I feel like, roughly speaking, the first Atlantic system started off quite small because Native Americans were slave labor starting with Columbus. The second Atlantic system passed Barbary slaving. Import into the US was banned in 1808.
Africans until the early seventeenth century arrived as indentured servants. This occasionally comes up in the lineage of guests on the PBS show Finding Your Roots.
Indentured servants from Europe plus political deportations might have outnumbered Africans. I’ve heard this is true at least in the Caribbean. In my family, our origin could be Scotland or Ireland; both populations were called Irish at the time.
