The Rise and Fall of American Slavery

The Spread of U.S. Slavery maps the population of slaves at county level in the USA from 1790–1860. Using the timeline on the map you can visualize how slavery spread during the nineteenth century from the eastern seaboard states to the southern states, particularly along the Mississippi River valley.

If you select a county on the map you can view details on the slave population for the selected year and also information about the percentage of slaves, free African Americans and the free population. Using the drop-down menu at the bottom of the map you can also view choropleth layers on the map showing the density of the slave population and data about free African Americans and the free population.


Where the spread of U.S. Slavery shows how slavery grew during the nineteenth century Visualizing Emancipation shows how slavery came to an end during the American Civil War. Visualizing Emancipation allows users to explore and discover patterns in emancipation through the use of contemporary documents and primary sources.

The map calls these patterns of emancipation 'event types' and Visualizing Emancipation allows you to view these patterns in any combination or on their own. The patterns include emancipation event types leading from the destruction of slavery in law, through military action and through the impetus and actions of enslaved people throughout the U.S. South.

As well as exploring the map by these patterns of emancipation you can explore the mapped events using the map's time-line. The time-line allows you to filter the events displayed on the map by any month between 1860 and 1865.

Also See:

The Jamaican Slave Revolt Map - mapping Tacky's Rebellion and its brutal suppression by the British Army
The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes - an animated map of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database.