In 1441, which event marked the first kidnapping of Africans to Portugal?

• A. A Dutch captain kidnapped Africans in 1441.
• B. Ruy Do Sequeira began the slave trade in 1472.
• C. Portuguese captain Gonclavez Antam landed on the West African coast south of the Sahara and brought back the first kidnapped Africans to Portugal in 1441.
• D. The English chartered the Royal African Company.

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is the start of the Atlantic slave trade—the first recorded instance of Africans being taken to Europe as enslaved people. In 1441, a Portuguese captain, Antão Gonçalves, led an expedition along the West African coast south of the Sahara. He and his crew captured enslaved Africans and brought them back to Portugal, marking the first kidnapping of Africans to Portugal. This event is significant because it begins a long, brutal system of slavery that would expand across the Atlantic in later decades and centuries.

The other described scenarios don’t fit this moment: a Dutch captain in 1441 would be anachronistic in this context, Ruy de Sequeira is associated with later developments rather than the first kidnapping, and the Royal African Company was an English venture established in the 17th century, well after 1441.