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Topic · Anthropology

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

Colonialism, slavery, and trade is a research topic within Anthropology. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the Transatlantic Slave Trade, its historical impact, and the experiences of enslaved Africans in the Americas. It delves into topics such as slave resistance, colonial economies, racial identity, legal rights, and the African diaspora in the Atlantic world.

  • Transatlantic Slave Trade
  • Atlantic History
  • Slavery
  • African Diaspora
  • Slave Resistance
  • Colonial America
  • Enslaved Africans
  • Racial Identity
  • Legal Rights
  • Plantation Economy
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
44% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Colonialism, slavery, and trade

Which countries lead Colonialism, slavery, and trade research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.4k and 502 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.4k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 502 works
  3. 3 Brazil 346 works
  4. 4 France 199 works
  5. 5 Canada 154 works
  6. 6 Germany 125 works
  7. 7 Spain 109 works
  8. 8 Netherlands 107 works
  9. 9 Australia 88 works
  10. 10 Portugal 79 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 44.3%United Kingdom: 16.4%Brazil: 11.3%France: 6.5%6 others listed: 21.5%44%largest
United States1,361 · 44.3%United Kingdom502 · 16.4%Brazil346 · 11.3%France199 · 6.5%6 others listed661 · 21.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Colonialism, slavery, and trade research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Colonialism, slavery, and trade research, followed by University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 67 works
  2. 2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 45 works
  3. 3 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 36 works
  4. 4 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 30 works
  5. 5 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 25 works
  6. 6 University of ChicagoUnited States 24 works
  7. 7 Yale UniversityUnited States 22 works
  8. 8 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 22 works
  9. 9 Film IndependentUnited States 21 works
  10. 10 Emory UniversityUnited States 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Colonialism, slavery, and trade?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Colonialism, slavery, and trade include George Davey Smith, James Thomas and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 James Thomas United Kingdom 242k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 Nicholas John White Thailand 138k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Colonialism, slavery, and trade?

The most cited paper in Colonialism, slavery, and trade is "The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth" (Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, 2005), with 1,806 citations. Next come "History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World" (1,727) and "Historical events as transformations of structures: Inventing revolution at the Bastille" (1,374).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson · American Economic Review Jun 2005 1,806
2 History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World Kenneth L. Sokoloff, Stanley L. Engerman · The Journal of Economic Perspectives Aug 2000 1,727
3 Historical events as transformations of structures: Inventing revolution at the Bastille William H. Sewell · Theory and Society Dec 1996 1,374
4 The Persistent Effects of Peru's Mining Mita Melissa Dell · Econometrica 2010 1,188
5 Colonial archives and the arts of governance Ann Laura Stoler · Archives and Museum Informatics Mar 2002 1,110
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Colonialism, slavery, and trade research done?

The largest centres of Colonialism, slavery, and trade research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), São Paulo (Brazil) and Washington D.C. (United States).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 101 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 78 works
  3. 3 São PauloBrazil 67 works
  4. 4 Washington D.C.United States 57 works
  5. 5 LisbonPortugal 56 works
  6. 6 New YorkUnited States 50 works
  7. 7 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 46 works
  8. 8 Los AngelesUnited States 43 works
  9. 9 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 43 works
  10. 10 OxfordUnited Kingdom 43 works
See Colonialism, slavery, and trade on the map

Where is the best place to study Colonialism, slavery, and trade?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Cambridge, University of Reading and University of Oxford score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 17.34%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of ReadingLeiden UniversityUniversity of Cambri…University of Oxford
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 78.813.8%11.6×44 +57.0%
2University of ReadingUnited Kingdom 78.029.2%22.7×14 +142.5%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 71.711.9%8.0×36 +36.2%
4Leiden UniversityNetherlands 67.823.7%14.4×25 -17.3%
5Yale UniversityUnited States 62.618.8%6.4×22 +12.9%
6Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 62.213.4%7.1×16 +59.1%
7European University InstituteItaly 61.021.5%41.5×10 +14.0%
8University College LondonUnited Kingdom 58.613.2%4.2×22 -4.1%
9Universidad de SevillaSpain 58.319.9%7.9×14 +450.0%
10University of ChicagoUnited States 57.28.0%8.9×24 +57.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Colonialism, slavery, and trade, country by country

Is Colonialism, slavery, and trade research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Colonialism, slavery, and trade as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.016% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Colonialism, slavery, and trade0.014% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Colonialism, slavery, and trade over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Colonialism, slavery, and trade9.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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