Slave Market Auction, 1856

Slave sale, Charleston, South Carolina. A slave market is a place where slaves are bought and sold. These markets became a key phenomenon in the history of slavery, particularly in the Arab slave trade, Caribbean slave trade, and the interregional slave trade of the United States. The Atlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. In the US, the domestic slave trade had become a major economic activity by 1815, and lasted until the 1860s. Between 1830 and 1840 nearly 250, 000 slaves were taken across state lines. In the 1850s more than 193, 000 were transported, and historians estimate nearly one million in total took part in the forced migration of this new Middle Passage. By 1860 the slave population in the United States had reached 4 million. The Illustrated London News, November 29, 1856

Picture No

12696656

Media ID

47672015

Size

4500px x 3065px (2.1MB)

Credit

LOC/Science Source/Mary Evans