Explore interactive timelines and maps highlighting key historical events and the British Empire’s impact on slavery in early America.
Timeline & Maps
Popular Timeline
About Timelines & Maps
Our Timelines & Maps page brings historical narratives to life through interactive tools and visual storytelling. Using Knight Lab’s TimelineJS, digitized historical games, and annotated maps, we explore themes of trade, colonial influence, and slavery in early America. From a 1770 educational board game to a 1768 map of British colonies, each project invites you to examine how geography and time shaped historical perspectives. Engage with these visual histories and consider how they deepen our understanding of the past.
Popular Timelines
Slavery in Early America Timeline
We used Knight Lab’s open-source TimelineJS tool to create a demo of important documents and events and how they relate to each other across time.
Royal Geographic Game (1770)
We’ve transcribed and digitized a 1770 board game that was meant to educate young boys of that time about world trade. Consider how locations in this game are described through the lens of the British Empire.
The South Sea Scheme (1721)
Painter and engraver William Hogarth created an engraving criticizing the South Sea Company’s rise and fall. Explore this demo and work-in-progress analysis of the engraving’s details, which may point to Hogarth’s denouncement of slavery.
What to Expect
- Interactive Timeline – Explore key events and documents using Knight Lab’s TimelineJS.
- Digitized Historical Board Game – Engage with an 18th-century game that reflects colonial trade and imperial perspectives.
- Annotated Maps – Examine a 1768 map of British colonies and consider the spatial impact of British law and slavery.
- Visual & Textual Analysis – Dive into historical engravings and documents with in-depth commentary.
- Thought-Provoking Questions – Reflect on how these historical tools shape our understanding of empire, commerce, and society.
Discover British Empire in the Americas
We took a 1768 map of the Americas and marked the 40 British colonies there by 1776. In all, slavery was legal. How does viewing this map affect our regional and spacial understanding of Britain’s law influence in the Americas?
Explore the Timeline of Barbados Slavery
Discover the Timeline of Barbados Slavery, highlighting key events from the island’s founding in 1627 to the Barbados Slave Code of 1661. Explore how laws and trade shaped the British slave economy and its lasting impact.
Our Approach
We believe in hands-on history. Through interactive tools, primary sources, and critical analysis, we invite you to see the past from multiple perspectives.