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Contents 1 Caption 2 Summary 2.1 Context 2.2 British Involvement 3 Source 4 Mapping Globalization Category Queries

Caption

Atlantic Triangular Trade

Summary

Map of the triangular trade of slaves, colonial products, and manufactured goods between Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

The three edges of the trans-Atlantic triangular trade were:

1. the "outward passage" from Europe to Africa — copper, cloth, trinkets, guns, ammunition, and other manufactured goods;
2. the "middle passage" from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean — captives and commodities such as indigo;
3. the "homeward passage" back to Europe — from the West Indies the main cargo was sugar, rum, and molasses; from Virginia, it was tobacco and hemp.

The triangular slave trade in the Atlantic was primarily an 18th century phenomenon, but the transportation of African captives to the New World, which began in about 1502, continued into the 19th century.

It should be noted that Brazil, a major importer of slaves, exported manufactured goods directly to African ports. Thus not all the trade between the three areas fits the triangular pattern.

Cotton production based on slave labor did not become economically significant in the southern United States until the beginning of the 19th century.

Context

The first era of the Atlantic slave trade (the First Atlantic system) was characterized by the transportation of African slaves primarily to the South American colonies of the Portuguese and Spanish empires. This trade, which began in about 1502, lasted until 1580.

The Second Atlantic system of the the slave trade was conducted primarily by English, Brazilian, French and Dutch traders. The main destinations were the Caribbean colonies and Brazil.

According to MSN Encarta: "By 1700, 25,000 slaves, on average, were crossing the Atlantic every year. After 1700 the trade grew much more rapidly to a peak in the 1780s, when an average year saw 80,000 African slaves arrive on American shores. Then the trade fell off more slowly and after 1850 quickly declined."

British Involvement

In 1632, Charles I of Britain granted a license to a group of London merchants for the transportation of enslaved people from West Africa.

During the 1720s nearly 200,000 enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic in British ships. By the 1790s, there were 480,000 enslaved people in British Caribbean colonies.

Source

Oregon State University - Philosophy Department

Mapping Globalization Category Queries

• Category Query form

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