Triangular trade
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[[Image:Triangle trade euro.png|right|thumb|300px|An historic example of three way trade in the North Atlantic]]
'''Triangular trade''' is a historical term indicating [[trade]] between three ports or regions. The trade evolved where a region had an [[export]] commodity that was not required in the region from which its major [[import]]s came. Triangular trade thus provided a mechanism for rectifying trade imbalances.
The most famous triangular trade in human history was the 18th century trade between [[West Africa]], the [[West Indies]], and [[Europe]] <ref>[http://africanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa080601a.htm About.com: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade]. Accessed [[6 November]] [[2007]].</ref> (alternatively: West Africa, the West Indies, and northern colonies in [[British North America]]). Of these, the [[sea lane]] west from Africa was the notorious [[Middle Passage]]; its cargo, abducted or recently purchased [[African]] [[Slavery|slaves]].<ref>[http://www.nmm.ac.uk/freedom/viewTheme.cfm/theme/triangular National Maritime Museum - Triangular Trade]. Accessed [[28 March]] [[2007]].</ref>
== Triangular slave trade ==
{{Main article|Atlantic slave trade}}
[[Image:Slaveshipposter.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Diagram illustrating the stowage of African slaves on a British slave ship.]]
The trade represented a profitable enterprise for merchants. The business was risky, competitive, and severe, but enslaved [[Africa]]ns fetched a high price at auctions, making the trade in human cargo a lucrative business.
The first leg of the triangle was from a European port, where supplies such as [[copper]], [[cloth]], trinkets,[[slave beads]], [[guns]] and [[ammunition]] would be shipped to a port in Africa.<ref>[http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/abolition/ Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade]. Accessed [[28 March]] [[2007]].</ref> When the slave ship arrived, its cargo would be sold in exchange for slaves, who were often tightly-packed like any other cargo to maximize profits. The ship would then make the journey along the [[Middle Passage]] to the [[New World]]. Once the [[slave ship]] reached the New World, the survivors would be sold for a good profit. The ships were then prepared to get them thoroughly cleaned, drained, and loaded for a return voyage to their home port.<ref>A. P. Middleton, ''Tobacco Coast''. </ref> From the West Indies the main cargo was sugar, rum, and [[molasses]]; from [[Virginia]], it was [[tobacco]] and [[hemp]]. The ship then returned to [[Europe]] to complete the triangle.
Alternatively, [[New England]] also benefited from the trade, as many merchants were from [[New England]], especially [[Rhode Island]], replacing 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]].<ref>[http://www.slavenorth.com/rhodeisland.htm [[Rhode Island]] Slavery History]. Accessed [[15 December]] [[2007]].</ref> 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 a full sequential circuit of the triangle - historian [[Clifford Shipton]], after years of sifting through New England shipping records, could not find a single instance of a ship completing the full triangle as described <ref>Curtis, Wayne. ''and a Bottle of Rum''. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006-2007. ISBN 978-0-307-33862-4. page 117.</ref>
So where did this concept of the New England triangle trade originate? it 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. <ref>Curtis, Wayne. ''and a Bottle of Rum''. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006-2007. ISBN 978-0-307-33862-4. page 119.</ref>
==Other triangular trades==
The term "triangular trade" also refer to a variety of other trades:
*A trade pattern which evolved before the [[American Revolutionary War]] between [[Great Britain]], the [[Thirteen Colonies|colonies of British North America]], and British colonies in the Caribbean. This typically involved exporting raw resources such as [[fish]] (especially [[salt cod]]) or agricultural produce from British North American colonies to feed slaves and planters in the [[West Indies]] (also [[lumber]]); sugar and molasses from the Caribbean; and various manufactured commodities from Great Britain.<ref>Kurlansky, Mark. ''Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World''. New York: Walker, 1997. ISBN 0-8027-1326-2.</ref>
*The shipment of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] salt cod and [[grain|corn]] from [[Boston, Massachusetts]] in British vessels to southern Europe.<ref>Morgan, Kenneth. ''Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the Eighteenth Century''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 0521330173. Pages 64–77.</ref>
*The "sugar triangle" whereby American ships took local produce to [[Cuba]], then brought [[sugar]] or [[coffee]] from Cuba to St Petersburg, then [[wrought iron|bar iron]] and [[hemp]] back to [[New England]].<ref> Chris Evans and Göran Rydén, ''Baltic Iron in the Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century'' : Brill, 2007 ISBN 9789004161535, 279</ref>
==Double Triangle==
The "[[Indian Ocean]] Triangle" or "Double Triangle" involved [[Dhow]]s with [[Arab]] and sometimes [[Somali people|Somali]] crews, with [[Basra]], [[Bombay]]/[[Mumbai]] and [[Mombassa]] on the outward passage and [[Dar-es-Salaam]], [[Karachi]] and [[Aden]] on the return voyage, the above known as "The Six Ports" to those involved in the trade. The origins of this trade route go back to Medieval times and it was still thriving in the 1960s.
==References==
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[[Category:Slavery in the New World]]
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