The triangular trade was an economic system of trade between West Africa (which provided enslaved Africans to white merchants) to the Caribbean and Americas (where slaves were used to produce agricultural products) to Europe, which supplied manufactured goods and other items to colonists in Africa and the Americas.
In leg 1 of this horrific triangle, ships from England would sail to Africa with fabric, iron products, and weaponry. These would be traded for enslaved Africans, as well as ivory and spices, such as pepper.
In leg 2, the ships sailed from Africa to the American colonies and West Indies, a route that became known as the Middle Passage. The conditions in which slaves were shipped was sickening and many died before reaching America. The Middle Passage is forever associated with terrible suffering and terror. The slaves who survived were exchanged for goods such as tobacco, rum, or whale oil. The Africans were sent to plantations where they became enslaved workers.
In leg 3, ships from the Americas would return to England along with their goods and raw materials, such as timber, fur, and cotton. The English would use the raw materials to make "finished goods" such as clothing.
A map of the routes that made up triangular trade
As the center of the shipping trade in America, northern coastal cities linked the northern colonies with the Southern Colonies, and linked America to other parts of the world. New England ships sailed south along the Atlantic coast, trading with the colonies and with islands in the West Indies. They crossed the Atlantic carrying fish, furs, and fruit to trade for manufactured goods in England and Europe.
These colonial merchant ships followed many different trading routes. Some went directly to England and back. Others followed routes that came to be called the triangular trade because the routes formed a triangle. On one leg of such a route, ships brought sugar and molasses from the West Indies to the New England colonies. In New England, the molasses would be made into rum.
This model shows a typical ship in the early 1700s on the Middle Passage. To preserve their profits, captains and sailors tried to limit the deaths of slaves from disease.
The rum and other goods were shipped to West Africa and traded for enslaved Africans. Slavery was widely practiced in West Africa. Many West African kingdoms enslaved those they defeated in war. Some of the enslaved were sold to Arab slave traders. Others were forced to mine gold or work in farm fields. With the arrival of the Europeans, enslaved Africans also began to be shipped to America in exchange for trade goods. On the final leg of the route, the enslaved Africans were taken to the West Indies where they were sold to planters. The profit was used to buy more molasses, and the process started over.
The inhumane part of the triangular trade, shipping enslaved Africans to the West Indies, was known as the Middle Passage. Slaves were stacks on the upper and lower decks of ships, shackled to each other and the floor, lying down. There was little room to move, little to no food, and health concerns were strong. Illness could often sweep through a ship quickly, killing African captives. If they died, it might be hours or days before they were found, and then they were simply dumped into the ocean. Once ships arrived in North America, the captives were taken to be sold.
This 1867 drawing depicts rice harvesting on the Ogeechee River, near Savannah, Georgia.
Tobacco was the main cash crop of Maryland and Virginia. Most tobacco was sold in Europe, where the demand for it was strong. Growing tobacco and preparing it for sale required a good deal of labor. At first, planters used indentured servants to work in the fields. When indentured servants became scarce and expensive, Southern planters used enslaved Africans instead. When the demand for tobacco was greater than the supply, the price remained high. Sometimes, however, a surplus, or extra amounts, of tobacco on the market caused prices to fall and then the growers’ profits also fell. In time, some tobacco planters switched to growing other crops such as corn and wheat.
The main cash crop in South Carolina and Georgia was rice. In low-lying areas along the coast, planters built dams to create rice fields, called paddies. These fields were flooded when the rice was young and drained when the rice was ready to harvest. Work in the rice paddies involved standing knee-deep in the mud all day with no protection from the blazing sun or biting insects. Because rice harvesting required so much hard work, rice growers relied on slave labor. Rice proved to be even more profitable than tobacco. As it became popular in southern Europe, the price of rice rose steadily. By the 1750s, South Carolina and Georgia had the fastest-growing economies in the colonies.
A Southern plantation called Drayton Hall, set on the Ashley River in South Carolina
Tobacco and rice were grown on large Southern plantations, and many were located in the Tidewater, a region of flat, low-lying plains along the seacoast. Plantations, or large farms, were often located on rivers so crops could be shipped to market by boat. Each plantation was a self-contained community with fields stretching out around a cluster of buildings. The planter’s wife supervised the main house and the household servants. A plantation also included slave cabins, barns and stables, and outbuildings such as carpenter and blacksmith shops and storerooms. Even kitchens were in separate buildings. A large plantation might also have its own chapel and school.
Beyond the Tidewater, farms tended to be smaller wand were worked by yeoman, independent farmers. Often made up of Scottish immigrants, they usually worked alone or with their families, although some had one or two enslaved Africans to help. In the Southern Colonies, the yeoman farmers outnumbered the large plantation owners. The plantation owners, however, had greater wealth and more influence. They controlled the economic and political life of the region. Most enslaved Africans lived on plantations. Some did housework, but most worked in the fields and often suffered great cruelty. The large plantation owners hired overseers, or bosses, to keep the slaves working hard.
By the early 1700s, many of the colonies had issued slave codes, strict rules governing the behavior and punishment of enslaved Africans. Some codes did not allow slaves to leave the plantation without written permission from the master. Some made it illegal to teach enslaved people to read or write. They usually allowed slaves to be whipped for minor offenses and hanged or burned to death for serious crimes. Those who ran away were often caught and punished severely.
An enslaved African American family representing five generations born on the plantation of JJ Smith, in Beaufort, South Carolina. Timothy O'Sullivan photographed the family in 1862.
Although the enslaved Africans had strong family ties, their families were often torn apart. Slaveholders could sell a family member to another slaveholder. Slaves found a source of strength in their African roots. They developed a culture that drew on the languages and customs of their West African homelands. Some enslaved Africans learned trades such as carpentry, blacksmithing, or weaving. Skilled workers could sometimes set up shops, sharing their profits with the slaveholders. Those lucky enough to be able to buy their freedom joined the small population of free African Americans.
Although most white Southerners were not slaveholders, slavery played an important role in the economic success of the Southern Colonies. That success, however, was built on the idea that one human being could own another. Some colonists did not believe in slavery. Many Puritans refused to hold enslaved people. In Pennsylvania, Quakers and Mennonites condemned slavery. Eventually, the debate over slavery would erupt in a bloody war, pitting North against South.
