Triangular trade

346 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of slave trade in colonial times usa

Slaves and slave trade has been an important part of history for a very long time. In the years of the British thirteen colonies in North America, slaves and slave trade was a very important part of its development. It even carried on to almost 200 years of the United States history. The slave trade of the thirteen colonies was an important part of the colonies as well as Europe and Africa. In order to supply the thirteen colonies efficiently through trade, Europe developed the method of triangular trade. It is referred to as triangular trade because it consists of trade with Africa, the thirteen colonies, and England. These three areas are commonly called the trades “three legs.” The first leg of this trade was merchants from Europe bringing refined goods to Africa to trade for slaves. The merchants traded with chiefs and high authority leaders. The chiefs pretty much could and would trade whomever they pleased, there was no restriction regarding who the slaves were. On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, woman and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able move an almost decent amount. On the third leg of the journey slaves were traded for sugar, molasses and other products. Those products were shipped to Europe or other European colonies in the Americas. The slaves in the West Indies were then sold to whomever wanted to buy some.

Show More
Related

  • Indentured Servants in the 17th and 18th Century South

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    Middle Passage -- refers to the forced transportation of African people from Africa to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade[1] and was the middle portion of the triangular trade voyage. Ships left Europe for African markets, where their goods were sold or traded for prisoners and kidnapped victims on the African coast. Traders then sailed to the Americas and Caribbean, where the Africans were sold or traded for goods for European markets, which were then returned to Europe. The European powers Spain, Portugal, France, England, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Brandenburg, as well as traders from Brazil and North America, all took part in this trade.

    Read More

  • Essay On Trans-Atlantic Interactions

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    The trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves contributed to maintaining progression of labor systems as well as promoting change in the British North American colonies. The slaves provided labor and helped produce the cash crops that were then exported to Europe where they traded the goods to trade with Africans for more slaves. The Africans enslaved each other and sold more slaves to be sent to the colonies in

    Read More

  • Isbister Chapter Summary

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cotton, spices, silk, and tea from Asia mingled in European markets with ivory, gold, and palm oil from Africa; furs, fish, and timber from North America; and cotton, sugar, and tobacco from both North and South America. The lucra¬tive trade in enslaved human beings provided cheap labor where it was lacking. The profits accrued in Europe, increasingly in France and Britain as the Portuguese, Spanish, and then Dutch declined in relative power. It was a global network, made possible by the advancing tech¬nology of the colonialists.

    Read More

  • The History of Slavery in the United States

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.

    Read More

  • Olaudah Equiano's Middle Passage

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Middle Passage was a voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. Olaudah Equiano was born around year 1745 in Guinea which is now Nigeria. He was sold into slavery while he was still a child and he worked in America and in the West Indies. He bought his own freedom and he stayed in England. He described his life as a slave in the Middle Passage as terrible.

    Read More

  • The Slave Trade: The Two Princes Of Calabar

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most important factors in how the world came to be the way it is today. This trade led to the economic prosperity and political development in European countries and the population decline on the African continent. It was the catalyst for the development of both rich and poor societies today. The Two Princes of Calabar is a prime example of how this trade affected the economic growth of the countries and civilizations involved.

    Read More

  • Abolish The Transatlantic Slave Trade

    1642 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Transatlantic Slave Trade started out as merchant trading of different materials for slaves. With obtaining a controllable form of labor being their main focus, the Europeans began to move to Africa and take over their land. The natives had to work on the newly stolen land to have a source of income to provide for their families.Soon others Europeans began to look for free labor by scouring the continent of Africa. Because Europeans were not familiar with the environment, Africans were employed to kidnap other Africans for the Transatlantic Slave Trade. After trade routes were established, different economies began to link together, and various items were exchanged across the world. As the Atlantic Slave Trade grew larger, problems began

    Read More

  • Abina Mansha, A Slave

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...

    Read More

  • Harmony and Howling — African and European Roots of Jamaican Music

    3771 Words  | 8 Pages

    Slaves were abducted from various regions of Africa, and brought over to the New World in large boats, packed to the teeth with the Africans. The slave trade over the Atlantic served as a connection between the West Indies- islands in the Caribbean, and what was to become the United states. In fact there was a large amount of interchange of slaves between these two regions. Therefore, an American reader with an understanding of the Atlantic slave trade in his own history will have some sort of an understanding of how this system worked.

    Read More

  • Slavery in Colonial America

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery became of fundamental importance in the early modern Atlantic world when Europeans decided to transport thousands of Africans to the Western Hemisphere to provide labor in place of indentured servants and with the rapid expansion of new lands in the mid-west there was increasing need for more laborers. The first Africans to have been imported as laborers to the first thirteen colonies were purchased by English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 from a Dutch warship. Later in 1624, the Dutch East India Company brought the first enslaved Africans in Dutch New Amsterdam.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Atlantic Slave Trade

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Atlantic slave trade, although gruesome and detrimental in nature it was one of the most profitable industries of its time. It was mostly Europeans and Spaniards who imported slaves from Africa to the Americas. However, Europeans and Spaniards did not act alone the majority of the Africans captured were either captured by their own people or stolen from neighboring west African villages and exploited for commerce. Although both exported and indigenous slaves alike faced extreme hardships their experiences have differed in comparison. These contrasting experiences of these varying

    Read More

  • Middle Passage

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    First of all it is important to examine how many African slaves were brought to the New World. The Middle Passage is infamous route of the ships that carried slaves to the Americas. After the arrival to the New World, the slaves were sold or exchanged for the valuable goods. The term Middle Passage might sound somewhat romantic, but in reality it stands as a one of the most terrible events in history. The Middle Passage is the passage of bonded slaves from West Africa to the Americas. In the beginning, there was a trade between Europeans and African leaders who sold their enemies and disabled people in exchange for unique gifts such as guns, tobacco, iron bars and etc. But at the later stages of slavery, Europeans often kidnapped Africans at the costal area of Western Africa and then sent to ships that sailed them to the New World where this new free work force was needed to help stabilize the new nation.

    Read More

  • The Middle Passage

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade economically successful.

    Read More

  • Brazil And Caribbean Culture

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sugar cane was brought to the "new world" by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 (Umbilical 99). The introduction of this new crop would bring about dramatic change the Caribbean. During the 1600's the Caribbean sugar industry thrived. The native people of Africa's western coast were targeted for slavery. The plantation owners needed slaves who could handle the work to keep sugar cane maintained. The African people were captured from their homes and brought to the Caribbean and America where they were sold. While in the Middle passage, from Africa to the Americas, millions died from the terrible conditions. This horrible journey could take months. When they reached the plantations the work was unbearable to withstand. This painful piece of history would add a new dimension to the rich African culture.

    Read More

  • Slavery and the Caribbean

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    The slave trade which had already begun on the West Coast of Africa provided the needed labour, and a period from 1496 (Columbus's second voyage) to 1838 saw Africans flogged and tortured in an effort to assimilate them into the plantation economy. Slave labour supplied the most coveted and important items in Atlantic and European commerce: the sugar, coffee, cotton and cacao of the Caribbean; the tobacco, rice and indigo of North America; the gold and sugar of Portuguese and Spanish South America. These commodities comprised about a third of the value of European commerce, a figure inflated by regulations that obliged colonial products to be brought to the metropolis prior to their re-export to other destinations. Atlantic navigation and European settlement of the New World made the Americas Europe's most convenient and practical source of tropical and sub-tropical produce. The rate of growth of Atlantic trade in the eighteenth century had outstripped all other branches of European commerce and created fabulous fortunes.

    Read More

More about Triangular trade

Open Document