“Choicest of the Cargoe”

Abstract

This chapter discusses the African slave trade to Antigua, one of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean. It examines the large-scale contours of the trade to Antigua over time. It also pays particular attention to the role of the Codrington family in the sale and distribution of enslaved Africans to Antigua and other parts of the Atlantic world. As this chapter illustrates, enslaved persons brought to the Leeward Islands by the Codringtons were enmeshed in a larger, interisland trade that linked Antigua to other plantation colonies in the region. Moreover, the Atlantic slave trade to Antigua was much larger than previously thought.