Wiencek, Henry

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Mapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10) - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/mapping-the-slave-trade-the-new-archive-no-10/[6/15/2020 9:19:58 AM]"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William FaulknerNOT EVEN PAST     THE PUBLIC HISTORIANMore from The Public HistorianBOOKSMore BooksDIGITAL HISTORYMapping The Slave Trade: TheNew Archive (No. 10)by Henry WiencekRoughly 12 million Africans were forcibly transported to Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas.It’s hard to conceptualize so many men and women being uprooted from their homes. But EmoryUniversity’s Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database helps users understand the vast proportions of thisperverse exodus. The site pieces together historical data from 35,000 slave voyages between 1500 and1900 and arranges them onto graphs and maps, offering readers a geographic, demographic, and evenenvironmental context for the slave trade.Screenshot of “Overview of the slave trade out of Africa, 1500-1900” (Emory University)While people may assume that one singular “slave trade” took place, the database maps demonstratethat many existed. And not just across the Atlantic, but around the globe. Overview of the slave trade outof Africa, 1500-1900 charts the routes slave traders followed from Africa to various international ports. Butyou might be surprised at some of their destinations—traders ventured from East Africa to Arabia, Yemen,the Persian Gulf, and even various ports in India. Although the largest number of slaving ships do land inBrazil or the Caribbean, this map demonstrates that Africa’s slave trade was very much feeding a worldmarket. The variety of international ports participating in the trade is also striking. This was not a blackmarket undertaken by a depraved few, but rather a thriving worldwide industry that brought ships,employment and wealth to numerous communities on both sides of the Atlantic. The maps make this pointvisually with striking impact. Like 458TweetMaking History: Houston’s “Spirit of theConfederacy”May 06, 2020America for Americans: A History ofXenophobia in the United States byErika Lee (2019)April 20, 2020Más de 72: Digital Archive ReviewBOOKS FILMS & MEDIA THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN BLOG TEXAS ABOUTSTUDENTSOUR/STORIES15 MINUTE HISTORYMapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10) - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/mapping-the-slave-trade-the-new-archive-no-10/[6/15/2020 9:19:58 AM]More from Digital HistoryFILMS & MEDIAMore from Films & MediaTEXASMore from TexasScreenshot of “Wind and ocean currents of the Atlantic basins” (Emory University)The site also reminds readers that the process of moving enslaved Africans across the ocean was asmuch an environmental process as an economic one. The map, Wind and ocean currents of the Atlanticbasins reveals how oceanic forces played a role in determining the travel routes for slave ships. Red andblue lines respectively denote winds and currents swirling between Africa and the Americas, facilitatingparticular geographic courses better suited for crossing the ocean. These natural forces effectivelycreated two separate “slave-trading systems,” as the site identifies them: one originating in Europe andNorth America and the other originating in Brazil. Historians have certainly detailed the racism and greedmotivating the slave trade, but comparatively little time examining the environmental processes that madeit possible. Particular centers of trade emerged along the coasts of Brazil, the Caribbean and West Africato meet an economic need, but also to harness the currents and winds essential to moving so many menand women such vast distances.  And here too, the visual character of the map makes it easy to see hownatural forces worked to shape the historical events.Numerical timeline graphing the number of African captives in the trans-Atlantic slave trade between 1500 to 1866 (Emory University)March 16, 2020Ayka (Dir: Sergei Dvortsevoy, 2018)October 02, 2019A (Queer) Rebel Wife In TexasMarch 11, 2020Mapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10) - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/mapping-the-slave-trade-the-new-archive-no-10/[6/15/2020 9:19:58 AM]In addition to these visual aids, the site also includes a more quantitative rendering of this nefariousbusiness. A timeline graphs the number of captives who embarked and disembarked between 1500 and1867. Users can make the information even more precise by expanding or contracting the time frame ormanipulating different variables, including sites of disembarkation, embarkation, and nationality of theslave ship. This visual tool reveals a steadily growing trade, with the number of embarked Africanspeaking at around 115,000 in 1792. You will also find a chilling disparity between the number of“Embarked” and “Disembarked” Africans in the statistics—a powerful indication of the deadly voyagesthese individuals were forced to endure.A white slave trader inspecting an African male up for sale, ca. 1854 (Wikimedia Commons)The sheer numbers documented in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database are astonishing. With muchof the globe participating, an elaborate network of ports, ships and trade routes uprooted millions ofAfrican souls with ruthless efficiency. Some users might find the site’s emphasis on graphs and maps tobe sanitizing or dehumanizing to the enslaved individuals—too many numbers and figures, not enoughpeople. But the story this site wants to tell is a big and highly important one. The African slave trade had aglobal reach; it was an environmental force as well as an economic one; and it displaced millions uponmillions of men and women from their homes. Visualizing the statistics makes the global reach of theirhuman toll palpable in new ways.   Earlier editions of the New Archive:Charley Binkow reads through declassified CIA documents relating to the creation of Radio Free EuropeAnd Henry Wiencek explores a new, more visual, way of understanding emancipation in America Posted March 27, 2014Mapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10) - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/mapping-the-slave-trade-the-new-archive-no-10/[6/15/2020 9:19:58 AM]19th century 20th Century African American History american history Asia Asia & Middle East book review Brazil British Empire China Civil War Cold War Colonialism communism cultural history digital history Early Modern Europe Europe film gender history History of Science immigration India Islam Latin America Latin American History Mexico Not Even Past Public History race religion Russia slavery Texas Texas History Texas History Day Transnational Twentieth Century History United States US History USSR Womens History world history World War IINOT EVEN PAST is produced byThe Department of HistoryTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN We are supported by the College of Liberal ArtsAnd our READERSDONATECONTACTAll content © 2010-present NOT EVEN PAST and the authors,unless otherwise notedSign up to receive bi-weekly email updatesMore 1400s to 1700s, 1800s, Africa, Blog, Digital History, Empire, Environment, Europe, Slavery/Emancipation,Transnational, United StatesBOOKS FILMS & MEDIA THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN BLOG TEXAS

Mapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10)

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Mapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10)

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