Bunce Island is best known as one of the chief processing points for slaves to be sold to planters in Lowcountry of the British colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, including the Sea Islands, where they developed extensive rice plantations.
Rice requires a great deal of technical knowledge for its successful cultivation.
South Carolina and Georgia planters were willing to pay premium prices for slave labour brought from what they called the "Rice Coast" of West Africa, the traditional rice-growing region stretching from what is now Senegal and Gambia in the north down to present-day Sierra Leone and Liberia in the south.
Still, records of the port of Charleston show that nearly 40 percent of the slaves came from Angola.

Bunce Island was the largest British slave castle on the Rice Coast.
African farmers with rice-growing skills were kidnapped from inland areas and sold at the castle or at one of its many "outfactories" (trading posts) along the coast before being transported to North America.
Several thousand slaves from Bunce Island were taken to the ports of Charleston (South Carolina) and Savannah (Georgia) during the second half of the 18th century.
Slave auction advertisements in those cities often announced slave cargoes arriving from "Bance" or "Bense" Island.

Colonist Henry Laurens served as Bunce Island's business agent in Charleston, and was a wealthy rice planter and slave dealer.
He later was elected as President of the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War, and was later appointed as the United States envoy to the Netherlands.
Captured by the British en route to his post in Europe during the war, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
After hostilities ended, he became one of the Peace Commissioners who negotiated United States independence under the Treaty of Paris.
The chief negotiator on the British side was Richard Oswald, the principal owner of Bunce Island; he and Laurens had been friends for 30 years.
The United States independence was negotiated in part between the British owner of Bunce Island and his American business agent in South Carolina, demonstrating the wealth and status achieved by these men by their trade in rice and slaves.

Bunce Island was also linked to the Northern colonies in America.
Slave ships based in northern ports frequently called at Bunce Island, taking on supplies such as fresh water and provisions for the Atlantic crossing, and buying slaves for sale in the British islands of the West Indies and the Southern Colonies.
 The North American slave ships that called at Bunce Island were sailing out of Newport (Rhode Island), New London (Connecticut), Salem (Massachusetts), and New York City.
Bunce Island is best known as one of the chief processing points for slaves to be sold to planters in Lowcountry of the British colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, including the Sea Islands, where they developed extensive rice plantations. Rice requires a great deal of technical knowledge for its successful cultivation. South Carolina and Georgia planters were willing to pay premium prices for slave labour brought from what they called the "Rice Coast" of West Africa, the traditional rice-growing region stretching from what is now Senegal and Gambia in the north down to present-day Sierra Leone and Liberia in the south. Still, records of the port of Charleston show that nearly 40 percent of the slaves came from Angola.
Bunce Island was the largest British slave castle on the Rice Coast. African farmers with rice-growing skills were kidnapped from inland areas and sold at the castle or at one of its many "outfactories" (trading posts) along the coast before being transported to North America. Several thousand slaves from Bunce Island were taken to the ports of Charleston (South Carolina) and Savannah (Georgia) during the second half of the 18th century. Slave auction advertisements in those cities often announced slave cargoes arriving from "Bance" or "Bense" Island.
Colonist Henry Laurens served as Bunce Island's business agent in Charleston, and was a wealthy rice planter and slave dealer. He later was elected as President of the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War, and was later appointed as the United States envoy to the Netherlands. Captured by the British en route to his post in Europe during the war, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. After hostilities ended, he became one of the Peace Commissioners who negotiated United States independence under the Treaty of Paris. The chief negotiator on the British side was Richard Oswald, the principal owner of Bunce Island; he and Laurens had been friends for 30 years. The United States independence was negotiated in part between the British owner of Bunce Island and his American business agent in South Carolina, demonstrating the wealth and status achieved by these men by their trade in rice and slaves. 
Bunce Island was also linked to the Northern colonies in America. Slave ships based in northern ports frequently called at Bunce Island, taking on supplies such as fresh water and provisions for the Atlantic crossing, and buying slaves for sale in the British islands of the West Indies and the Southern Colonies.  The North American slave ships that called at Bunce Island were sailing out of Newport (Rhode Island), New London (Connecticut), Salem (Massachusetts), and New York City.
Bunce Island