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Philip Curtin

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Philip D. Curtin was an American historian of Africa, the Atlantic world, and the history of slavery. His book "The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census" (1969) used shipping and port records to estimate the number of Africans transported across the Atlantic, producing a figure of roughly 9.5 million people. The study helped establish quantitative demographic analysis as an important method in Atlantic slave-trade scholarship.

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What is Philip Curtin's The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census about?

The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census, published in 1969, used shipping and port records to estimate the scale of the transatlantic slave trade. Curtin treated the trade as a historical system that could be reconstructed from quantitative evidence.

Why is Philip Curtin's census important to slavery research?

It was an influential attempt to measure how many Africans were transported across the Atlantic using documentary records. Later scholars revised and debated parts of the estimate, but the book helped establish quantitative study of the slave trade.

What areas of history did Philip Curtin study?

Curtin studied African history, the Atlantic world, slavery, and global migration. His research connected African societies and the slave trade with wider patterns of commerce and empire.

What sources did Curtin use in The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census?

He relied heavily on shipping records, port records, and related documentary evidence. These sources allowed him to compare voyages and estimate the volume of forced migration across the Atlantic.

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