History of the Triangle Trade

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Triangular Trade Introduction 

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The Triangular Trade was a Transatlantic network of trade routes that were used during the Colonial Era, to ship goods between England, Africa, and the Americas.  

Triangular Trade in Colonial America involved shipping commodities between three ports in a triangular sequence. The starting port was in West Africa, where manufactured goods were traded for captive Africans. The second port was the West Indies or the 13 Original Colonies, where Africans were traded for natural resources like animal pelts, lumber, rum, sugar, molasses, and cotton. The third port was England where raw materials were traded for manufactured goods.  The Triangular Trade was a Transatlantic network of trade routes that were used during the Colonial Era, to ship goods between England, Africa, and the Americas. There were three main routes: 

England to Africa. 

Africa to the 13 Original Colonies and the British West Indies.    Manufactured goods from England and Europe, such as guns, cloth, furniture, and jewelry. 

Africa to America & Caribbean 

The cargo of abducted or recently purchased African people were sold into slavery in South America, the West Indies, and the American Colonies. 

In this circuit the sea lane west from Africa to the West Indies (and later, also to Brazil) was known as the Middle Passage. 

The Americas back to England. 

Goods were often traded, rather than purchased with gold and silver.  The goods that were traded typically included: 

Raw materials — rum, lumber, sugar, tobacco, rice, and cotton — from the 13 Original Colonies and the British West Indies. 

The raw goods from the New World would be shipped back to the growing demand for resources to feed the new Industrial Revolution in England and France. 

The Time Sequence 

The full triangle trip took a calendar year on average, according to historian Clifford Shipton. 

The First Triangular Trade Voyage 

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The first expedition specifically to transport captive Africans to sell in the New World is believed to have been carried out by Sir John Hawkins, an English sea captain, in 1562. Hawkins captured and traded for captive Africans along the coast of Africa, and sailed to the Caribbean, where he traded them for pearls, animal hides, and sugar. The expedition was so lucrative that a coat of arms was designed for him, which included a crude drawing of an enslaved African. The first trip is considered by some to be the first implement and profit from the Triangular Trade Route. 

In the end, the primary dealers in the slave trade were Great Britain, Portugal & France though an earlier time during the America’s conquest; Spain was also participating. 

Causes of the Triangular Trade Routes 

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Triangular Trade Routes were caused by three main factors: 

Geography 
The Mercantile System 
The Navigation Acts 

Geography 

The trade routes were shaped by geography as much as anything because there was no easy route from the Americas or Europe to the Far East. Rumors persisted of a legendary “Northwest Passage” to the Far East, which spurred many of the early expeditions during the Age of Exploration.    The routes were shaped by the powerful influence of winds and currents. For example, from the main trading nations of Western Europe, it was much easier to sail westwards after first going south of 30° N latitude and reaching the so-called “trade winds”, thus arriving in the Caribbean rather than going straight west to the North American mainland. Returning from North America, it was easiest to follow the Gulf Stream in a northeasterly direction using the westerlies. 

Triangular Trade routes were also shaped by England’s Mercantile System and the Navigation Acts, which placed significant restrictions on trade within the British Empire. Over time, more restrictions were added and a complex system emerged that was difficult to follow and to enforce.  

Mercantile System 

The Mercantile System was an economic system that required England to maintain a positive trade balance, so it retained as much gold and silver as possible. In the system, colonies played an important role, because they provided raw materials. Because England controlled the colonies, it did not have to trade gold and silver for the raw materials. Further, the finished products had more value than the raw materials, which allowed England to maintain a favorable trade balance with its colonies. 

Navigation Acts 

The Navigation Acts established during Oliver Cromwell’s time required exports from the colonies to be transported on English ships, which had to pass through English ports, regardless of their final destination. When ships arrived in port, customs officials were required to check the shipments and collect customs duties. 

Chart of Exports Traded by the 13 Original Colonies  

England established the colonies as a way to produce raw materials for British manufacturing companies, which was a key aspect of the Mercantile System. Another important part of the system was the restriction of manufacturing in the 13 Original Colonies. There were various acts passed that restricted manufacturing, ensuring British manufacturers received all the raw materials and natural resources. One important exception to the rules was shipbuilding, which was allowed.  

New England Colonies Export Limitations 

New Hampshire — Ships, Timber, Rum  

Massachusetts — Ships, Timber, Rum, Fish, Whale Products, Fur, Wool  

Rhode Island — Ships, Rum, Timber, Corn  

Connecticut — Ships, Timber, Flour, Fish, Rum  

Middle Colonies Exports  

New York — Fur Trade, Flour, Timber, Iron Ore  

New Jersey — Agricultural Products, Iron Ore  

Pennsylvania — Grains and other Agricultural Products, Iron Ore  

Delaware — Fur, Timber, Iron Ore  

Chesapeake Colonies Exports  

Maryland — Fish, Timber, Fur, Tobacco, Sugar  

Virginia  — Corn, Flax, Tobacco, Sugar  

Southern Colonies Exports  

North Carolina — Rice, Indigo, Tobacco, Sugar  

South Carolina — Indigo, Rice, Tobacco, Sugar  

Georgia — Tobacco, Cotton, Sugar 

Salutary Neglect 

By the 1720s, Britain was caught up in European affairs and Prime Minister Robert Walpole encouraged a policy in which British customs officials neglected to enforce the Navigation Acts and collect customs duties.  

