Final answer:
Enslaved Africans from the interior were transported to coastal regions by land routes. Option A is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
African people from the interior regions were primarily transported to the coastal regions by land routes. This was part of the larger network of the interregional slave trade that operated in various parts of Africa. For example, enslaved Bantu peoples purchased by merchants from the interior of the African continent were then shipped across the Indian Ocean, becoming a part of the trade along the Swahili coast.
During the transatlantic slave trade, enslaved Africans were forcibly moved through various means. Within the United States, enslaved people were transported to the Lower South in overland coffles, by steamboats, and ships via inland waterways like the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, or by coastal maritime routes. In Africa, Europeans arriving up the Congo River would conscript Africans to carry their goods inland, chaining them to prevent escape.
The transportation of African slaves also included the notorious Middle Passage, which was the transatlantic journey that enslaved Africans made to the Americas. This was integral to the Atlantic slave trade, where European powers such as the British and Portuguese were significant participants, transporting a vast majority of enslaved Africans.
They were carried overland or by river and coastal sea routes to various destinations, including across the Atlantic during the Middle Passage, forming a crucial part of the interregional and transatlantic slave trades.