Mainland North America Research Paper

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Query: How many slave voyages arrived to Mainland North America between 1800-1860? Are there any patterns regarding the principal regions of purchase during this era? I chose to find out how many slave voyages went to Mainland North America between 1800-1860 and if there were any patterns regarding the principal regions of slave purchase during said era. Certain patterns could include: the year arrived with slave, principal region of slave landing, and the principal region of slave purchase and how they compare/contrast during this time period. To find more information on my query I used the online Atlantic Slave Trade Database, which I will touch upon later. This question is interesting because it could potentially raise more questions…show more content…
The others were Senegambia, West Central Africa, Southeast Africa, and other regions of Africa in that order. The Gold Coast remained the most popular region throughout the entire period, which was 1800-1807. Slave purchases from Southeast Africa and Senegambia occurred strictly in 1805 only. All of the other principal regions of slave purchase were either spread out or only visited once except for Sierra Leone, which was only strictly visited during 1806-1807. Keep in mind that we are only looking at the voyages that brought back slaves to Mainland North America during the last portion of the legal international trade. A possible reason for the steady popularity of certain regions such as the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone could be because of consistency of “product”. This would be especially important during this time period since the international trade of slaves was coming to a close in North America. With the trade coming to a close it might be safer to visit regions that consistently had a good amount of slaves to buy instead of risking visiting somewhere else first and wasting precious time. The international trade of slaves was prohibited from 1808 but the internal trade of slaves carried on for years to come. The reason I set the dates from 1800-1860 was because I was hoping the database might have data on some illegal voyages during that…show more content…
From that point I set the dates I wanted to look at and chose the certain variables needed to get the information I was searching for. I didn’t have to change much actually. All I did was set the dates and then changed the variable for the region I wanted which for me was Mainland North America. Once I got my information I was searching for there were even extra tabs to show the data in a different way such as tables, timelines, and maps. There are multiple different variables you can choose to narrow or broaden your specific question. Some of them include: Voyage Outcome, Voyage Itinerary, Voyage Dates, Slave (numbers), and more. Once you have found your data you can even use that data to give you more specific information. Maybe you want to know more about a specific vessel that was used or a region that was visited. Difficulty in finding the data you are looking for could be a cause of the specificity of your question or the unfamiliarity with the database itself. I would recommend playing around with the different variables within the database to see what kind of data your searches yield. That way once you are searching for your specific query the process will be a lot simpler. The online Atlantic Slave Trade Database is a great tool to use for research especially if you are already reading up on the subject at hand. I believe the database is a great way to see more of the numbers aspect of the

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