Slavery has been part of North Carolinian's history since its settlement by Europeans in the late 1600 and early 1700's. Many of the first slaves in North Carolina were brought to the colony from the West Indies or other surrounding colonies, but a significant numbers were brought directly from Africa. Record's were not kept of the tribes and homeland's slaves so its impossible to know the exact ethnics make up. Because of its geography, North Carolina did not play a large part in the early slave trade. The strings of island's that make up its outer banks made it dangerous for slave ships to land on most of North Carolina coast and most slave traders choose to land in ports to the North or South of the colony. The one major exception is Wilmington located on the Cape Fear River, it became a port for slave ships due to accessibility.
The colony also lacked the extensive plantation system of the lower South Colonies. When
Carolina split into North and South in 1729 North Carolina had about 6000 slaves a fraction of the slave population of South Carolina. As the plantation system expanded across the lower South many North Carolina, slaves were sold South to work on these large plantation's slaves fear these fate as they were certain they wont come back north and they miss there family and friends.
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