What is Triangular trade?
[[File:Triangle trade2.png|thumb|350px|Illustration of the classical model of the triangular trade.]] The '''triangular trade''' refers to [[trade]] between three [[port]]s or regions. Triangular trade usually develops when a region is [[export]]ing resources that are not needed in the region from which its main [[import]]s come. Instead, the resources are exported to a third region. The [[Trade route|routes]] involved were historically also shaped by the [[Trade wind|winds]] and [[Ocean current|currents]] during the age of [[sailing ship]]s. The best-known triangular trading systems were across the [[Atlantic Ocean]], especially the [[Atlantic slave trade]], which lasted from the late 16th to early 19th centuries. During this time, [[Europe]]an countries such as [[Great Britain]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]], the [[Netherlands]] and [[France]] had [[Colony|colonies]] in the [[Americas]] and Africa. The ships carrying [[slave]]s, [[crop]]s and [[Manufacturing|manufactured]] goods between [[West Africa]], the [[Caribbean]] and American colonies and the colonial powers in Europe. The use of [[African slave trade|African slaves]] was very important to growing colonial [[cash crop]]s, which were exported to Europe. European goods, in turn, were used to buy African slaves, which were then brought from West Africa to the Americas to [[Forced labour|work]] on the crops. The middle passage of the triangular trade refers to the transportation of the slaves to America. The Atlantic economy was tied into the idea of [[mercantilism]], which thought it was a good idea for European countries to have a lot of colonies that traded only with them. Goods that were traded in the Atlantic economy were [[rum]], slaves, [[sugar]], [[tobacco]], [[gold]], [[spices]], [[fish]], [[lumber]] and manufactured goods. Triangular trading became less common in the 20th century due to [[free trade]] and ships specialized for particular cargoes. ==Other websites== {{commons category|Triangular trade}} * [http://www.slavevoyages.org The Transatlant