What happened in the slave triangle trade route?

The use of African slaves was fundamental to growing colonial cash crops, which were exported to Europe. European goods, in turn, were used to purchase African slaves, which were then brought on the sea lane west from Africa to the Americas, the so called middle passage. [2]

A classic example would be the trade of sugar (often in its liquid form, molasses) from the Caribbean to Europe or New England, where it was distilled into rum, some of which was then used to purchase new slaves in West Africa.

Diagram illustrating the stowage of African slaves on a British slave ship.The trade represented a profitable enterprise for merchants and investors. The business was risky, competitive and severe, but enslaved Africans fetched a high price at auctions, making the trade in human cargo a lucrative business[citation needed].

The first leg of the triangle was from a European port to Africa, in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade, such as copper, cloth, trinkets, slave beads, guns and ammunition. [3] When the slave ship arrived, its cargo would be sold or bartered for slaves, who were tightly packed like any other cargo to maximize profits.

On the second leg, ships made the journey of the Middle Passage from Africa to the New World. Once the slave ship reached the New World, enslaved survivors were sold in the Caribbean or the Americas.

The ships were then prepared to get them thoroughly cleaned, drained, and loaded with export goods for a return voyage, the third leg, to their home port.[4] From the West Indies the main export cargoes were sugar, rum, and molasses; from Virginia, commodities were tobacco and hemp. The ship then returned to Europe to complete the triangle.

However, because of several disadvantages that slave ships faced compared to other trade ships, they often returned to their home port carrying whatever goods were readily available in the Americas and filled up a large part or all of their capacity with ballast. Other disadvantages include the different form of the ships (to carry as many humans as possible, but not ideal to carry a maximum amount of produce) and the variations in the duration of a slave voyage, making it practically impossible to pre-schedule appointments in the Americas, which meant that slave ships often arrived in the Americas out-of-season. Instead, the cash crops were transported mainly by a separate fleet which only sailed from Europe to the Americas and back. The Triangular trade is a trade model, not an exact description of the ship's route. [5]

[edit] New England

Depiction of the Triangular Trade of slaves, sugar, and rum with New England instead of Europe as the third corner.New England also benefited from the trade, as many merchants were from New England, especially Rhode Island, replacing the role of Europe in the triangle. New England also made rum from the Caribbean sugar and molasses, which it shipped to Africa as well as within the New World.[6] Yet, the 'triangle trade' as considered in relation to New England was a piecemeal operation. No New England traders are known to have completed a full sequential circuit of the triangle, which took a calendar year on average, according to historian Clifford Shipton who, after years of sifting through New England shipping records, could not find a single instance of a ship completing the full triangle as described [7] The concept of the New England Triangular trade was first suggested, inconclusively, in an 1866 book by George H. Moore, was picked up in 1872 by historian George C. Mason, and reached full consideration from a lecture in 1887 by American businessman and historian William B. Weeden. [8] Although the Slave Trade was banned in 1807 American involvement in the clandestine trade to Cuba and Brazil was continued up to the time of the American Civil War.

England, France, and America sent ships to Africa. The ships sailed from their home country with a cargo of manufactured goods. These were exchanged at a profit on the coast of Africa for Black slaves. The slaves were later traded on the plantations at another profit in exchange for a cargo to be taken back to the home country. It happened to stimulate the economies of each country. On the plantations there were field workers and a few slaves that worked in the master's house. Some slaves helped to keep the others in line. Slavery and WW1 both have to do with competition that is based on capitalism, i.e., the desire to control resources, such as land, natural resources, political power.

Triangular Trade Diagram