Triangular trade - wikipedia Triangular trade Jump to : navigation , search Depiction of the classical model of the Triangular trade Depiction of the Triangular Trade of slaves , sugar , and rum with New England instead of Europe as the third corner Triangular trade or triangle trade is a historical term indicating trade among three ports or regions . Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come . Triangular trade thus provides a method for rectifying trade imbalances between the above regions . Historically the particular routes were also shaped by the powerful influence of winds and currents during the age of sail . For example , from the main trading nations of Western Europe , it was much easier to sail westwards after first going south of 30 N latitude and reaching the so - called `` trade winds '' ; thus arriving in the Caribbean rather than going straight west to the North American mainland . Returning from North America , it is easiest to follow the Gulf Stream in a northeasterly direction using the westerlies . A similar triangle to this , called the volta do mar was already being used by the Portuguese , before Christopher Columbus ' voyage , to sail to the Canary Islands and the Azores . Columbus simply expanded this triangle outwards , and his route became the main way for Europeans to reach , and return from , the Americas . Contents ( hide ) 1 Atlantic triangular slave trade 1.1 New England 2 Other triangular trades 3 Notes 4 External links Atlantic triangular slave trade ( edit ) Part of a series on Slavery Contemporary ( show ) Child labour Conscription Debt Forced marriage Bride buying Wife selling Forced prostitution Human trafficking Peonage Penal labour Sexual slavery Wage slavery Historical ( show ) Antiquity Ancient Rome Babylonia Ancient Greece Topics and practices Atlantic slave trade Middle Passage Arab slave trade Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Aztec Blackbirding Byzantine Empire Coolie Corvée labor Field slaves in the United States House slaves Kholop Medieval Europe Panyarring Thrall Serfs History Russia Slave market Slave raiding Naval Galley slave Impressment Pirates Shanghaiing Slave ship By country or region ( show ) Sub-Saharan Africa Contemporary Africa Slavery on the Barbary Coast Barbary slave trade Slave Coast Angola Chad Ethiopia Mali Mauritania Niger Somalia South Africa Sudan Seychelles North and South America Americas indigenous U.S. Natives Brazil Lei Áurea Canada Caribbean Barbados Code Noir Cuba Haiti revolt Restavek Latin America Puerto Rico Trinidad United States colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human trafficking Virgin Islands Central , East , and South Asia Human trafficking in Southeast Asia Bhutan China Booi Aha Laogai India Debt bondage Chukri System Japan comfort women South Korea Yankee princess North Korea Vietnam Australia and Oceania Blackbirding in Australia Human trafficking in Australia Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Europe and North Asia Sex trafficking in Europe Britain Denmark Dutch Republic Germany in World War II Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Spain colonies Sweden North Africa and West Asia Iran Libya Human trafficking in the Middle East Ottoman Empire Yemen Religion ( show ) Bible Christianity Catholicism Mormonism Islam 21st century Judaism Bahá'í Faith Opposition and resistance ( show ) Timeline Abolitionism U.K. U.S. Anti-Slavery International Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. Compensated emancipation Freedman manumission Freedom suit Abolitionists Slave Power Underground Railroad songs Slave rebellion Slave Trade Acts International law 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution Related ( show ) Common law Indentured servitude Unfree labour Fugitive slaves laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners Slave narrative films songs Slave name Slave catcher Slave patrol Slave Route Project Treatment in U.S. breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen 's Bureau bit Emancipation Day See also : Atlantic 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 , cash crops , and manufactured goods between West Africa , Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers , with the northern colonies of British North America , especially New England , sometimes taking over the role of Europe . The use of African slaves was fundamental to growing colonial cash crops , which were exported to Europe . European goods , in turn , were used to purchase African slaves , who were then brought on the sea lane west from Africa to the Americas , the so - called Middle Passage . Diagram illustrating the stowage of African slaves on a British slave ship . A classic example is the colonial molasses trade . Sugar ( often in its liquid form , molasses ) from the Caribbean was traded to Europe or New England , where it was distilled into rum . The profits from the sale of sugar were used to purchase manufactured goods , which were then shipped to West Africa , where they were bartered for slaves . The slaves were then brought back to the Caribbean to be sold to sugar planters . The profits