Originally posted by Garbon
I think we also run into the problem that pagan nations is such a large category. In West Africa neither Songhai, Benin, or Oyo had problems trading whereas the less organized Mossi and Ashanti did. All of which, however, start off as pagan nations; but, it doesn't seem right to penalize them as I don't think CoTs in the ROTW can really be interpreted the same way as European CoTs. If Portugal was to have traders in an 'Ivoria' CoT, they wouldn't have historically been competing with Oyo for slaves, and so it wouldn't make sense if they were to gain a 'monopoly'.
Why not? Portuguese controlled the slave trade and gained the bulk of its profit for centuries, since they went to Ivoria to buy the slavefrom Oyo landlords and sold them in the American side of Atlantic.
I think that once Europeans know routes to a ROTW CoT, they should get the most of the pie.