Atlas of the transatlantic slave trade

This handsome volume cartographically represents the gruesome transatlantic slave trade between 1501 and 1867. The atlas contains 189 readable maps of the slave trade divided into seven parts: an introduction; nations trading slaves; ports outfitting voyages; coastal origins of slaves; the experience of the Middle Passage; the destinations of slaves in the Americas; and slave trade abolition and suppression. The authors draw on 34,934 documented slave voyages representing about 80 percent of all slave ventures. The maps use an equal-area projection method called the Mollweide, which accurately displays the size of Africa compared to the other continents. Supplementary materials include nine tables, scores of illustrations, numerous documentary extracts, a time line, and glossary, with a foreword by David Brion Davis and afterword by David Blight. This is a useful supplementary volume for courses on the transatlantic slave trade, although the statistics are already electronically accessible on The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (CH, Feb'09, 46-3397). The biggest drawback of the atlas is that only one part is devoted to the experience of enslavement--gender, age, mortality, shipboard revolts, liberated Africans--in contrast to current scholarship, where these are major areas of inquiry. All library collections with slave trade studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates, graduates, and general readers. J. R. Kerr-Ritchie Howard University

*Starred Review* Based on the groundbreaking, free Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, which tracks approximately 35,000 slave-trade voyages (about 80 percent of all of them ever made), the information presented here is a result of a collaboration between African American studies programs at Harvard and Emory Universities and features contributions from scholars from all over the world. The atlas is organized around the 189 maps that were created especially for this volume. The maps, in turn, are broken down into six major categories: Nations Transporting Slaves from Africa, 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 scope of coverage is from 1501 to 1867. Users looking for statistics will be delighted by the plethora of tables and charts, ranging from the broad to the specific. An example of the former is Estimated Number of Slaves Carried on Vessels Leaving Major Coastal Regions of Africa, while an example of the latter is List of Sick and Dying Slaves on Board Ship Brandenbourg, 1791-1792. Yet the personal and human side of the story of the slave trade is not buried under numbers here. Numerous examples of primary resources, such as poems, diary entries, and contemporaneous literary selections, are included. Photographs of artifacts, like metal branding irons and handwritten records of deaths on specific voyages, lend poignancy to the story. Information is presented in small, easily digestible bits, making this appropriate for students, yet the maps and tables are detailed enough to be of use to serious academic researchers. The large size of the volume, along with its gorgeous, colorful maps and illustrations, makes this nearly as much a work of art as a reference work, and it would be an excellent addition to nearly any reference collection.--Tosko, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.