Atlantic Slave TradeTriangle Trade

What were its effects on slavery and global economies?

Global Economy

The global economy was booming with cash crop industries along the Atlantic Coast. North America: Tobacco, rice, cotton South America & Caribbean: Sugarcane

Colonial markets needed laborers for these industries. Native Americans were rapidly dying off from

disease. The African slave trade erupted around

1600

Triangle

Trade

Triangle Trade

First leg: Merchants brought European manufactured goods (guns, cash, cloth) from Europe to Africa

Second leg: Merchants traded these goods for slaves- brought the slaves to Americas

Third leg: Slaves were traded for sugar, tobacco, cotton, furs and fish, which were brought to Europe or other colonial ports.

They sailed down the west coast of Africa setting up trade posts with African slave traders

Portuguese dominated the slave trade, followed by the Spanish, English, Dutch and French.

How did the triangle trade impact colonial economies?

The triangle trade was extremely profitable for the colonial cities. Merchants grew wealthy Industries thrived b/c of trade:

shipbuilding, tobacco, cotton, sugar, and fishing.

Thriving trade lead to successful, wealthy port cities

Enslavement

The journey for the slaves began long before setting sail for America. Captured in the interior of Africa and forced to march

in chains up to a thousand miles to coastal ports Many died on this march, others rebelled and tried to

flee, they were quickly recaptured and brutally punished

Those who made it to the coast were imprisoned until the arrival of European slave ships

It was African slave traders who enslaved the other Africans to begin with. These traders got rich with the Europeans by selling slaves.

“Floating Coffins”

Hundreds of men, women and children packed below the ships’ decks for times of three weeks to three months

Ships were subject to uprisings by slaves, pirate attacks, mutinies and storms at seas.

Disease was the biggest threat to the slaves’ lives, and the merchants’ profits. Smallpox and dysentery Usually half of the slaves on board died

from disease, malnutrition or abuse

Slave Ship

Why was it beneficial for slave traders to tightly pack slaves on the ships

Why was it not beneficial?

Slave trade

Slaves resisted and rebelled and would try to sail back to Africa

Many committed suicide, believing that in death, they would return home Hung themselves, starved themselves or

jumped overboard African societies were destroyed By the mid-1800s, an estimated 12 million

had been traded to the Americas while at least 2 million had died on the voyage.

Origins and Destinations

Destinations of the slaves

Most slaves were sent to work on the sugar plantations in South America and the Caribbean.

Far fewer slaves were sent to North America, where they would work on tobacco, cotton and rice plantations

Why did fewer slaves go to North America?

Exit Ticket

How would colonial economies and the triangle trade have been affected if there were no slave trade?