Four hundred years ago the first slave ship docked on North American shores, launching a chapter of the trans-Atlantic trade that saw more than 12.5 million people kidnapped from Africa and sold at ports throughout the Americas. In the United States, their story begins with the Portuguese ship San Juan Bautista, which picked up 350 captured people in what is now Angola in 1619. After illness and a pirate attack took its toll, around 20 African men and women were diverted on an English ship called the White Lion to Point Comfort in Virginia, then a British colony, and sold into slavery.
The rise and fall of slavery
In 1619, a Dutch boat carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. That arduous journey 400 years ago marks the brutal beginning of the slave trade in the United States. The following centuries would see hundreds of thousands of Africans forced into slavery as rebellions, revolutions, and civil war further shaped their fates, and the fate of the nation.
Total number of enslaved people disembarked
year
5K
25K
0
10K
15K
20K
1655
1660
Rise of tobacco
The early tobacco industry relied heavily on indentured white labor. But those impoverished Europeans, unlike Africans, had the chance to win freedom and land at the end of their contracts.
1670
1680
1690
1700
Stono Rebellion (1739 – 1750)
1710
A large slave uprising in the colony of South Carolina resulted in some 75 deaths, legislation making it harder for slaves to assemble or be educated, and a 10-year moratorium on the African slave trade through the port of Charleston.
1720
1730
1740
1750
1760
Fight for US
Independence
(1775 – 1783)
1770
Slave trade slowed to a halt during the Revolutionary War. Many slaves were forced to fight on both sides with the unkept promise of freedom.
1780
1790
1800
1808
15K
20K
25K
5K
10K
0
The trade’s peak and end (1808)
The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 took effect on January 1, 1808. The highest number of enslaved people imported per year—23,864—were brought in throughout 1807 just before the ban took effect.
TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: ATLAS OF SLAVERY; SLAVERYVOYAGES.ORG
The rise and fall of slavery
25,000
The trade’s peak and end (1808)
In 1619, a Dutch boat carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. That arduous journey 400 years ago marks the brutal beginning of the slave trade in the United States. The following centuries would see hundreds of thousands of Africans forced into slavery as rebellions, revolutions, and civil war further shaped their fates, and the fate of the nation.
The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 took effect on January 1, 1808. The highest number of enslaved people imported per year—23,864—
were brought in throughout 1807 just before the ban took effect.
20,000
Total number of enslaved people disembarked
15,000
Stono Rebellion (1739 – 1750)
Fight for US
Independence
(1775 – 1783)
15,000
A large slave uprising in the colony of South Carolina resulted in some 75 deaths, legislation making it harder for slaves to assemble or be educated, and a 10-year moratorium on the African slave trade through the port of Charleston.
Slave trade slowed to a halt during the Revolutionary War. Many slaves were forced to fight on both sides with the unkept promise of freedom.
10,000
10,000
Rise of tobacco
The early tobacco industry relied heavily on indentured white labor. But those impoverished Europeans, unlike Africans, had the chance to win freedom and land at the end of their contracts.
5,000
5,000
0
0
1655
1660
1670
1690
1700
1720
1740
1750
1790
1800
1808
1680
1710
1730
1760
1770
1780
TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: SLAVERYVOYAGES.ORG; ATLAS OF SLAVERY
In the years following, ships transported at least 400,000 slaves from Africa to ports in New England and the southern states. Their free labor allowed the tobacco, cotton, and sugar industires to flourish. The importation of slaves was banned in 1808, but the trade continued. In 1860, a United States census counted nearly four million enslaved people living in the country. The Civil War was fought between abolitionists and the pro-slavery Confederacy, until the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in 1863. Two years later, the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment officially abolished the practice and ended 246 years of slavery.
Slave Ports of the U.S.
By 1776 when the United States severed ties with Great Britain and declared independence, the 13 former colonies had already participated in the Atlantic slave trade for 157 years. A ban on the slave trade would go into effect in 1808, but was often disregarded. By then some 300,000 Africans had already been uprooted and pressed into slavery. Nearly half of them—150,000 people—had been brought in through the country’s largest slave port, Charleston, S.C.
Ports or areas where African enslaved people
were disembarked, 1619-1860
Number of enslaved
people disembarked
(in thousands)
Era of arrival
150
Colonial
100
After U.S.
independence
50
25
10
Both
1
Specific port or area of landing unspecified
Md.
Va.
N.C.
S.C.
Ga.
La.
Fla.
BRITISH
NORTH
AMERICA
DISTRICT
OF MAINE
(MASS.)
200 mi
Vt.
N
N.H.
MASS.
200 km
R.I.
IND.
TERR.
N.Y.
CONN.
N.J.
PA.
DEL.
MIch.
TERR.
MD.
Washington, D.C.
York R.
Ill.
TERR.
IND.
TERR.
VA.
Ohio
Upper James R.
Ky.
N.C.
UNITED STATES
Charleston
S.C.
Tenn.
GA.
la.
TERR.
Savannah
Miss.
TERR.
W. FLA.
FLA.
NEW
SPAIN
(SPAIN)
Orleans TERR.
MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NG STAFF
Boundaries are shown as of 1810.
SOURCES: SLAVE VOYAGES.ORG; IPUMS-NHGIS,
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA
DISTRICT
OF MAINE
(MASS.)
IND.
TERR.
Vt.
Illinois
TERRitory
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
N.H.
Piscataqua R.
Boston
MASS.
New york
MIchigan
TERR.
Rhode Island area
CONN.
Newport
Middletown
New London
New York
Slave Ports of the U.S.
