Slave Trade Triangle

Three stages of the trade triangle: Stage 1: The outward passage carried manufactered goods from Europe to Africa, Stage 2: The middle passage carried captives to the Americas or the Carribean. Stage 3: The homeward passage, which would generally carry American goods (tobbacco, sugar, etc.), sailed back to Europe.

What is the Slave trade triangle? The slave trade triangle was formed between 800 and 1500 AD. It started when people from Europe went to Africa to trade gold, kings rifles, ammunition and other valuable materials and goods. The Africans traded mainly slaves for the goods, the slaves were packed into big sailing ships. The ships took them to the Colonies of America and to the island nations of the Caribbean. They were traded for tobacco, cotton, sugar, and molasses. Then these items were taken to Europe and traded for the guns. Through this system, called the Triangle Trade Route, perhaps 10–12 million people were sold into slavery. It lasted for three hundred years until many countries made it illegal to sell people. In the United States the country had to fight the Civil War (1860–1865 AD) for the slave trade to finally stop. To this day, because of the slave trade, you find millions of men and women of African decent all over North and South America.

Who was traded in the slave trade triangle? Mainly the Negroes were traded, they were bought on slave ships from Africa. They were essential to the plantation economy of the southern states. Lots of the slaves were used as workers in the cotton, tobacco, sugar and molasses plantations. White people were mostly the slave owners, they usually managed farms, plantations and factories where the black people would then work in.

Effects of the slave trade triangle The Europeans forced trade onto the Africans, they pressured them into trading and gave them no choice but to trade people. Think of it as.. Trade or die! It's estimated that approximately 5000 slaves a year were shipped from North Africa's Gold Coast. In short terms, Africans traded their own people to the Europeans for goods and money. Scandalous, right?

Effects… continued. Then, the slave trade impacted Europe by bringing in wealth. The slaves brought over to Europe made daily life easier by allowing people to sit inside and not have to do so much labour, because they had their own house hold slave to do that hard, dirty work for them with minimum or no pay. It raised the economy to a higher standard of living, since people had more time to do arts - such as writing, reading, painting, etc. It allowed the Europeans to be stronger by influencing other parts of the world to participate in accepting slave trading and incorporating slaves into their homes.

Problems with slave trade Many Europeans often caught sicknesses from going to Africa, on the ships sickness was often spread because the slaves were put in to compact spaces and there was little room to use the restroom or bathe, many slaves choose to be taken in to slavery to work for money and leave but ended up staying permanently working for a master or mistress and not getting paid or able to return home, many tribes had rebellions against slave trade areas and Europeans participating in it, many chiefs traded their own people and tribes traded other tribes - how deceptive -, and of course your basic problems: poor health, hygiene, disease.

How is the slave trade triangle related to the novel “To kill a Mockingbird”? Scout's relating her family history sets the scene of the story. Her family were slave owners and farmers on the same piece of land, "Finch's Landing." Her first American ancestor, Simon, left his native land to escape religious persecution, but then ironically became a slave owner in Alabama, in his turn persecuting others through slavery. Scout's father Atticus and his brother were the first sons to break this family tradition and go into professions, Atticus into Law and Jack into medicine. Scout's ancestors had made only a modest living as slave-holding farmers, but her father and uncle became professionals, forsaking agriculture and at least the outward oppression of blacks, and in doing so, made far better livings than their ancestors, breaking with family tradition.