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| The Atlantic Slave Trade 1527-1867 The Du Bois Institute Database
A Workshop of the
Harvard University |
| The slave ship Marie Séraphique, from Nantes, shown off the coast of Cap Français, St.. Domingue, in 1773 "on the opening day of sale, third voyage from Angola, 1772-1773." Four voyages of this ship—1769, 1770, 1772, and 1773—appear in the Du Bois Institute data set, as does its captain, J.-B. Fautrel Gaugy. |
This two-day Workshop was devoted to analysis and interpretation of the Atlantic slave trade, focused on the new database of 27,224 slave voyages, 1562-1867, compiled under the sponsorship of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. This compilation, now in machine-readable form to be published on CD-ROM by the Cambridge University Press, is the product of a team of scholars—David Eltis of Queens University, Canada, David Richardson of Hull University, England, Herbert Klein of Columbia University, and Stephen Behrendt, now at the University of Victoria, New Zealand. The Introduction to the CD-ROM, now scheduled for publication in mid-1999, has been made available online by Cambridge University Press in an Acrobat format. The data set, representing voyages by all the major transatlantic carriers, covers approximately two-thirds of all voyages in the history of the trade and includes characteristics of the vessels, numbers of slaves, ports of departure and arrival, crew size, and other significant variables.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Workshop Program
Saturday, April 25
Session 1, 9:30 a.m.
Forum Room, Lamont Library
Opening RemarksProfessor Bernard Bailyn, Harvard UniversityThe Du Bois Institute Database: What Is It? What's in It? How Can It Be Used? Explanations and Illustrations
David Eltis, Queen's University, Canada
David Richardson, Hull University, England
Stephen Behrendt, Charles Warren Center, Harvard University
Herbert Klein, Columbia University
Luncheon, 12:30 p.m. Great Space, Robinson Hall
Session 2, 2:00 p.m.
Forum Room, Lamont Library
The Database: Exploration; Illustration; DiscussionReception, 5:00 p.m., Great Space, Robinson HallProfessors Eltis, Richardson, Behrendt, and Klein
Sunday, April 26
Session 3, 9:30 a.m.
Barker Center, Room 110
InterpretationsJoseph A. Miller, University of Virginia Philip D. Morgan, College of William & MaryResponses and Discussion
Luncheon, 1:00 p.m., Barker Center, Room 110
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© 1998 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College.Created and last revised March 23, 1999.