‘Factories’ of enslaved people on the African coast

• Enslaved people were examined by a surgeon and those judged fit were purchased by the factory owners.
• Purchased captives were assessed and divided into first and second class.
• Captives who were strong and under the age of 35 were graded as first class.
• Weaker captives with poor teeth and eyesight and older than 35 were graded as second class.
• Those passed as fit were branded on the chest with a hot iron to stop the African traders from switching them for unfit enslaved people.
• The purchased enslaved people were kept locked up in the slave factory's cells or compounds until a slave ship arrived to take them across the Atlantic.
• Conditions in slave factories were very poor.
• Enslaved people were fed bananas and beans, and were kept underground and chained.
• Enslaved people could be held in factories for months at a time, and disease was very common.
• In the 1770s, almost half of those enslaved in factories died before transportation.