West African medical practices are described by early colonists and slave traders.
Date: 1689
In 1689, John Smyth is hired by the Royal African Company, and begins writing detailed letters describing West African plant medicines and treatments for various ailments. The materia medica he outlines includes remedies for headaches, fluid retention, sores and wounds, smallpox, sexually transmitted infections, scurvy, hemorrhaging, and more.
Smyth fails to name or credit any of the West African experts who taught him these treatments. This knowledge goes on to support the development of new drugs that generate profit in Europe and the colonies.