from the sale of the slaves were then used to buy more sugar , which was shipped to Europe , restarting the cycle . The trip itself took five to twelve weeks . The loss of the slaver Luxborough Galley in 1727 ( `` I.C. 1760 '' ) , lost in the last leg of the triangular trade , between the Caribbean and Britain . The first leg of the triangle was from a European port to Africa , in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade , such as copper , cloth , trinkets , slave beads , guns and ammunition . When the ship arrived , its cargo would be sold or bartered for slaves . On the second leg , ships made the journey of the Middle Passage from Africa to the New World . Many slaves died of disease in the crowded holds of the slave ships . Once the ship reached the New World , enslaved survivors were sold in the Caribbean or the American colonies . The ships were then prepared to get them thoroughly cleaned , drained , and loaded with export goods for a return voyage , the third leg , to their home port , from the West Indies the main export cargoes were sugar , rum , and molasses ; from Virginia , tobacco and hemp . The ship then returned to Europe to complete the triangle . However , because of several disadvantages that slave ships faced compared to other trade ships , they often returned to their home port carrying whatever goods were readily available in the Americas and filled up a large part or all of their capacity with ballast . Other disadvantages include the different form of the ships ( to carry as many humans as possible , but not ideal to carry a maximum amount of produce ) and the variations in the duration of a slave voyage , making it practically impossible to pre-schedule appointments in the Americas , which meant that slave ships often arrived in the Americas out - of - season . Instead , the cash crops were transported mainly by a separate fleet which only sailed from Europe to the Americas and back . The Triangular trade is a trade model , not an exact description of the ship 's route . A 2017 study provides evidence for the hypothesis that the export of gunpowder technology to Africa increased the transatlantic slave trade by making it easier for Africans to enslave each other : `` A one percent increase in gunpowder set in motion a 5 - year gun - slave cycle that increased slave exports by an average of 50 % , and the impact continued to grow over time . '' New England ( edit ) New England also benefited from the trade , as many merchants from New England , especially the state of Rhode Island , replaced the role of Europe in the triangle . New England also made rum from the Caribbean sugar and molasses , which it shipped to Africa as well as within the New World . Yet , the `` triangle trade '' as considered in relation to New England was a piecemeal operation . No New England traders are known to have completed a sequential circuit of the full triangle , which took a calendar year on average , according to historian Clifford Shipton . The concept of the New England Triangular trade was first suggested , inconclusively , in an 1866 book by George H. Moore , was picked up in 1872 by historian George C. Mason , and reached full consideration from a lecture in 1887 by American businessman and historian William B. Weeden . The song `` Molasses to Rum '' from the musical 1776 vividly describes this form of the triangular trade . Other triangular trades ( edit ) The term `` triangular trade '' also refers to a variety of other trades . A trade pattern which evolved before the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain , the Colonies of British North America , and British colonies in the Caribbean . This typically involved exporting raw resources , such as fish ( especially salt cod ) , agricultural produce or lumber , from British North American colonies to slaves and planters in the West Indies ; sugar and molasses from the Caribbean ; and various manufactured commodities from Great Britain . The shipment of Newfoundland salt cod and corn from Boston in British vessels to southern Europe . This also included the shipment of wine and olive oil to Britain . A new `` sugar triangle '' developed in the 1820s and 1830s whereby American ships took local produce to Cuba , then brought sugar or coffee from Cuba to the Baltic coast ( Russian Empire and Sweden ) , then bar iron and hemp back to New England . Notes ( edit ) Jump up ^ About.com : The Trans - Atlantic Slave Trade . Accessed 6 November 2007 . Jump up ^ `` Triangular Trade '' . National Maritime Museum . Archived from the original on 25 November 2011 . Jump up ^ Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade Archived 2012 - 01 - 03 at the Wayback Machine ... Accessed 28 March 2007 . Jump up ^ A.P. Middleton , Tobacco Coast . Jump up ^ Emmer , P.C. : The Dutch in the Atlantic Economy , 1580 -- 1880 . Trade , Slavery and Emancipation . Variorum Collected Studies Series CS614 , 1998 . Jump up ^ Whatley , Warren C. ( 2017 ) . `` The Gun - Slave Hypothesis and the 18th Century British Slave Trade '' . Explorations in Economic History . doi : 10.1016 / j. eeh. 2017.07. 