One provision of the 1808 Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves required that all enslaved individuals being transported from one US port to another be tracked via detailed manifests issued at the port of departure and verified at the port of arrival. Between 1819 and 1860 nearly 71,000 individuals were transported from US coastal ports along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans.
The map depicts coastal routes taken to New Orleans. Hover the cursor over the red port icons to view the number of enslaved men, women, and children shipped to the New Orleans market over time.