Many different groups and individuals were involved in the transatlantic slave trade, including Europeans, Americans, Africans, and Arab traders. However, the primary source of slaves were African leaders and merchants who captured and sold their fellow Africans to European and Arab slave traders in exchange for goods, weapons, and other commodities. Additionally, European colonial powers and slave traders were instrumental in perpetuating and profiting from the system of slavery and the forced transportation of Africans to the Americas.