001 . Jump up ^ Slavery in Rhode Island Slavery in the North Accessed 11 September 2011 . Jump up ^ Curtis , Wayne . And a Bottle of Rum . New York : Three Rivers Press , 2006 -- 2007 . ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 33862 - 4 . page 117 . Jump up ^ Curtis , Wayne . And a Bottle of Rum . New York : Three Rivers Press , 2006 -- 2007 . ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 33862 - 4 . p. 119 . Jump up ^ Kurlansky , Mark . Cod : A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World . New York : Walker , 1997 . ISBN 0 - 8027 - 1326 - 2 . Jump up ^ Morgan , Kenneth . Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the Eighteenth Century . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1993 . ISBN 0 - 521 - 33017 - 3 . pp. 64 -- 77 . Jump up ^ Chris Evans and Göran Rydén , Baltic Iron in the Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century : Brill , 2007 ISBN 978 - 90 - 04 - 16153 - 5 , 273 . External links ( edit ) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triangular trade . The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database , a portal to data concerning the history of the triangular trade of transatlantic slave trade voyages . Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice Sugar ( as food commodity ) List of sugars and sugar products Chemistry Fructose Galactose Glucose Lactose Maltose Sucrose Trehalose Xylose Monosaccharide Disaccharide Free sugar Reducing sugar Sources Sugar beet Sugarcane Agave nectar Birch Coconut Date Honeydew Maple Palm Products Syrups Candi sugar Cheong Maesil - cheong Mogwa - cheong Yuja - cheong Corn syrup Glucose syrup Golden syrup High - fructose corn syrup High - maltose corn syrup Honey Inverted sugar syrup Kuromitsu Maple syrup Molasses Pine honey Steen 's cane syrup Treacle Solid forms Brown Peen tong Chancaca Crystalline fructose Gelling Gula melaka Jaggery Misri Mizuame Molasses sugar Muscovado Nib Non-centrifugal cane sugar Panela Plantation Reserve Powdered Preserving Rock candy Sucanat Sugar candy Barley sugar Butterscotch Candy Hard Toffee Sugar glass Sugarloaf Wasanbon Other forms Caramel Cotton candy floss Maple sugar foods Rum Sugar alcohol Sugar confectionery Sugarcane juice Tuzemák Unrefined sweeteners Industry Production Boilery Plantation Casa grande Refinery Sugar bush Sugar cane mill Engenho Batey Zafra By region ( current ) Cuba Caribbean Philippines Sri Lanka U.S. Sugar Program By region ( historical ) Danish West Indies Fiji Hawaii History Amelioration Act 1798 Blackbirding Colonial molasses trade Demerara rebellion of 1823 Holing cane Molasses Act Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 Slavery in the British and French Caribbean Sugar Act Sugar Duties Act 1846 Sugar Intervention Taiwan Sugar Railways Triangular trade Culture Crop over Sugar house Sugaring Sugar nips Sugar packet Sucrology Sugar people Sugar tit Sugar sculpture Treacle mine Related Added sugar Australian Aboriginal sweet foods Bagasse Barley malt syrup Brown rice syrup Cane knife Flavored syrup Fruit syrup Date honey Grape Jallab Health effects Nectar Sugar addiction Sugars in wine Residual sugar Sugar substitute Sweetened beverage Sweetener Sweetness Vinasse Yacón syrup Production Part of a series on trade routes Amber Road Hærvejen Incense Route Dvaravati -- Kamboja route King 's Highway Rome - India routes Royal Road Salt road Siberian Route Silk Road Maritime Silk Road Spice Route Tea Horse Road Varangians to the Greeks Via Maris Triangular trade Volga trade route Trans - Saharan trade Old Salt Route Maritime republics Hanseatic League Grand Trunk Road Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Triangular_trade&oldid=816063991 '' Categories : History of the Atlantic Ocean Shipping routes Slavery in North America History of sugar Slave trade Age of Sail Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Ido עברית Kiswahili Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 December 2017 , at 00 : 51 . 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triangular trade with britain north middle and southern colonies
Triangular trade or triangle trade is a historical term indicating trade among three ports or regions . Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come . Triangular trade thus provides a method for rectifying trade imbalances between the above regions . Historically the particular routes were also shaped by the powerful influence of winds and currents during the age of sail . For example , from the main trading nations of Western Europe , it was much easier to sail westwards after first going south of 30 N latitude and reaching the so - called `` trade winds '' ; thus arriving in the Caribbean rather than going straight west to the North American mainland . Returning from North America , it is easiest to follow the Gulf Stream in a northeasterly direction using the westerlies . A similar triangle to this , called the volta do mar was already being used by the Portuguese , before Christopher Columbus ' voyage , to sail to the Canary Islands and the Azores . Columbus simply expanded this triangle outwards , and his route became the main way for Europeans to reach , and return