The Triangle of Trade – Built On the Backs of Slaves

Posted on by Stephen Edwards

National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee

The National Civil Rights Museum has a way of making people feel uncomfortable. One exhibit shows a cutaway of a slave ship, and you see just how little room the captured Africans had on their voyage across the Atlantic. Slavery was the human component of the Triangle of Trade. 

For anyone unfamiliar with the Triangle of Trade, primarily Western Europeans shipped manufactured goods to Africa, where they were exchanged for Africans who were sold into slavery. The slaves were shipped like livestock but with much worse care to plantations in the Caribbean, North, and South America. The journey across the ocean was so treacherous that one out of every five enslaved people died during the three-month voyage across the Atlantic. The slaves suffered from malnutrition, dysentery, smallpox, malaria, and scurvy. The female slaves were subjected to sexual assault by the captains and crews of the voyages. The male slaves were kept in chains that caused open sores on their skins, leading to further disease.

It’s almost unfathomable to think that people traveled this way on ships for three months to only have themselves sold into a lifetime of slavery.

The newly enslaved people were forced to harvest crops such as sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton in the oppressive heat of the European colonies. These raw goods were either further processed in the colonies or they were sent directly back to Europe. The Triangle of Trade made some nations and their inhabitants extremely wealthy. The wealth built on slavery still exists in many institutions, governments, and cities today.

The floor of the exhibit shows what happened in the triangle of trade, goods exchanged for slaves, who were exchanged for either raw or processed goods.

This exhibit shows just how many people were forced into slavery to generate wealth for a select few. Four hundred thousand slaves were brought to the present-day United States. Over 5 million slaves were brought to the Caribbean. The quality of life was extremely harsh, and many individuals did not live long lives due to the extreme working and living conditions. According to the museum, 12.5 million people moved across the Atlantic Ocean in the world’s largest forced migration of people. All so other people could benefit from cotton, tobacco, rice, and rum.

People were captured, bought, and sold for the benefit of others, recorded on a ledger. The lack of humanity that people would put aside to justify the process is baffling.

American, Caribbean, Venezuelan, Colombian, Brazilian, and other cultures would not be as rich without the influence of African food, music, and language. However, without slavery, there could have been a more peaceful way to have this integration. I want to think that the traditional “Southern” cuisine on which I was raised could have come about without the forced transfer and deaths of so many people.

This is such an impactful quote on the wall of the exhibit within the National Civil Rights Museum. Approximately twelve generations of people of African descent were enslaved in the Americas.

Unfortunately, slavery is not just a relic of the past; trafficking is current in the modern world. Please do what you can to remain vigilant against human trafficking. The Polaris Project is one of several groups that are fighting trafficking in the United States and they estimate that there are over 28 million people are trafficked worldwide. If you suspect a trafficking situation, you can call 1 (888) 373-7778 or text Be Free to 233733.

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