North Eastern Atlantic

The Bight of Benin faces a coast where lagoons separate much of the shore from towns inland. Ouidah, known locally as Glēxwé, became one of its great centres of Atlantic trade. In 1727 Dahomey conquered the kingdom of Hueda and made Ouidah its principal outlet for commerce with Europeans. African merchants supplied captives taken in warfare or bought farther inland, and ships carried them across these waters to the Americas, particularly Brazil.