The Transatlantic Trade Triangle: A Historical Overview
The Transatlantic Trade Triangle involved European traders sailing to Africa to exchange goods for slaves, transporting slaves to the Americas in horrific conditions known as the Middle Passage, and selling them for profit before returning with valuable goods. This exploitative triangular trade system had devastating impacts on millions of enslaved Africans and reshaped economies across continents.
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The Transatlantic trade triangle
Stage 1 The traders and their ships would leave Europe. Portugal were the first country to become involved in this trade but it soon involved other countries including Spain, Britain and The Netherlands. They would fill their ships with products that were cheap to buy in Europe, but highly valuable (because they were hard to get) in Africa eg. Guns, pots, alcohol and cloth.
Stage 2 The traders would arrive in on the West coast of Africa. The crew might kidnap local African mean, women and children to take as slaves. More commonly, the European traders would exchange the goods on their ships for slaves who had already been captured by local tribesmen. Slaves would then be put on the ships, sometimes as many as 400 at a time.
Stage 3 The ships would leave West Africa filled with slaves. They would cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas (sometimes known as the New World). Spanish and Portuguese ships would usually head in the direction of South America. British ships usually headed towards the Caribbean or North America. This journey with the slaves on board was known as the middle passage. It could take up to two months. Many slaves died due to the horrific conditions on the ships.
Stage 4 The slave ships would arrive at their destination where the slaves would be unloaded to be sold (usually at an auction). The traders would then use the money from selling the slaves to buy products such as sugar, cotton and tobacco. These luxury goods were highly valuable in Europe. The traders then made the journey back across the Atlantic and made huge profits from their goods.
