Which is the most likely explanation for the high percentage of enslaved people brought into Brazil and the West Indies?

The high percentage of enslaved people brought into Brazil and the West Indies can be most accurately attributed to the extensive sugar plantations in these regions, which required a significant labor force for profitable operation. The sugar industry was immensely lucrative during the colonial period, leading to a high demand for laborers to work the fields and the processing facilities.

In Brazil and the West Indies, the climate and geography were particularly suited for sugar cane cultivation, making these regions central to the transatlantic sugar trade. The intense labor needed for growing, harvesting, and processing sugar cane could not be met by the local populations due to various factors, including disease and social disruption, which had reduced indigenous numbers. As a result, the plantation owners turned to the transatlantic slave trade to fulfill their labor needs, leading to the high inflow of enslaved Africans to these areas.

While geographic proximity to Africa could play a role in the volume of enslaved individuals brought to specific regions, it was the specific agricultural demands and economic incentives of sugar cultivation that primarily drove the slave trade to Brazil and the West Indies, making it the most compelling explanation.