Europeans started to get involved in the Slave Trade during the 15th and 16th centuries. But it wasn't until the 17th and 18th centuries that it became a great scale business between Western Africa, Europe and the Americas; millions of Africans were enslaved. Even though Europeans did not maintain any permanent colonies in sub-Saharan Africa until the Dutch started to settle in 1652, slavery was a source of famine, misery and death for millions.