Boffa

The Rio Pongo is a tidal estuary on the Upper Guinea coast, where mangrove-lined channels open towards the Atlantic. Baga communities lived along its shores, cultivating rice and maintaining exchanges with peoples of the interior. The river gave access to a network of settlements and trading places amid the wetlands. By the late eighteenth century the Pongo had become an important outlet for the Atlantic slave trade. African and Afro-European merchants established trading houses along the river, buying captives brought from inland and dealing with visiting ships. Their commerce grew from older connections between the coast and Futa Jalon, while competition among traders and coastal authorities shaped the trade in people and goods.