Distribution of the slave population of the southern United States, 1860

Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the southern states of the United States.
Compiled from the census of 1860

I find the numbers incredible. South Carolina and Mississippi had more slaves than free citizens!

In September of 1861, the U.S. Coast Survey published a large map, approximately two feet by three feet, titled a “Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the southern states of the United States.” Based on the population statistics gathered in the 1860 Census, and certified by the superintendent of the Census Office, the map depicted the percentage of the population enslaved in each county. At a glance, the viewer could see the large-scale patterns of the economic system that kept nearly 4 million people in bondage: slavery was concentrated along the Chesapeake Bay and in eastern Virginia; along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts; in a crescent of lands in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi; and most of all, in the Mississippi River Valley. With each county labeled with the exact percentage of people enslaved, the map demanded some closer examination.

Smithsonian: These Maps Reveal How Slavery Expanded Across the United States

(via reddit)