Slaves came from southern regions with respect to the north. A ship traveling from a slave kidnaping area (why, oh God, are we even trying to justify this?) would be at southern latitudes first before reaching northern ones. Why carry a slave destined for the south, up north first? Even if other cargo was going north later on the same ships?
“Them” means the slaves and an ounce of common sense would have told you that was what I meant.
No - the slave ships didn’t go first to the north. There were a number of different triangular trade routes. Some ships went from England, some from the colonies.
The ships came from Africa and delivered slaves to the islands to work the sugar plantations. The great majority of the slaves went to the islands. A fraction of them came to the colonies. They were the lucky ones. They weren’t dying of malaria in the islands and they weren’t being killed in Africa where tribes were killing and enslaving each other for centuries.
Of the slaves coming to the colonies we hear all the time that they went to the south. However many slaves were shipped to the northern colonies. Even in the 1630’s slaves were coming to Massachusetts directly from Africa. Some were coming from the Islands in exchange for Indians captured and enslaved by the colonists. Northerners don’t want you do know about how they traded the Indians for the blacks.
When you visit Boston and go to Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall - that’s where the slaves were auctioned. There were thousands of slaves up north.