In this context, Africans retained significant bargaining power vis-a-vis Europeans (Chouin, 1998; Law, 1994b, pp. 51-64; Feinberg, 1976, pp. 618-30). Not only did African kingdoms control internal trading routes to the coast, but African religious authorities played a critical role in determining which European traders would be allowed to participate in trade on the coast (Law, 2013a, pp. 39-40). This pattern of African-controlled exchanges extended to religion and legal matters, with many Europeans participating in the religious ceremonies of 'many coastal polities engaged in Atlantic trade', submitting to African legal practices, and seeking to gain favour with African polities in the forest interior (Apter, 2017, p. 42; Shumway, 2014, p. 67; Yarak, 1990).