The Atlantic dispersion of the African people throughout Africa itself and the United States of America had repercussions on not only the language and operations of nautical navigation, but also the musicality and creation of a culture of resistance in the Caribbean. According to Scott, European and African seafarers of different linguistic backgrounds formed a 'visible segment of the Caribbean underground' at the end of the eighteenth century; the behaviour of this 'segment' was difficult to regulate and the reason for constant complaints from colonial administrators (Scott, 1986, pp. 60-63; Burns, 2009; Montes Pizarro, 2010). Many of these peoples and their descendants continued to be involved in the merchant navies of western countries and played a significant role in raising awareness of the black world, as they did in the Haitian Revolution, in Cuba and in the United States of America (Harris, 2003, pp. 333-356).  
Even once they were part of the trade's networks, not all Africans found themselves destined for slavery in the plantations, mines and domestic spheres on the other edges of the Atlantic. Many instead became sailors on merchant ships, or even slave ships.