The Triangular Trade

Definition of the triangular trade

Triangular trade, is a historical term indicating trade among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually exports many kinds of goods that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. Triangular trade thus provides a method for rectifying trade imbalances between regions.

Transatlantic Slave trade

The best-known triangular trading system is the transatlantic slave trade, that operated from the late 16th to early 19th centuries, carrying slaves, crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers. The number of Africans shipped as slaves to America has been conservatively estimated at 10 million. That number doesn't include the thousands who died along the way. Some estimates have concluded that 15 to 25 of every 100 Africans died on those voyages. The practice of slavery had a history of hundreds of years. It was made illegal in America in 1807, although it continued in small part for many years after that.

by Fiona Verkyndere