Plan of the lower deck of the slave ship, Brookes

William Elford, 1789

Engraving and letterpress

Most 18th-century maps rendered the slave trade invisible. Representations like this, showing enslaved Africans crammed to legal capacity in the Brookes, forced many to confront its horrific realities. The Brookes could legally carry 454 enslaved people, but on one trip it transported over 600.

APS.