During the period of the slave trade, did the inhabitants of the African states know that they were risking slavery at the hands of white slavers? Was there some kind of knowledge about it, or were they totally taken aback?

by NAAnymore

I'm an European young adult, I don't have much knowledge of American history, but I'm attending a university course about Anglo-American Literatures and were indirectly studying the issue of slavery of African Americans. I've studied how trafficking worked "in practice", such as slave ship matter, but I don't know much beyond that.

If any of you know the answer to my question, I would be very curious to know more about the matter. Thank you.

Broke22