Mapping the Slave Trade: 1556-1823 – A Digital Humanities Project

“Mapping the Slave Trade…” is a digital humanities project of the African Historical Graphics Archive for the in-depth study of Africa, American, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American history.  For a brief description of the context as well as some potential applications of the project in exploring history and understanding our current circumstance in the Atlantic world see:

This excerpt was drawn from a program of tribute to the important life-long work of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University.

See related:

• Curating a Fractured Past: The Role of Museums, Maps, Manuscripts, Prints, Rare Books, Photos, Artifacts, Literature & the Arts in Embracing Our Common Humanity on a Finite Planet
  

For further discussions of the integrative and restorative role of museums/art/artifacts & maps see:

• Future of Africa-based Curatorial Practice Workshop | Harvard University Center for African Studies

as well as:

• Maps, Stones & Plants…” – Harvard University – History Design Studio – 2019 Group Exhibit
• Maps, Stones & Plants: Agents of Empire and the Ecology of the Atlantic Trade [Directory web page.]
  
• ‘My Nigerian great-grandfather sold slaves’ – BBC News
• Recalling Some Aspects of America’s Immigration Policies in Black History Month | EV & N – 238 – CCTV
• A Tribute to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. …a Cambridge~Global Living Legend
• The Historical Origins, Evolution and Future Dimensions of Africa’s Recurrent Food Crises
• Old Maps & New Narratives: Digitizing Historical Maps to Analyze New Dimensions of the Atlantic Trade
• The Globalization of Food Production and the Origins of Africa’s Food Crisis
• Castles and Dungeons on the Coasts and Islands: Retracing Some Steps in the Atlantic Trade
• The Atlantic Trade and Africa: The Portuguese, the Spanish & the Dutch – Part 1
• The Atlantic Trade and Africa: The Portuguese, the Spanish & the Dutch – Part 2
• Old Maps, Picks and Shovels: Steps Toward An Archaeology of the Atlantic Slave Trade 
• Historical Cartography and the Archaeology of the Atlantic Trade
• A New Look at Old Maps: The Islands, the “Prior Plantations” and the Provisioning of the African Maritime Trade
• Historical Cartography in the Digital Age: Imaging Senegal – The Last 500 Years ~ New Technologies, New Questions, New Communities
• Africa & World Historical Cartography: Old Maps, New Technologies, New Questions & New Research Communities | EV & N 445 | CCTV
• Early Days in African Historical Cartography ~ From the Portolan Charts to Printed Maps: Imagining and Imaging Africa in the Atlantic System – Part 1
• Early Days in African Historical Cartography: From the Portolan Charts to Printed Maps: Imagining and Imaging Africa in the Atlantic System – Part 2

See related news of recent report:

• Why Schools Fail To Teach Slavery’s ‘Hard History’ : NPR February 7, 2018

* * * *

“Mapping the Slave Trade…”  is part of a larger scholarly collaborative known as the  “African Historical Graphics Archive”

See related events:

• Colloquium with Mary Hicks: ‘Africa/Brazil: Black Mariners and the World of South Atlantic Slavery’ November 7, 2018
  and
• Cheryl Finley – Events – Harvard Book Store

See international dimensions of the problem:

• Archivists race to digitize slavery records before the history is lost | Public Radio International

Important related online resources:

• Afriterra – The Cartographic Free Library — [an online research and reference facility of for digital access to maps and other primary source materials relating to the study of African history and its role in the world from the late early-modern period through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries].

and

• Slave Voyages -This digital memorial raises questions about the largest slave trades in history and offers access to the documentation available to answer them. European colonizers turned to Africa for enslaved laborers to build the cities and extract the resources of the Americas. They forced millions of mostly unnamed Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas, and from one part of the Americas to another. Analyze these slave trades and view interactive maps, timelines, and animations to see the dispersal in action.
  See particularly:

• Introductory Maps
• Slave Ship in 3D video
• Timelines of estimates
• Timelapse animation

For a general introduction to the study of the Atlantic slave trade in the digital age see:

• History in the Digital Age: New Technologies, New Data, New Insights, New Questions

* * * * *

Learn more about teaching Africa subjects:

• 2019 African Studies Association – Teacher’s Workshop

See related:

• Africa Map Circle 
• Commerce and Cartography on Colonial Frontiers: Reexamining American & African History ~ through Maps
• An Integrated Art, Historical Map and Photographic Collection for the Study of African Culture
• New Material for Teachers of American and African History: The Historical Cartography of Colonialism