Chief Langley Lectures on Negro Factor and British Convicts in colonial Slavery

In the early years, 80% of slaves to South Africa came from India (this included Sri Lanka). Slaves would continue to be brought from India, but over the years other regions of the world also gained importance. Over the period of slavery, enslaved people came from four main regions:

These percentages, however, do not reflect the full range of where enslaved people in South Africa originated from. Records indicate slaves as also originating from West and Central Africa, with places of origin often collectively referred to as the Guinea coast, but specifically including the Cape Verde Islands, Burkina Faso, Benin, Congo, Angola, and also Zanzibar and Ethiopia (Abyssinia). Outside of Africa slaves were from: Siam (Thailand), Persia (Iran), Arabia (north Africa and the Arabian Peninsula), Brazil, Burma, China, Japan, Borneo, Timor and Vietnam, amongst other origins. There are also mentions of Tagal, possibly pointing to Filipinos who spoke Tagalog