Title: What was the Triangular Trade? [Video]
Headings: What was the Triangular Trade?
What was the Triangular Trade?
Triangular Trades

Content: In the case of molasses, it could alternately be shipped north to English colonies in North America, where it was turned into rum, which would then be shipped at a profit back to England, completing the triangle. But the trade could take different arrangements, expanding the means by which merchants could turn profits: sometimes New-England merchants exported rum made in their colonies directly to the African continent, launching the triangle in that way. Or the European-manufactured goods derived from American raw materials could be sold for money in Europe that was partly used to buy guns, soap, and glass, which could then be exchanged for slaves in Africa. The Triangular Trade created a frenzy for profits among merchants, officials, and plantation owners, which spurred an explosion of slavery, horrible working conditions for slaves, and a rise in their purchase price as demand for slaves increased. Because of the enormous profits to be gained, the slave trade received official, high-profile support. Spain already had the asiento, and in 1618 King James I of England granted 30 London merchants a monopoly on English trading of African slaves. Nearly a century later, the English South Sea Company, which in 1713 bought the English government’s contract with Spain to supply slaves to Spanish markets in the Americas, included among its investors Sir Isaac Newton, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Queen Anne, whose share of the company’s stock was more than 22 percent. Excessive greed for the profits of the slave trade sometimes had nasty consequences for the Europeans. Rampant, out-of-control speculation by investors collapsed the South Sea Company in 1720, in what was known as the “South Sea Bubble.”