Definition
The triangle trade entailed shipping goods from Britain to West Africa in exchange for enslaved people who had moved to the West Indies afterward to exchange for rum and sugar, among other commodities.
Timeline of the Triangle Trade
Rise of the Slave Trade: Between 1441 and 1637
During this period, the first enslaved Africans were shipped to the New World. Additionally, Dutch merchants began to ship enslaved people regularly, and slave trading in Brazil became a regular activity (Thompsell, 2019). This event was important because it offset trade imbalances between different nations. Moreover, trade eased the transport of goods, individuals, and ideas worldwide.
Sugar Years: Between 1641 and 1685
British merchants began to capture and transport enslaved people to increase cheap labor on the colonial plantations, particularly in the Caribbean, which had started to export sugar. Sugar was an essential aspect of the Atlantic economy. It was used to create classes of wealthy planters, traders, and political interest groups with more authority in the European regime. Many enslaved people moved from the African community to America and Europe to cultivate crops.
Birth of the Abolition Movement: Between 1783 and 1788
During this time, the French abolitionist society was set up in Paris, and British society became an important factor in the abolition. The abolitionists championed the Union cause, which forced President Lincoln to declare the enslaved people free in most parts of the South. Abolishing slavery made countries such as America more productive and hencewealthier.
Emergence of the French Revolution: Between 1791 and 1820
During this time, most countries, including Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United States, abolished slave trading. The Americans and Britain began guarding the triangular trade, seizing all ships from any country they found shipping slaves. Similarly, Spain, France, and Portugal’s ships began to trade legally per their nations’ legislation. The French Revolution was important because it helped many countries abolish the slave trade and bring democracy.
Ending of the Slave Trade: Between 1830 and 1888
Brazil started to enforce its laws on abolishing the slave trade, with the triangle trade dropping sharply. Being the largest importer of enslaved people, Brazil was pressured by Britain to sign an accord to end the slave trade. In addition, Britain passed legislation to ban slavery in its colonies, and as a result, enslaved people were to be released in phases, with the final release scheduled for 1840. Ending the slave trade prevented the continuation of profoundly cruel commerce, set free blacks, and brought the idea of voluntary labor.
Three Legs to the Triangle Trade
The trade consisted of three routes; the first leg involved European merchants exporting manufactured commodities, including tobacco, textiles, metal tools, and beads, to Africans in exchange for enslaved people. In the second leg, enslaved Africans were shipped to the West Indies, and the route was terrible for the enslaved people. As a result, about fifty percent of the enslaved people died on their way from diseases and brutal maltreatment (de Almeida, 2022). The survivors would be forced to work on plantations to harvest raw materials.
In the third leg, European traders would take the harvested raw materials from the farms back to Europe and later process them into finished goods in European factories (Fortes-Lima & Verdu, 2021). In general, the triangular trade heavily impacted the way the economy of the British Empire and its colonies were built and greatly influenced global politics.
References
de Almeida, M. L. (2022). The internal African slave trade as history and representation. In M. Aldenderfer (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Web.
Fortes-Lima, C., & Verdu, P. (2021). Anthropological genetics perspectives on the transatlantic slave trade. Human Molecular Genetics, 30(R1), R79-R87. Web.
Thompsell, A. (2019). Timeline of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. ThoughtCo. Web.