Why did Europeans seize West Africans as slaves?

Europeans seized West Africans as slaves primarily for economic reasons. The demand for labor in the Americas, particularly for plantations growing sugar, tobacco, and later cotton, led to the establishment of the transatlantic slave trade. West Africans were targeted due to their agricultural skills, resistance to certain diseases, and the existing systems of warfare and trade in the region that made them vulnerable to capture. This brutal practice was driven by a combination of racial dehumanization and the pursuit of profit.