Final answer:
West African slave traders obtained their slaves from internal wars and raids in central Africa, then sold them to Europeans along the coast.
Step-by-step explanation:
West African slave traders obtained slaves to sell to Europeans primarily from central African regions. The process involved African political and economic elites capturing, transporting, and selling Africans to European slave traders along the African coast. These captives were usually the result of internal wars, judicial punishments, or kidnapping raids carried out by African traders and brokers, who then sold them at coastal feitorias or trading posts to Europeans. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was a collaborative operation between European demand and African supply, driven by the need for labor in the colonization of the New World.