This meant that about fifty percent of those originally captured in Africa died either in transit or while being prepared for servitude.
Even this statistic, harsh as it is, does not tell the whole story of the human cost involved in the slave trade.

Most slaves were captured in the course of warfare, and many more Africans were killed in the course of this combat.

The total number of deaths, then, ran much higher than those killed en route.

Many Africans became casualty statistics, directly or indirectly, because of the slave trade.

Beyond this, there was the untold human sorrow and misery borne by the friends and relatives of those Africans who were torn away from home and loved ones and were never seen again.
Statistics concerning profits in the slave trade are also difficult to obtain.