Routes to Slavery

The scale of the Atlantic slave trade has been a central issue in recent debates over transatlantic slavery from 1500 to 1867. Research has generated a vast amount of data on slaving voyages. Containing records of some 25,000 slaving voyages between 1595 and 1867, this data set forms the basis of most of the papers included in this collection. These are complemented by other papers which embody quantitative analysis by examining issues relating to the ethnicity of slaves. In addition to presenting new evidence on mortality trends in the slave trade and on African influences on the history of American slave societies, the volume raises important questions about how slaves reconstructed their identities outside of their homeland.