Feb 11, 2011: Map of US slavery

Shown here is the percentage of the population that were slaves in the 1860 census. The darkest (!) counties shown are above 80% slaves.

It's even more impressive shown here as a huge image that you can zoom around on.

Interesting how slavery follows the Mississippi river and is centered around the cities in a lot of places. I suppose only the wealthy could afford to own slaves, and the wealth was near the cities.

I always thought of slavery as being centered around rural agriculture, but this map shows that was not necessarily always the case.

Land in the Mississippi Delta was cheap (Gov't wanted people to settle there after it had been purchased from the French) and proved to be incredibly fertile. They needed a lot of labor to clear the land and make it profitable.

Interesting that by 1850 it is estimated that 100,000 slaves (cite) had escaped via the Underground Railroad. My town was a noted stop...I know of one house in town that people say was a stop.

Old maps are so cool. I look at my parent's old globe and everything has changed. There isn't a huge area called U.S.S.R. anymore, for instance.

UR map:

Thanks for the link UT! Very interesting.

It's not citues, it commercial farming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt Interesting how slavery follows the Mississippi river and is centered around the cities in a lot of places. I suppose only the wealthy could afford to own slaves, and the wealth was near the cities....

I was thinking the same thing hampor.