from , the Americas . Part of a series on Slavery Contemporary ( show ) Child labour Conscription Debt Forced marriage Bride buying Wife selling Forced prostitution Human trafficking Peonage Penal labour Sexual slavery Wage slavery Historical ( show ) Antiquity Ancient Rome Babylonia Ancient Greece Topics and practices Atlantic slave trade Middle Passage Arab slave trade Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Aztec Blackbirding Byzantine Empire Coolie Corvée labor Field slaves in the United States House slaves Kholop Medieval Europe Panyarring Thrall Serfs History Russia Slave market Slave raiding Naval Galley slave Impressment Pirates Shanghaiing Slave ship By country or region ( show ) Sub-Saharan Africa Contemporary Africa Slavery on the Barbary Coast Barbary slave trade Slave Coast Angola Chad Ethiopia Mali Mauritania Niger Somalia South Africa Sudan Seychelles North and South America Americas indigenous U.S. Natives Brazil Lei Áurea Canada Caribbean Barbados Code Noir Cuba Haiti revolt Restavek Latin America Puerto Rico Trinidad United States colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human trafficking Virgin Islands Central , East , and South Asia Human trafficking in Southeast Asia Bhutan China Booi Aha Laogai India Debt bondage Chukri System Japan comfort women South Korea Yankee princess North Korea Vietnam Australia and Oceania Blackbirding in Australia Human trafficking in Australia Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Europe and North Asia Sex trafficking in Europe Britain Denmark Dutch Republic Germany in World War II Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Spain colonies Sweden North Africa and West Asia Iran Libya Human trafficking in the Middle East Ottoman Empire Yemen Religion ( show ) Bible Christianity Catholicism Mormonism Islam 21st century Judaism Bahá'í Faith Opposition and resistance ( show ) Timeline Abolitionism U.K. U.S. Anti-Slavery International Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. Compensated emancipation Freedman manumission Freedom suit Abolitionists Slave Power Underground Railroad songs Slave rebellion Slave Trade Acts International law 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution Related ( show ) Common law Indentured servitude Unfree labour Fugitive slaves laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners Slave narrative films songs Slave name Slave catcher Slave patrol Slave Route Project Treatment in U.S. breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen 's Bureau bit Emancipation Day Part of a series on Slavery Contemporary ( show ) Child labour Conscription Debt Forced marriage Bride buying Wife selling Forced prostitution Human trafficking Peonage Penal labour Sexual slavery Wage slavery Child labour Conscription Debt Forced marriage Bride buying Wife selling Forced prostitution Human trafficking Peonage Penal labour Sexual slavery Wage slavery Forced marriage Bride buying Wife selling Bride buying Wife selling Historical ( show ) Antiquity Ancient Rome Babylonia Ancient Greece Topics and practices Atlantic slave trade Middle Passage Arab slave trade Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Aztec Blackbirding Byzantine Empire Coolie Corvée labor Field slaves in the United States House slaves Kholop Medieval Europe Panyarring Thrall Serfs History Russia Slave market Slave raiding Naval Galley slave Impressment Pirates Shanghaiing Slave ship Antiquity Ancient Rome Babylonia Ancient Greece Topics and practices Topics and practices Atlantic slave trade Middle Passage Arab slave trade Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Aztec Blackbirding Byzantine Empire Coolie Corvée labor Field slaves in the United States House slaves Kholop Medieval Europe Panyarring Thrall Serfs History Russia Slave market Slave raiding Atlantic slave trade Middle Passage Middle Passage Arab slave trade Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Field slaves in the United States Serfs History Russia History Russia Naval Galley slave Impressment Pirates Shanghaiing Slave ship By country or region ( show ) Sub-Saharan Africa Contemporary Africa Slavery on the Barbary Coast Barbary slave trade Slave Coast Angola Chad Ethiopia Mali Mauritania Niger Somalia South Africa Sudan Seychelles North and South America Americas indigenous U.S. Natives Brazil Lei Áurea Canada Caribbean Barbados Code Noir Cuba Haiti revolt Restavek Latin America Puerto Rico Trinidad United States colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human trafficking Virgin Islands Central , East , and South Asia Human trafficking in Southeast Asia Bhutan China Booi Aha Laogai India Debt bondage Chukri System Japan comfort women South Korea Yankee princess North Korea Vietnam Australia and Oceania Blackbirding in Australia Human trafficking in Australia Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Europe and North Asia Sex trafficking in Europe Britain Denmark Dutch Republic Germany in World War II Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Spain colonies Sweden North Africa and West Asia Iran Libya Human trafficking in the Middle East Ottoman Empire Yemen