Harvests of bondage: Raw materials (tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, rice, indigo, opium poppy, ivory)

• 1607: Colonists make war to "christianize" Native people

• 1622: Powhatan kills settlers to stop theft of tribal lands

• 1638: Enslaved Africans traded for Native prisoners

• 1644-1645: First slaving venture helps legitimize bondage in Massachusetts

• 1652: Rhode Island slavery ban is not enforced

• 1688: Anti-slavery petition divides Quakers

• 1700: Isaac Royall: A dynasty built on slavery

• 1717: Shipwreck sheds light on piracy-slavery links

• 1739: Indigo: African expertise is key to cash crop

• 1740-1742: Slave trader's hall hosts abolitionist rallies

• 1743: Mutiny, chocolate, and racial capitalism

• 1764: Tax law protest tied to growing rum industry

• 1764: Colleges reckon with blood money, history

• 1780-1787: Thousands starve after food imports cut

• 1783: Belinda Sutton: Fights to be paid for 50 years in bondage

• 1787: Flawed ordinance bans slavery, ignites land grab

• 1790: Opium king bankrolls hospitals, museums

• 1791: Prominent slave trader evades murder charges

• 1793: Cotton gin boosts, prolongs plantation slavery system

• 1794: Slave trade law fails to curb trafficking

• 1798: Ivory and slavery: The deadly cost of a pianoforte

• 1800: Failed uprising inspired by revolutions overseas

• 1804: Haitian victory fuels hope among enslaved in U.S.

• 1807: Smugglers deft slave import ban

• 1814: Cotton enriches businessmen, North and South

• 1816: Revolts advance abolition cause in British empire

• 1820: Maine becomes a free state in deal over slavery

• 1830: Black groups expand free produce movement

• 1831: Brutal crackdown after Jamaica revolt sparks outcry  

• 1833: Domestic slave trade: over one million send south

• 1833: Britain frees 800,000, compensates enslavers

• 1834: Mill workers support enslaved cotton pickers

• 1835: Seminoles resist U.S. efforts to take their lands

• 1835: Enslaved workers lay foundation for modern rail network

• 1835: 600 sold in largest single sale of enslaved people

• 1835-1836: Colonists win Texas independence, protect right to enslave

• 1838: 4,000 Cherokees perish on "Trail of Tears"

• 1838-1846: Cooperatives produce fair-labor goods, model shared values

• 1839: New book spurs outrage at "slave breeding"

• 1839-1841: Revolts cast spotlight on illegal slave trade

• 1842: Sarah Parker Remond: Activist for human rights, women's suffrage

• 1845: Frances Ellen Watkins: Poet, anti-slavery activist

• 1846: After defeat, Mexico ceded 55% of its land to U.S.

• 1848: Failed escape shows capital's role in slave trade

• 1849: Mexico: Freedom for escapees at a price

• 1855: U.S. traders transport enslaved Chinese to Brazil

• 1857: "The Weeping Time": Enslaver sells 429 people in two days

• 1861: With war, enslavers seek to protect investments

• 1861: Blockade designed to strangle Southern economy

• 1861: Swayed by landscape, Britain shuns Confederacy

• 1861: Pro-slavery sentiments roil Massachusetts town

• 1865: Planters mull plan to import Chinese laborers