All this changed when demand for captives to work the mines and plantations in the Americas exploded. Total shipments grew from 947,339 in 1501-1650 (approximately 6,316 yearly for 150 years) to $11,348,386$ in 1651-1850 (approximately 56,742 yearly for 200 years). ${ }^{2}$ The adverse impact on the process of development and commercialization of the economies of West Africa was devastating. The employment of enslaved Africans in the Americas to produce commodities for Atlantic markets, in competition with West Africa's economies, raised the competitiveness of the Americas at the expense of West Africa. It is, thus, no surprise that the Americas overwhelmingly dominated commodity production for Atlantic markets during the period 1650-1850. The sociopolitical crisis engendered by the forceful procurement of export captives  
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[^0]:    2 Eltis, David, and David Richardson, 'A New Assessment of the Transatlantic Slave Trade,' in Eltis, David, and David Richardson (eds.), Extending the Frontiers: Essays on the New Transatlantic Slave Trade Database (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008), table 1.6: 40-41. The estimated total for 1501-1867 is $12,521,334$. This figure is approximately 14 per cent higher than the 11 million generally derived from Phillip Curtin's controversial estimate. There is reason to believe the new figure will be raised further by research. For now, the four decades-long debate on the numbers shipped from Africa is practically over, and historians who followed the debate can tell who won and who lost. See Inikori, Joseph E., 'Review of Extending the Frontiers,' Journal of Economic History (2011), pp. 294-251.