Sub-Saharan Africa Contemporary Africa Slavery on the Barbary Coast Barbary slave trade Slave Coast Angola Chad Ethiopia Mali Mauritania Niger Somalia South Africa Sudan Seychelles Slavery on the Barbary Coast Barbary slave trade North and South America North and South America Americas indigenous U.S. Natives Brazil Lei Áurea Canada Caribbean Barbados Code Noir Cuba Haiti revolt Restavek Latin America Puerto Rico Trinidad United States colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human trafficking Virgin Islands Americas indigenous U.S. Natives U.S. Natives Brazil Lei Áurea Lei Áurea Caribbean Barbados Code Noir Barbados Code Noir Haiti revolt Restavek revolt Restavek United States colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human trafficking colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human trafficking Central , East , and South Asia Central , East , and South Asia Human trafficking in Southeast Asia Bhutan China Booi Aha Laogai India Debt bondage Chukri System Japan comfort women South Korea Yankee princess North Korea Vietnam Human trafficking in Southeast Asia China Booi Aha Laogai Booi Aha Laogai India Debt bondage Chukri System Debt bondage Chukri System Japan comfort women comfort women South Korea Yankee princess Yankee princess Australia and Oceania Australia and Oceania Blackbirding in Australia Human trafficking in Australia Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Blackbirding in Australia Human trafficking in Australia Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Europe and North Asia Europe and North Asia Sex trafficking in Europe Britain Denmark Dutch Republic Germany in World War II Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Spain colonies Sweden Sex trafficking in Europe Germany in World War II Spain colonies colonies North Africa and West Asia North Africa and West Asia Iran Libya Human trafficking in the Middle East Ottoman Empire Yemen Human trafficking in the Middle East Religion ( show ) Bible Christianity Catholicism Mormonism Islam 21st century Judaism Bahá'í Faith Bible Christianity Catholicism Mormonism Islam 21st century Judaism Bahá'í Faith Christianity Catholicism Mormonism Catholicism Mormonism Islam 21st century 21st century Opposition and resistance ( show ) Timeline Abolitionism U.K. U.S. Anti-Slavery International Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. Compensated emancipation Freedman manumission Freedom suit Abolitionists Slave Power Underground Railroad songs Slave rebellion Slave Trade Acts International law 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution Timeline Abolitionism U.K. U.S. Anti-Slavery International Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. Compensated emancipation Freedman manumission Freedom suit Abolitionists Slave Power Underground Railroad songs Slave rebellion Slave Trade Acts International law 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution Abolitionism U.K. U.S. U.K. U.S. Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. U.K. U.S. Freedman manumission manumission Underground Railroad songs songs Slave Trade Acts 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution Related ( show ) Common law Indentured servitude Unfree labour Fugitive slaves laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners Slave narrative films songs Slave name Slave catcher Slave patrol Slave Route Project Treatment in U.S. breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen 's Bureau bit Emancipation Day Common law Indentured servitude Unfree labour Fugitive slaves laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners Slave narrative films songs Slave name Slave catcher Slave patrol Slave Route Project Treatment in U.S. breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen 's Bureau bit Emancipation Day Fugitive slaves laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners owners Slave narrative films songs films songs Slave Route Project Treatment in U.S. breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen 's Bureau bit breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen 's Bureau bit Freedmen 's Bureau The best - known triangular trading system is the transatlantic slave trade , that operated from the late 16th to early 19th centuries , carrying slaves , cash crops , and manufactured goods between West Africa , Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers , with the northern colonies of British North America , especially New England , sometimes taking over the role of Europe . The use of African slaves was fundamental to growing colonial cash crops , which were exported to Europe . European goods , in turn , were used to purchase African slaves , who were then brought on the sea lane west from Africa to the Americas , the so - called Middle Passage . A classic example is the colonial molasses trade . Sugar ( often in its liquid form , molasses ) from the Caribbean was traded to Europe or New England , where it was distilled into rum . The profits from the sale of sugar were used to purchase manufactured goods , which were then shipped to West Africa , where they were bartered for slaves . The