

Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Visualization - benbreen
http://mcb226.github.io/SlaveTrade/

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dandelany
This is a neat project - the different heatmaps are an intuitive way to
present the data. However, I really think these need a date slider or some
other way to control the animation. I've made a few projects like this and
have come to the realization that animation without a method for "scrubbing"
ends up requiring you to wait around to see the data you're interested in -
this pretty much makes it just a "cool movie" and not a tool which lends
itself to any real analysis.

Adding a date slider would be a pretty simple change that would add a lot to
this visualization - see for example [http://labs.enigma.io/climate-change-
map/](http://labs.enigma.io/climate-change-map/)

Edit: also just noticed a bug - If you click the animate button, it doesn't
turn into a "pause" button. If you click Animate twice, the dates start
jumping around strangely.

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OliverM
I'm not so sure about heat maps here. They don't suit the zooming scale at all
when viewing the entire map. For example, the first map suggests that Ireland
was a major driver of slaving trades at the full-globe scale, which is absurd.

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DrScump
The data on importation makes no sense at all. There should have been a HUGE
drop in arrivals of slaves at US ports after 1808, when importation was
banned. The animation shows no visible drop at all, instead showing a roughly
flat rate through the Civil War.

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bane
I think this is cool, but I think it would be more effective as a directed
graph, with edges sized compared to the volume of traffic. It doesn't even
have to be on top of the map, just name the edges.

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bougiefever
The United States was only slightly green. I would have thought it would have
lit up more. It may be because they passed laws in the min-1800s prohibiting
importing of slaves.

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csixty4
I'm sure the slave import restrictions had something to do with it. There were
also the Triangular Trade routes from Africa (rum for slaves) -> West Indies
(slaves for molasses) -> Boston (molasses for rum) -> Africa

In doing so, the US benefitted from the slave trade without actually taking
part in it.

~~~
csixty4
(well, taking part in that part of it anyway)

