The novel, "The Diligent," provides insight to the slave trade from Africa to the New World through Robert Durand's journal. Robert Durand was the first lieutenant on the slaving ship, The Diligent. The target destination of the voyage was Martinique from Whydah. Whydah was the major location of Africa's slave trade. In contrast to all the other West African slaving ports, Whydah exported the largest amount of slaves. The plan was to gather slaves and board them onto The Diligent and sail towards the New World. However, the popularity of slave trade and wealth within Whydah created controversies with nearby kingdoms. .
The kingdom of Dahomey ruled by King Agaja decided to attack Whydah, which caused the delay of gathering and boarding the slaves onto The Diligent. However, despite all the conflicts, Durand was still able to purchase the slaves and bring them onto The Diligent. Ultimately, slave trades are gruesome journeys with conflicts from slaves' uprisings. Therefore, the slave traders need to have their own tactics to keep the slaves from rebelling or dying before reaching the New World. In addition, in spite of the slave traders' efforts to increase the slave's chances of survival, many of the slaves still successfully tried to resist their imminent slavish lifestyle in the New World. However, in The Diligent, this resistance was uncommon among the slaves. .
The capture of slaves in their home territories happened in numerous places but ultimately it was at Jakin where the slaves were gathered in preparation to be sent onto The Diligent. Durand and his men set up fourteen large tents from sailing cloth on a beach at Jakin and the slave trading process was initiated. During this time, Durand constantly had encounters with African traders who came to the tents to purchase goods or sell slaves. Each day, local Jakin officials and merchants brought numerous slaves to Durand's tent but many were not bought since Durand only wanted the best slaves.
