Describe the triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa and America.
Answer:
Points to remember
- Europeans were reluctant to work in distant and unfamiliar lands which meant a shortage of labour.
- This shortage was met by a triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa and the Americas.
- French merchants used to sail from the ports of Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast, where they bought slaves.
- Branded and shackled, slaves were packed tightly into ships for a three-month-long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
- There they were sold to plantation owners .
- Slave labour made it possible to meet the demand for sugar, coffee, and indigo in Europe.
Answer to be written
- The reluctance of Europeans to go and work in distant and unfamiliar lands meant a shortage of labour on the plantations .
- So this was met by a triangular slave trade between Europe , Africa and the Americas .
- In the seventeenth century, French merchants sailed from the ports of Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast , where they bought slaves from local chieftains .
- Branded and shackled , the slaves were packed tightly into ships for the three-month-long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean .
- There they were sold to plantation owners .
- The exploitation of slave labour made it possible to meet the growing demand in European markets for sugar, coffee, and indigo .
