The Geography of Slavery

The history of slavery in North America is a two-fold story. First, it is the story of how half-a-million enslaved African people were transported over sea and land to the present day United States from 1600 to 1860. They were part of a much larger group of possibly 15 million enslaved Africans brought in chains from western Africa to the Americas, with the majority going to South and Central America and the islands of the Caribbean. Second, it is the story of the dramatic impact these enslaved people and the institution of slavery had on the history and landscape of the nation. America's enslaved population grew the lion's share of American crops for export, were concentrated on plantations in a rich agricultural region in the southern states, were subject to a legal system that treated them as property rather than as people, resisted enslavement by running away, and were forcibly bought and sold in a domestic slave trade that shamed the nation in the years before the Civil War. Much of these two related stories are visually depicted in maps and landscapes available on this site.

The fact that white slaveholders in the states of the upper South raised and sold enslaved blacks to white buyers in the newly formed states of the lower South is principally a lesson in geography. The fact that half of the states in North America abolished slavery by 1850 while half held tight to it as the very basis of a southern economy and way of life is also a lesson in geography. And the fact that the slave states and non-slave states of the United States fought a bloody Civil War principally over the issue of slavery's spread to the unorganized territories west of the Mississippi River is most certainly a lesson in geography.

We suggest that you begin your exploration of this geography resource by reading the themed essay in the history section, Slavery in America: An Overview, for a holistic look at slavery from many angles. Then examine each of the maps on the site, beginning with the schematic below that depicts the primary Atlantic slave routes. Teaching materials will be developed for all these maps, and many others, in the months to come.

If you would like to develop a map resource or create a lesson plan for this site, please click here! All teachers are paid for the work they contribute.