ierra Leone by 1460. Antam Goncalvez and Ni±o Tristo explored the area south of Arguin in 1444 (Gailey 115-116). Goncalvez brought twelve captives back to Lisbon in 1441, and after that, every Portuguese captain followed the practice of seizing slaves for the return voyage. In 1456, it was reported that there was systematic raiding taking place off the Cape Verde coast of fishing villages for the purpose of capturing slaves. By the end of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese had stopped raiding and started trading for slaves with the Sanhaja Berbers, offering horses, silk, and manufactured items in exchange for captives. The rate of exchange varied widely, but a good horse could bring as many as fifteen slaves. some of the slaves acquired in the north were shipped further south to the Mina coast and traded to the Akan for gold, a practice that emphasizes the relative unimportance of slaves when compared with gold (Gailey 117-118).
For one thing, there was no significant demand for slaves in Europe in the fifteenth century, and Africans who were taken by the Portuguese at this time were used as domestic or preserved for their curiosity value. Other European states were more concerned with a variety of problems related to incipient nationalism, feudalism, and dynastic quarrels and so were not interested in Africa; they also viewed slavery with abhorrence. Early in the sixteenth century, a proclamation by the government in France stated that no slavery would be permitted in France, and a similar policy was issued as late as 1607 stating that all slaves who set foot on French soil were presumed to be free. A government regulation was set forth in England in 1772, known as the Mansfield dictum, with similar provisions:
Richard Jobson, a factor on the Gambia River in 1623, scornfully rejected an offer to purchase slaves with the statement that Englishmen did not buy and sell other men (Gailey 118).
Such sentiments wer...