Slave Trade Triangle free essay sample

What is the slave trade triangle? Slave Triangle- the three stages of the voyage that were made by slave trading ships: from Europe to Africa, from Africa to America and from America back to Europe between the 17th and 1 9th centuries. (It formed a triangular trade pattern, hence the name The Slave Triangle). Stage 1: In Africa, European slave traders bought enslaved Africans in exchange for goods shipped from Europe. Stage 2: Also called the Middle Passage. This was the part of the triangle where enslaved Africans were forcibly shipped across the AtlanticOcean to America. On reaching America, those Africans who had survived the journey were sold as slaves to work on plantations. Stage 3: The third and final part of the triangular slave trade was the return voyage from America to Europe. Slave ships returned to Europe loaded with goods produced on plantations using slave labor. It could take slave ships up to one year to complete the entire triangular voyage. We will write a custom essay sample on Slave Trade Triangle or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Why did the trade begin? Expanding European empires in the New World lacked one major resource a ark force.In most cases the indigenous peoples had proved unreliable (most of them were dying from diseases brought over from Europe), and Europeans were unsuited to the climate and suffered under tropical diseases. Africans, on the other hand, were excellent workers: they often had experience of agriculture and keeping cattle, they were used to a tropical climate, resistant to tropical diseases, and they could be worked very hard on plantations or in mines, so Africans would be excellent workers to handle he work of others so in order to assist them in their work Africans were kidnapped and forced to be made their slaves.In each of the stages items were given which was- The first stage of the Triangular Trade involved taking manufactured goods from Europe to Africa: cloth, spirit, tobacco, beads, cowries shells, metal goods, and guns. The guns were used to help expand empires and obtain more slaves (until they were finally used against European colonizers). These goods were exchanged for African slaves. The second stage of the Triangular Trade (the middle passage) involved shipping the slaves to the Americas.The third, and final, stage of the Triangular Trade involved the return to Europe with the produce from the slave-labor plantations: cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum. How did the Europeans obtain the slaves? Between 1450 and the end of the nineteenth century, slaves were obtained from along the west coast of Africa with the full and active co-operation of African kings and merchants. (There were occasional military campaigns organized by Europeans to capture slaves, especially by the Portuguese in what is now Angola, but this accounts for only a small percentage of the total. Conditions for slaves- Slaves were introduced to new diseases and suffered from malnutrition long before they reached the new w orld. It is suggested that the majority of deaths on the voyage across the Atlantic the middle passage occurred during the first couple of weeks and were a result of malnutrition and disease encountered during the forced marches and subsequent interment at slave camps on the coast.