Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

by David Eltis, David Richardson, David W. Blight, David Brion Davis

Overview

A extraordinary work, decades in the making: the first atlas to illustrate the entire scope of the transatlantic slave trade
 
Winner of the Association of American Publishers' 2010 R.R. Hawkins Award and PROSE Award
 
“A monumental chronicle of this historical tragedy.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times
 
Between 1501 and 1867, the transatlantic slave trade claimed an estimated 12.5 million Africans and involved almost every country with an Atlantic coastline. In this extraordinary book, two leading historians have created the first comprehensive, up-to-date atlas on this 350-year history of kidnapping and coercion. It features nearly 200 maps, especially created for the volume, that explore every detail of the African slave traffic to the New World. The atlas is based on an online database (www.slavevoyages.org) with records on nearly 35,000 slaving voyages—roughly 80 percent of all such voyages ever made.
 
Using maps, David Eltis and David Richardson show which nations participated in the slave trade, where the ships involved were outfitted, where the captives boarded ship, and where they were landed in the Americas, as well as the experience of the transatlantic voyage and the geographic dimensions of the eventual abolition of the traffic. Accompanying the maps are illustrations and contemporary literary selections, including poems, letters, and diary entries, intended to enhance readers’ understanding of the human story underlying the trade from its inception to its end.
 
This groundbreaking work provides the fullest possible picture of the extent and inhumanity of one of the largest forced migrations in history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300212549
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	02/16/2015
Series:	The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

David W. Blight is professor of American history and director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.

Editorial Reviews

"A monumental chronicle of this historical tragedy, one that records some 35,000 individual slaving voyages, roughly 80 percent of those made. . . . [This book] is a human document as well as a rigorous accounting. It is filled with moving poems, photographs, letters and diary entries."—Dwight Garner, New York Times

"A monumental chronicle of this historical tragedy, one that records some 35,000 individual slaving voyages, roughly 80 percent of those made. The authors remind us that only 4 percent of the captives disembarked in what became the United States, while 95 percent arrived in the Caribbean and South America. Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade is a human document as well as a rigorous accounting. It is filled with moving poems, photographs, letters and diary entries."—Dwight Garner, New York Times

"A remarkable resource. . . . The charts raise as many questions as they answer; this is entirely the point."—James Delbourgo, Times Higher Education

". . . a ground-breaking project: the Atlas will be indispensable for all those interested in the slave trade."—Jane Webster, Times Literary Supplement

". . . a beautifully produced volume . . . The whole is topped and tailed by two excellent essays: a masterly introduction by David Brion Davis and a rousing afterword by David Blight. The end result of all this international, scholarly effort is a remarkable book which is not only a pleasure to have on one's shelves, but a model of scholarly and publishing activity. . . . Here, and in their varied (and complex) work as individual scholars, Eltis and Richardson have revealed themselves to be among the most imaginative, influential and distinguished historians of their generation."—James Walvin, International Journal of Maritime History

"One of the most ambitious books of this—or any other—publishing season: a fascinating, horrifying, beautifully put-together atlas of the transatlantic slave trade."—Very Short List

"Literary selections and paintings/illustrations are included to broaden readers' understanding of the human story behind the maps and charted statistics."—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"This marvelous book will change how people think of the slave trade. It deserves every accolade it is likely to get."—Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs

"This is a beautiful atlas . . . a valuable reference for scholars of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade and a teaching tool for anyone engaged with African or African diasporic history . . . I'll return to it for years to come and look forward to introducing it to my students."—Walter Hawthorne, The Americas

"Atlas is a testament to the value of collaborative effort . . . a substantial and lasting contribution to the economic history of transatlantic slaving and our understanding of the subject . . . an excellent reference text."—Kwasi Konadu, African Studies Review

Winner of the 2010 R.R. Hawkins Award, given by the Association of American Publishers

Winner of the PROSE Award for Excellence in Single Volume Reference/Humanities and Social Sciences category, as given by the Association of American Publishers

Received Honorable Mention for the 2011 Dartmouth Medal for outstanding reference

Honorable Mention in the General Non-Fiction category of the 2010 Los Angeles Book Festival

Winner of the 2011 Anisfield-Wolf Awards in the non-fiction category

"A brilliant rendition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. This atlas is essential to the study of chattel slavery. No student of slavery should be without it."—Ira Berlin, University of Maryland

"These magnificent maps—all 189—document almost every conceivable aspect of one of the world's worst crimes. An epic and gruesome drama receives a fitting representation. A superb contribution to scholarship."—Philip D. Morgan, Johns Hopkins University

"This is a highly original work and represents a major contribution to historical analysis. There are no comparable works on this topic."—Stanley Engerman, University of Rochester


"This is an important project that will add greatly to our understanding about the major, long-term patterns of trade between Africa and the Americas, help to map the African Diaspora, and place the transatlantic slave trade in larger world history context."—Steve Behrendt, Victoria University of Wellington


"This is a major work of enormous consequence, without parallel in the literature, deeply researched, highly original, and of immeasurable value."—Harm J. de Blij, Michigan State University

From the Publisher

David Eltis and David Richardson, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade won the 2011-12 Louis Gottschalk Prize given by the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies.
 
This prize is for an outstanding historical or critical study on the eighteenth century and carries an award of $1,000. Louis Gottschalk (1899-1975) second President of ASECS, President of the American Historical Association, and for many years Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, exemplified in his scholarship the humanistic ideals that this award is meant to encourage.

American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies - Louis Gottschalk Prize

"This is a beautiful atlas . . . a valuable reference for scholars of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade and a teaching tool for anyone engaged with African or African diasporic history . . . I'll return to it for years to come and look forward to introducing it to my students."—Walter Hawthorne, The Americas

The Americas - Walter Hawthorne

Winner of the 2011 James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic history, as given by the American Historical Association.

