The A. Tables start in the early nineteenth century and end (except for data on slavery) in 1900. If they appear in black, they are taken from primary or secondary sources. The data in red are estimates (normally obtained by interpolation for the years between the data in black). The data in blue are either incomplete or are small ‘trace’ elements (see below). The data in green refer to the slave population (except for Table A.2, where all data refer to slaves). This colour-coding is used the first time an entry is used, but not if the information is repeated subsequently (in which case it appears in black). The subregional data in the table, being aggregates of country data, are therefore all given in black.

Many countries changed names during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To avoid confusion, I have used only the name by which countries have come to be known in English in recent decades. ‘Guyana’ therefore refers to the country known after 1831 as British Guiana (before that, it consisted of two colonies: Demerara & Essequibo and Berbice). I have used the name ‘Belize’ to describe the country that was first called the British Settlement in the Bay of Honduras, then British Honduras (in 1862) and finally (in 1973) Belize. I have used the name ‘British Virgin Islands’ (often abbreviated to BVI), but the colony was sometimes referred to by the name of its main island only (Tortola). The other Virgin Islands (St Croix, St John and St Thomas) are called ‘Danish Virgin Islands’ (often abbreviated to DVI).