SOCIAL STUDIES 71

Triangular Trade and the

Middle Passage

CHEAP MANUFACTURED GOODS

Trinkets – pots, pans, beads, shells, cloth

FIRST

STA

GE –

EURO

PE T

O

AFRI

CACh

eap

trink

ets e

xcha

nged

for s

lave

s

TRIBAL CHIEFS EXCHANGE SLAVES , OR SLAVES ARE CAPTURED SECOND STAGE - THE

MIDDLE PASSAGESLAVE TRADERS THEN SOLD THE SLAVES TO PLANTATION OWNERS THE ‘MIDDLE

PASSAGE’ – THE JOURNEY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC..

THIRD STAGE – RAW MATERIALS SENT TO EUROPE

Profits from slave sales were used to

buy produce from the plantations e.g..

sugar, tobacco, cotton, which were sold

for great profit in Europe.

SLAVES WERE USED ON PLANTATIONS, GROWING SUGAR, TOBACCO, COTTON.

Brazil

Caribbean Islands

Mexico

U.S.A.

2*Create a definition for Triangular trade

Middle Passage – passage across the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa to the Americas that was the route of the African American slave trade. Where were the majority of enslaved Africans taken? 3

A Typical Slave Ship, at port in London’s East India docks – getting ready for the next slave run.A typical cargo included:

IRON BARS

COWRIE SHELLS4

Number of people enslaved

30 million taken from their homes

5

• 10 million die during capture phase

• 10 million die during middle passage

• 10 million survive to make it over the ocean

This model [right] and the charts were used by slave reformers at the end of the 18th century, to show how a Liverpool slave ship of 320 tons could carry 400 slaves. On one voyage the ship carried 609 slaves.

6

Africa Americas Europe

Discussion questions:1. How was each continents’ population affected?2. How would each continent’s culture be impacted?3. Was the trade beneficial or detrimental to each continent’s economy?