PA.
Perth Amboy
UNITED STATES
Eastern New Jersey
Philadelphia
N.J.
IND. TERR.
Ohio
Delaware R.
By 1776 when the United States severed ties with Great Britain and declared independence, the 13 former colonies had already participated in the Atlantic slave trade for 157 years. A ban on the slave trade would go into effect in 1808, but was often disregarded. By then some 300,000 Africans had already been uprooted and pressed into slavery. Nearly half of them—150,000 people—had been brought in through the country’s largest slave port, Charleston, S.C.
Specific port
or area of landing
unspecified
DEL.
MD.
Annapolis
Md.
North Potomac R.
Londontowne
Washington, D.C.
Oxford
Potomac R.-Va.
Patuxent R.
Va.
Rappahannock R.
S. Potomac R.-Va.
N.C.
Virginia
Hampton
KENTUCKY
S.C.
Upper James R.
louisiana
TERRitory
Lower James R.
Ga.
York R.
La.
Roanoke R.
Fla.
North
carolina
TennESSEE
South
carolina
Mississippi
TERRitory
Tybee Island
Beaufort
Charleston
Ports or areas where African enslaved people
were disembarked, 1619-1860
148,452
Savannah
Georgia
Number of enslaved
people disembarked
(in thousands)
Amelia Island
Mobile
W. FLA.
Biloxi
Pensacola
St. Augustine
New Orleans
150
Era of arrival
FLORIDA
Mississippi R.
Orleans
TERRitory
100
Colonial
La Balize
(SPAIN)
50
After U.S.
independence
25
Gulf of Mexico
10
1
Both
100 mi
MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NG STAFF
Boundaries are shown as of 1810.
SOURCES: SLAVE VOYAGES.ORG; IPUMS-NHGIS,
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
100 km
Key West
As the United States continues to grapple with the legacy of those centuries, archaeology is helping answer some of these questions. Excavations of plantations have turned up artifacts like handmade jewelry and pipes that shed light on the little-known personal lives of enslaved Africans. In 2019, scientists pulled DNA from a 19th century pipe and traced it back to Sierra Leone. In the deep sea, a group of marine archaeologists called Diving With a Purpose is searching for wrecks of slave-carrying ships and parsing the stories of those transported across the Atlantic. Four hundred years after those 20 Angolans arrived, little is known about the millions of enslaved people who shaped America's formative years.
Census of Slavery
The census of 1810, taken every ten years, serves as a record of both the enslaved and free population of the United States at the turn of the century. Although 1808 saw the official end of U.S. involvement in the slave trade, the market for transporting captives throughout the U.S. was thriving. Even in the North, where the practice of slavery had been legislated to a gradual end or abolished, more than 30,000 enslaved people still toiled.
Total enslaved population in states or territories with more than 1,000 enumerated (in thousands)
400
Enslaved population was 1,191,364 in 1810, 16.5 percent of the
total population.
392,518
300
Mass., N.H., Ohio, and Vt. had no enslaved population.
200
100
0
Enslaved population density by county
Each dot represents 200 people
(placement random)
BRITISH
NORTH
AMERICA
DISTRICT
OF MAINE
(MASS.)
N.H.
N
Vt.
200 mi
MASS.
200 km
R.I.
IND.
TERR.
N.Y.
CONN.
N.J.
PA.
DEL.
MIch.
TERR.
MD.
Ill.
TERR.
Washington, D.C.
Ohio
IND.
TERR.
VA.
N.C.
Ky.
UNITED STATES
S.C.
Tenn.
la.
TERR.
Miss.
TERR.
GA.
W. FLA.
FLA.
NEW
SPAIN
(SPAIN)
Orleans
TERR.
MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NG STAFF
Boundaries are shown as of 1810.
SOURCES: SLAVE VOYAGES.ORG; IPUMS-NHGIS,
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA
DISTRICT
OF MAINE
(MASS.)
IND.
TERR.
Illinois
TERRitory
Vt.
N.H.
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Boston
Albany
MASS.
MIchigan
TERR.
New york
CONN.
Newport
Detroit
Detroit
R.I.
Detroit
Census of Slavery
New York
PENNSYLVANIA
NEW
JERSEY
louisiana
TERRitory
Philadelphia
INDIANA
TERR.
The census of 1810, taken every ten years, serves as a record of both the enslaved and free population of the United States at the turn of the century. Although 1808 saw the official end of U.S. involvement in the slave trade, the market for transporting captives throughout the U.S. was thriving. Even in the North, where the practice of slavery had been legislated to a gradual end or abolished, more than 30,000 enslaved people still toiled.
Ohio
Dover
Annapolis
Chillicothe
DEL.
Washington, D.C.
MD.
UNITED STATES
Richmond
Virginia
Ky.
Williamsburg
Raleigh
Tenn.
North
carolina
Columbia
South
carolina
Enslaved population density by county
Mississippi
TERRitory
Milledgeville
Each dot represents 100 people
(placement random)
Charleston
Georgia
NEW
SPAIN
Total enslaved population by state or territory, 1810
W. FLA.
400,000
Enslaved population was 1,191,364 in 1810, 16.5 percent of the total population.
392,518
New Orleans
FLORIDA
300,000
Orleans
TERRitory
100 mi
Mass., N.H., Ohio, and Vt. had no enslaved population.
(SPAIN)
100 km
200,000
Gulf of Mexico
100,000
MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NG STAFF
Boundaries are shown as of 1810.
SOURCES: SLAVE VOYAGES.ORG; IPUMS-NHGIS,
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
0