Mapping the Coastal Slave Trade

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 seventy-one thousand individuals were transported from US coastal ports along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans.

The map below 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.

Data Source: Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807–1860. National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication M1895, 30 rolls. Records of the US Customs Service, Record Group 36. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration.

Map Source: The United States and Territories in 1850. Learn NC, UNC School of Education, 2009. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/11579.

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Year	# of slaves	Year	# of slaves
1819	—	1840	—
1820	—	1841	—
1821	—	1842	—
1822	—	1843	—
1823	—	1844	—
1824	—	1845	—
1825	—	1846	1
1826	—	1847	10
1827	—	1848	4
1828	—	1849	7
1829	—	1850	1
1830	—	1851	34
1831	—	1852	53
1832	—	1853	88
1833	—	1854	166
1834	—	1855	24
1835	—	1856	133
1836	—	1857	92
1837	—	1859	—
1838	—	1860	49
1839	—	TOTAL	662

Year	# of slaves	Year	# of slaves
1819	—	1840	—
1820	—	1841	—
1821	—	1842	—
1822	—	1843	6
1823	—	1844	—
1824	—	1845	—
1825	—	1846	240
1826	—	1847	340
1827	—	1848	37
1828	—	1849	219
1829	—	1850	160
1830	—	1851	277
1831	—	1852	417
1832	—	1853	398
1833	—	1854	224
1834	—	1855	216
1835	—	1856	335
1836	—	1857	261
1837	—	1859	9
1838	—	1860	198
1839	—	TOTAL	3,337

Year	# of slaves	Year	# of slaves
1819	1,348	1840	1,124
1820	604	1841	1,397
1821	2,746	1842	924
1822	5,242	1843	2,437
1823	1,413	1844	1,464
1824	659	1845	3,002
1825	1,668	1846	3,309
1826	1,108	1847	2,774
1827	1,359	1848	593
1828	5,781	1849	2,117
1829	2,931	1850	1,636
1830	1,773	1851	1,623
1831	3,082	1852	1,579
1832	1,342	1853	963
1833	761	1854	573
1834	921	1855	604
1835	4,723	1856	611
1836	3,056	1857	483
1837	66	1859	18
1838	1,669	1860	417
1839	1,088	TOTAL	70,988

Year	# of slaves	Year	# of slaves
1819	22	1840	43
1820	53	1841	59
1821	33	1842	12
1822	42	1843	49
1823	57	1844	70
1824	72	1845	1
1825	113	1846	3
1826	59	1847	3
1827	124	1848	—
1828	1,141	1849	4
1829	703	1850	203
1830	202	1851	—
1831	442	1852	1
1832	31	1853	—
1833	73	1854	—
1834	40	1855	—
1835	45	1856	—
1836	23	1857	—
1837	—	1859	—
1838	21	1860	4
1839	3	TOTAL	3,751

Year	# of slaves	Year	# of slaves
1819	—	1840	40
1820	—	1841	29
1821	37	1842	15
1822	69	1843	58
1823	37	1844	47
1824	10	1845	58
1825	20	1846	62
1826	26	1847	35
1827	31	1848	23
1828	44	1849	63
1829	49	1850	47
1830	60	1851	56
1831	132	1852	38
1832	35	1853	72
1833	—	1854	10
1834	7	1855	28
1835	12	1856	38
1836	81	1857	31
1837	7	1859	—
1838	38	1860	14
1839	36	TOTAL	1,495