What picture of slave trade emerges when local chieftains, French merchants and plantation owners are seen together?

Correct answer: It was a multi-actor exploitative network

The governing concept is the interconnected nature of the Atlantic slave-trade system. Local African rulers or intermediaries could capture or sell people, European merchants transported and exchanged them, and plantation owners purchased their labour for profitable production. These actors occupied different positions, but their activities were connected through credit, shipping, markets and coercion. Option A is correct because it recognises a network involving several regions and groups rather than a single decision-maker. Option B is too narrow, since law alone does not explain the whole system. Option C falsely describes forced removal as voluntary migration, while option D confuses the plantation slave trade with the unrelated history of the Bastille.