slaves were then brought back to the Caribbean to be sold to sugar planters . The profits from the sale of the slaves were then used to buy more sugar , which was shipped to Europe , restarting the cycle . The trip itself took five to twelve weeks . The first leg of the triangle was from a European port to Africa , in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade , such as copper , cloth , trinkets , slave beads , guns and ammunition . When the ship arrived , its cargo would be sold or bartered for slaves . On the second leg , ships made the journey of the Middle Passage from Africa to the New World . Many slaves died of disease in the crowded holds of the slave ships . Once the ship reached the New World , enslaved survivors were sold in the Caribbean or the American colonies . The ships were then prepared to get them thoroughly cleaned , drained , and loaded with export goods for a return voyage , the third leg , to their home port , from the West Indies the main export cargoes were sugar , rum , and molasses ; from Virginia , tobacco and hemp . The ship then returned to Europe to complete the triangle . However , because of several disadvantages that slave ships faced compared to other trade ships , they often returned to their home port carrying whatever goods were readily available in the Americas and filled up a large part or all of their capacity with ballast . Other disadvantages include the different form of the ships ( to carry as many humans as possible , but not ideal to carry a maximum amount of produce ) and the variations in the duration of a slave voyage , making it practically impossible to pre-schedule appointments in the Americas , which meant that slave ships often arrived in the Americas out - of - season . Instead , the cash crops were transported mainly by a separate fleet which only sailed from Europe to the Americas and back . The Triangular trade is a trade model , not an exact description of the ship 's route . A 2017 study provides evidence for the hypothesis that the export of gunpowder technology to Africa increased the transatlantic slave trade by making it easier for Africans to enslave each other : `` A one percent increase in gunpowder set in motion a 5 - year gun - slave cycle that increased slave exports by an average of 50 % , and the impact continued to grow over time . '' New England also benefited from the trade , as many merchants from New England , especially the state of Rhode Island , replaced the role of Europe in the triangle . New England also made rum from the Caribbean sugar and molasses , which it shipped to Africa as well as within the New World . Yet , the `` triangle trade '' as considered in relation to New England was a piecemeal operation . No New England traders are known to have completed a sequential circuit of the full triangle , which took a calendar year on average , according to historian Clifford Shipton . The concept of the New England Triangular trade was first suggested , inconclusively , in an 1866 book by George H. Moore , was picked up in 1872 by historian George C. Mason , and reached full consideration from a lecture in 1887 by American businessman and historian William B. Weeden . The song `` Molasses to Rum '' from the musical 1776 vividly describes this form of the triangular trade . The term `` triangular trade '' also refers to a variety of other trades . A trade pattern which evolved before the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain , the Colonies of British North America , and British colonies in the Caribbean . This typically involved exporting raw resources , such as fish ( especially salt cod ) , agricultural produce or lumber , from British North American colonies to slaves and planters in the West Indies ; sugar and molasses from the Caribbean ; and various manufactured commodities from Great Britain . The shipment of Newfoundland salt cod and corn from Boston in British vessels to southern Europe . This also included the shipment of wine and olive oil to Britain . A new `` sugar triangle '' developed in the 1820s and 1830s whereby American ships took local produce to Cuba , then brought sugar or coffee from Cuba to the Baltic coast ( Russian Empire and Sweden ) , then bar iron and hemp back to New England . A trade pattern which evolved before the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain , the Colonies of British North America , and British colonies in the Caribbean . This typically involved exporting raw resources , such as fish ( especially salt cod ) , agricultural produce or lumber , from British North American colonies to slaves and planters in the West Indies ; sugar and molasses from the Caribbean ; and various manufactured commodities from Great Britain . The shipment of Newfoundland salt cod and corn from Boston in British vessels to southern Europe . This also included the shipment of wine and olive oil to Britain . A new `` sugar triangle '' developed in the 1820s and 1830s whereby American ships took local produce to Cuba , then brought sugar or coffee from Cuba to the Baltic coast ( Russian Empire and Sweden ) , then bar iron and hemp back to New England .