noun
- enclosures or barracks where enslaved people were confined before being shipped or sold
Usage: historical
Examples
- The barracoons along the West African coast held thousands of captives.
- Historians study the conditions in barracoons to understand the slave trade.
- Many people died in the overcrowded barracoons before ships arrived.
- The ruins of old barracoons can still be found on some islands.
- Documents describe the terrible conditions inside the barracoons.
- Barracoons were a crucial part of the Atlantic slave trade system.