AM103, ‘Slavery and Race –
Quantitative and Cartographical Approaches’
Hands-on class
You’ll be working in pairs for this class, two to a computer. A series of activities are
listed below for you to work through in order. Try to complete as many as you can.
Please write your names at the top of this sheet and your answers to the questions
(which appear in bold) in the boxes. I’ll be collecting in these worksheets at the end
of the class. If you get stuck or have any questions, just ask!
Start by going to the web-site of the ‘The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database’:
http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces.
A. Interpreting maps: Patterns of the trans-Atlantic slave trade
1. Go to the drop-down menu ‘Assessing the Slave Trade’ and select
‘Introductory Maps’.
2. Look through the maps in order to answer the following questions:
a) What were the three most significant regions in the Americas where
enslaved Africans were disembarked?
b) What are the most significant patterns within the trans-Atlantic slave
trade (maps 1 and 9 will be particularly useful here)?
B. Interpreting statistics: Estimates of the trans-Atlantic slave trade
1. Go to the drop-down menu ‘Assessing the Slave Trade’ and select
‘Estimates’.
2. Change the Rows to ‘100-year periods’, Columns to ‘Broad disembarkation
regions’ and Cells to ‘Embarked/Disembarked’.
3. Click the ‘Show’ button.
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4. What is the difference between the total number of ‘Embarked’ and
‘Disembarked’ and how might we explain this?
5. Which broad American region (Mainland North America, Caribbean,
Spanish Americas, Brazil) was the destination for most enslaved
Africans? Which of these regions saw the greatest imports of enslaved
people in each century?
6. Which century saw the greatest number of enslaved Africans brought to
the Americas and why did it decline after this?
7. Which part of the Caribbean was the destination for most enslaved
Africans? Which of these parts saw the greatest imports of enslaved
people in each century?
C. Searching the database: Slave resistance
We’ll now try searching the database for voyages that meet particular criteria.
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1. Go to the drop-down menu ‘Voyages Database’ and select ‘Search the
Voyages Database’.
2. Click the ‘Results’ tab.
3. Under the ‘Basic variables’ (on the left), go to ‘Voyage Outcome’ and select
‘African resistance’.
4. In the ‘Current query’ box below, click on ‘Select’ and tick the ‘Slave
insurrection’ box.
5. Click the ‘Search’ box.
6. This will produce a list of voyages on which the enslaved people
revolted. What are the names of the earliest and latest vessels in the
database on which this occurred?
7. Click the ‘Tables’ button.
8. Under where it says ‘Table’, change the Rows to ‘25-year periods’, Columns
to ‘Broad disembarkation regions’ and Cells to ‘Number of voyages –
embarked slaves’.
9. Click the ‘Show’ button.
10. Which route from Africa witnessed the most insurrections on slave
ships? Which period saw the most?
D. Creating and interpreting a graph: Enslaved children
1. In the ‘Current query’ box on the left, click the red X box (to cancel the slave
insurrections search) and then the ‘Search’ button. You have now selected
every voyage in the database.
2. Click the ‘Custom graphs’ tab.
3. Click the ‘XY Graphs’ tab.
4. Under where it says ‘Chart setup’, choose ‘Year arrived with slaves’ for the X
axis and ‘Percentage children’ for the Y axis. Click ‘Add series’.
5. Under ‘Current series’ delete anything other than ‘Percentage children’ by
ticking the little box and clicking ‘Remove selected’.
6. Click the ‘Show’ button.
7. Did slave traders tend to carry enslaved African adults or children?
Describe the graph, including the overall trend.
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E. Creating and interpreting a pie graph: Total slaves
1. Click the ‘Custom graphs’ tab.
2. Click the ‘Pie Graphs’ tab.
3. Under where it says ‘Chart setup’, choose ‘Broad region of slave landing’ for
the X axis and ‘Total slaves disembarked’ for the Y axis. Click ‘Add series’.
4. Under ‘Current series’ delete anything other than ‘Total slaves disembarked’
by ticking the little box and clicking ‘Remove selected’.
5. Click the ‘Show’ button.
6. Which earlier answer does chart this illustrate?
F. Creating and interpreting a timeline: Voyages
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click the ‘Timeline’ tab.
Choose ‘Number of voyages’ for the Display variable.
Click the ‘Show’ button.
Describe the timeline.
G. Interpreting a textual database: The African Names Database
1. Finally, I would like you to spend some time exploring ‘The African Names
Database’.
2. Go to the drop-down menu ‘Resources’ and select ‘African Names Database’.
3. You will see the recorded names of enslaved Africans. Search for some of
the names that you will see like ‘Quaco’.
4. In the lecture, I mentioned the slave narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the
Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789). Can you
find its author in the database? What might this tell us?
5. Can you think what this data might be used for?
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