Distribution
of African Slaves in the Americas during the Atlantic Slave Trade
Chart showing the distribution of African slaves in the Americas during
the Atlantic Trade, 1450-1870. Based on information contained in The
African Slave Trade by Philip Curtin.
Conservative estimates conclude that upwards of 10 million Africans survived the Middle Passage and were enslaved in the Americas. Indeed, of the first 6.5 million people who crossed the Atlantic and settled in the Americas, 5.5 million were African. Over 90% of these Africans were taken to South America and Caribbean Island. Almost as many were sent to the island of Barbados as to the United States, while almost nine times as many were enslaved in Brazil as in the United States.