“Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database” launched in 2008 in conjunction with Emory University marking the bicentennial of the official end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808. Emory spearheaded the two-year interactive project, which is free to the public.
Plan of the Slaver “Vigilante” from the database Images section
“Voyages” documents the slave trade from Africa to the New World that took place over three centuries – between the 1500s and 1800s – and includes searchable information on nearly 35,000 trips and the names of 70,000 human “cargo.” The voluminous work includes data on more than 95 percent of all voyages that left ports from England – the country with the second-largest slave trade – and documents two-thirds of all slave trade voyages between 1514 and 1866.
Chronicling voyages that ended in Europe, the Caribbean, North America and Brazil, visitors to the site can search the database by voyage or name, or look at estimates of how many people were transported and enslaved. And scholars who discover new information are invited to submit it for the database.
With this database, you can:
– Search the Voyages Database (Look for particular voyages in this database of documented slaving expeditions.)
– Examine estimates of the slave trade (Slaves on documented voyages represent four-fifths of the number who were actually transported.)
– Explore the African names database (This database identifies over 67,000 Africans aboard slave ships, using name, age, gender, origin, and place of embarkation.)
Additional features such as essays, maps, a timeline and chronology are very helpful. There is also a set of annotated links to other collections on slavery on the web.
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