The unwritten policy, which became known as “Salutary Neglect,” allowed American merchants to expand their markets and increase their profits. Despite this, the triangle-shaped routes continued to be used, primarily because the American Colonies and West Indies Colonies depended on slave labor from West Africa and manufactured products from England. 

Although customs officials often looked the other way, they were also paid to do so through bribes. This led to an increase in bribery and smuggling, especially in the New England Colonies, where molasses from the West Indies was vital to the rum distilling industry. 

Following the French and Indian War, Prime Minister George Grenville issued instructions for customs officials to enforce the Molasses Act, bringing Salutary Neglect to an end. 

The Break with England 

Once the Revolutionary War was concluded and New England increasingly had its own industrial revolution; the increasing need for cotton to process in the newly built textile mills demanded the direct dealing with the African Gold Coast.     But instead of cotton and molasses and sugar going to feed British ports; now New England demanded direct shipments from the Caribbean. 

The First Leg of the Journey 

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The first leg of the triangle was from a European port to one in West Africa (then known as the “Slave Coast”), in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade, such as copper, cloth, trinkets, slave beads, guns and ammunition.    The export of gunpowder to Africa increased the transatlantic slave trade: A one percent increase in gunpowder set in motion a 5-year gun-slave cycle that increased slave exports by an average of 50%, and the impact continued to grow over time.   Manufactured goods such as metals, brass dishes, knives, tools, textiles, firearms, ammunition, and alcoholic beverages were transported by ship to ports on the coast of western Africa. When the ship arrived, its cargo would be sold or bartered for slaves from local potentates.   Ports that exported these enslaved people from Africa include Ouidah, Lagos, Aného (Little Popo), Grand-Popo, Agoué, Jakin, Porto-Novo, and Badagry.     These ports traded slaves who were supplied from African communities, tribes and kingdoms, including the Alladah and Ouidah, which were later taken over by the Dahomey kingdom. 

The modern equivalents of the Slave Coast, a section of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea extending approximately from the Volta River in the west to Lagos, in modern Nigeria, or, alternatively, the Niger Delta in the east (in the present-day republics of Togo, Benin, and Nigeria). Many more enslaved people were taken from west-central Africa, centered on the Portuguese colony in what is now Angola. A smaller number came from Portuguese-controlled parts of southeastern Africa. 

The Second Leg of the Journey 

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Ships made the journey of the Middle Passage from Africa to the New World.   It took roughly 21 to 90 days.    Many slaves died of disease in the crowded holds of the slave ships.  The ships were grossly overcrowded, with the captives wedged belowdecks and chained to platforms stacked in tiers. Death rates on the Middle Passage ranged from about 10 to more than 20 percent. 

The peak of the Atlantic trade of enslaved people seems to have been reached in the 1780s, when on average some 78,000 enslaved people were brought to the Americas each year. About half these captives were transported in the ships of British merchants. Their nearest competitors, French and Portuguese traders, each transported about one-fifth of the total number of enslaved people.  

Once the ship reached the New World, enslaved survivors were sold in Brazil,  the Caribbean or the American colonies. The ships were then prepared to get them thoroughly cleaned, drained, and loaded with export goods for a return voyage. 

The Fate of the Slaves  

The enslaved Africans were primarily purchased for the purpose of working on plantations to work producing valuable cash crops (such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco) which were in high demand in Europe.  

The Third Leg of the Journey 

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Back to their home port from the West Indies, the main export cargoes were sugar, rice, and molasses.   If leaving from the America’s, it would be cotton, indigo, tobacco and hemp. 

Transatlantic Slave Trade 

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Triangular Trade was closely associated with the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The capture of Africans for sale in slave markets was established by a network of African kingdoms, the Spanish, and the Portuguese. Over time, the Dutch and English became involved in the business.    Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island, were major ports involved in the colonial triangular slave trade.     Other Mid-Atlantic and New England merchants conducted piece meal involvement in the slave trade.     It was often a social stigma in these other Northern communities to be associated with the slave trade, Rhode Island being an exception.    Captains would often seek to avoid hauling slaves unless there was no other trading choice. 

The Cycle of Triangular Trade 

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Overall, the shipment of goods along the Triangular Trade routes moved in a consistent manner: 

From England primarily from Bristol & Nantes, Ships sailed to Africa, carrying manufactured goods and products, which were traded for captive Africans, gold, and spices. 

Leaving Africa, ships sailed to the West Indies and the American Colonies over the “Middle Passage.” Upon arrival, they traded slaves for raw materials. 

From the Americas, Ships transported raw materials back to England, where they were used to manufacture finished goods and products. 

Summary of the Triangle Trade 

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It involved three main legs: the first leg saw English goods, including firearms and textiles, shipped to Africa in exchange for enslaved Africans. The second leg consisted of the Middle Passage, where enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas. The third leg involved the transport of raw materials back to England. Triangular Trade played a significant role in shaping the economies of the 13 Original Colonies. 

References: 

Triangle Trade in Colonial America, by Randal Rust, R.Squared Communications, LLC, November 21, 2023, American History Central, https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/triangular-trade/ 

The Atlantic Slave Trade, by Herbert S. Klain, Cambridge University Press 1999. p. 101. 

Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America. By Kenneth Morgan, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007, pg 62. 

Colonial triangular trade: an economy based on human misery by Phyllis Emert, Discovery Enterprises Ltd. Carlisle, Massachusetts, 1995. 

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