The area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was part of one of the major source regions of the transatlantic slave trade.

Historians usually group this region with Angola under the label “West Central Africa.” It was one of the largest departure zones for enslaved Africans transported to the Americas between the 1500s and 1800s.

The Kingdom of Kongo and nearby regions were deeply affected by the trade after contact with the Portuguese began in the late 1400s. Enslaved people were often captured through wars, raids, political conflicts, and slave-trading networks that reached far inland.

Ports along the Atlantic coast, especially near present-day Angola and the Congo estuary, grew into major export hubs. Large groups of captives from the Congo-Angola area were transported to Brazil and the Caribbean.

This had a devastating impact on people, leading to depopulation, warfare, political instability, and long-term social upheaval across Central Africa. While the modern DRC had not yet been established, the communities and kingdoms in the region were heavily affected by and involved in the transatlantic slave trade.