and nearby coastal regions. European traders obtained captives through coastal middlemen, inland warfare, raids, and regional trading systems.

The principal slave-exporting port in Cameroon was the Bimbia Slave Trade Port, which served as a departure point for enslaved Africans transported across the Atlantic.