The atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade
Also known as The Transatlantic Slave Trade, The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across theAtlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries.

Triangular Trade across the Atlantic
The first side of the triangle was the export of goods from Europe to Africa. A numberof African kings and merchants took part in the trading of enslaved people from 1440 to about 1833. For each captive, the African rulers would receive a variety of goods from Europe. These includedguns, ammunition and other factory made goods. The second leg of the triangle exported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas and the Caribbean Islands. The third and final part ofthe triangle was the return of goods to Europe from the Americas. The goods were the products of slave-labour plantations and included cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum.
However, Brazil (themain importer of slaves) manufactured these goods in South America and directly traded with African ports, thus not taking part in a triangular trade.
The profits made from the global trade of sugar,tea and coffee were the major driving force behind the triangular trade. For centuries it provided substantial quantities of venture capital for the industrial revolution and the development of thewestern European economy.
The Middle Passage
The "Middle Passage" was the journey of slave trading ships from the west coast of Africa, where the slaves were obtained, across the Atlantic, where theywere sold or, in some cases, traded for goods such as molasses, which was used in the making of rum. However, this voyage has come to be remembered for much more than simply the transport and sale ofslaves. The Middle Passage was the longest, hardest, most dangerous, and also most horrific part of the journey of the slave ships. With extremely tightly packed loads of human cargo that stank and...