Triangular Trade and Middle Passage

17th & 18th Centuries

Triangular Trade

• Trade between the Americas, Europe and Africa

Triangular Trade

• American Colonies—Needed slaves to produce crops

• European Countries (England)—Wanted crops grown in the Americas (cotton, tobacco) that didn’t grow well in Europe

• Iron, to make weapons, and rum were sent to Africa

In other words….

• Africa supplied the workers (slaves)

• America used the workers (slaves) to supply the resources

• Europe used the resources to produce goodsPicture this

Middle Passage• The path by which slaves were transported

The Voyage• About 12 million Africans were brought

to the Americas as slaves

• About 1 million of these Africans were brought to British Colonies

• 1 in 4 Africans died during the voyage from Africa to the Americas

Close quarters on the ship caused disease to spread rapidly among some Africans

Brutality