American Historical Association (AHA) - James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History

". . . a beautifully produced volume . . . The whole is topped and tailed by two excellent essays: a masterly introduction by David Brion Davis and a rousing afterword by David Blight. The end result of all this international, scholarly effort is a remarkable book which is not only a pleasure to have on one's shelves, but a model of scholarly and publishing activity. . . . Here, and in their varied (and complex) work as individual scholars, Eltis and Richardson have revealed themselves to be among the most imaginative, influential and distinguished historians of their generation."—James Walvin, International Journal of Maritime History

International Journal of Maritime History - James Walvin

Received Honorable Mention in the 2011 New York Book Festival Non-Fiction Category

New York Book Festival - General Non-Fiction Honorable Mention

"This marvelous book will change how people think of the slave trade. It deserves every accolade it is likely to get."—Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs - Nicolas van de Walle

Winner of the 2011 Anisfield-Wolf Awards in the non-fiction category

Anisfield-Wolf Awards - Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Nonfiction Winner

Received Honorable Mention for the 2011 Dartmouth Medal for outstanding reference

Dartmouth Medal Committee - Outstanding Reference Honorable Mention

Winner of the PROSE Award for Excellence in Single Volume Reference/Humanities and Social Sciences catergory, as given by the Association of American Publishers

Association of American Publishers - PROSE Award for Excellence in Reference Works

"The Atlas is the Rosetta Stone of slave historiography, making legible through maps and charts the mass of data that, at long last, allows us to grapple with and interpret the strange and intricate history of the slave trade in African human beings to the New World between 1501 and 1866. If there were Pulitzer Prizes for databases, this would win, hands down."—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

"One of the most ambitious books of this--or any other--publishing season: a fascinating, horrifying, beautifully put-together atlas of the transatlantic slave trade."—Very Short List

Very Short List

“This is a major work of enormous consequence, without parallel in the literature, deeply researched, highly original, and of immeasurable value.”—Harm J. de Blij, Michigan State University

Harm J. de Blij

“This is an important project that will add greatly to our understanding about the major, long-term patterns of trade between Africa and the Americas, help to map the African Diaspora, and place the transatlantic slave trade in larger world history context.”—Steve Behrendt, Victoria University of Wellington

Steve Behrendt

"This is a highly original work and represents a major contribution to historical analysis. There are no comparable works on this topic."—Stanley Engerman, University of Rochester

Stanley Engerman

"The Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade is a dramatic step forward in the cartographic representation of the slave trade, tracing the flow of captives in much greater detail and with more precision than ever before. This atlas also systematically links African ports to American ports and hinterland African states to the ports from which their slaves were exported: an important step and a reminder that a great deal of the slave trade began deep in Africa."—John Thornton, author of Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800

John Thornton

"Sophisticated and erudite, the maps and the introductions to them offer the best and most accessible interpretations on various aspects of the transatlantic slave trade. Full of insights and new findings, the strong analysis and evidence presented will create a permanent distinguished stamp on the book, confirming it as a groundbreaking text for both beginners and advanced students."—Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

Toyin Falola

"These magnificent maps—all 189—document almost every conceivable aspect of one of the world's worst crimes. An epic and gruesome drama receives a fitting representation. A superb contribution to scholarship."—Philip D. Morgan, Johns Hopkins University

Philip D. Morgan

"A brilliant rendition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. This atlas is essential to the study of chattel slavery. No student of slavery should be without it."—Ira Berlin, University of Maryland

Ira Berlin

"A monumental chronicle of this historical tragedy, one that records some 35,000 individual slaving voyages, roughly 80 percent of those made. . . . [This book] is a human document as well as a rigorous accounting. It is filled with moving poems, photographs, letters and diary entries."—Dwight Garner, New York Times

New York Times - Dwight Garner

"This marvelous book will change how people think of the slave trade. It deserves every accolade it is likely to get."—Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs

— Nicolas van de Walle

Foreign Affairs

"A monumental chronicle of this historical tragedy, one that records some 35,000 individual slaving voyages, roughly 80 percent of those made. . . . [This book] is a human document as well as a rigorous accounting. It is filled with moving poems, photographs, letters and diary entries."-- Dwight Garner, New York Times

— Dwight Garner

New York Times

Eltis (history & principal investigator for the Electronic Slave Trade Database Project, Emory Univ.) and Richardson (economic history & director, Wilberforce Inst. for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, Univ. of Hull, England) have transformed the massive collection of data derived from nearly 35,000 transatlantic slave voyages contained at slavevoyages.org into an atlas of 189 full-color maps. These are divided into seven sections that explore various economic, logistical, and human aspects of the trade, including "Nations Transporting Slaves from Africa, 1501–1867"; "Ports Outfitting Voyages in the Transatlantic Slave Trade"; "The African Coastal Origins of Slaves and the Links Between Africa and the Atlantic World"; "The Experience of the Middle Passage"; "The Destinations of Slaves in the Americas and Their Links with the Atlantic World"; and "Abolition and Suppression of the Transatlantic Slave Trade." The interpretative text is authoritative yet suitable for general readers and accompanied by contemporary illustrations and quotations from related documents and publications representing both slavers and slaves. Statistical tables and a time line are included but, oddly, no index. Previously, James Walvin's Atlas of Slavery (Longman, 2005) was the only recent cartographic resource dealing with this subject. However, it is a more general overview of the practice worldwide and includes the 20th century in its scope. BOTTOM LINE Eltis and Richardson have produced a landmark, detailed analysis of the four-centuries-long, intercontinental dimension of the slave trade. Their atlas is highly recommended for public and academic library reference and history collections.—Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL

Library Journal