The Slave Trade

• John Hawkins was one of the first Englishmen to use the triangular pattern of trade
• The demand for slaves grew with every new acre of sugar cane, cotton, tobacco or coffee planted in the Caribbean
• The slave trade was important to Europe
• National companies financed ships for the slave trade, and the competition encouraged bitter rivalry in Europe and caused nations to fight colonial wars on both sides of the Atlantic
• Spain did not trade along the West African coast but, instead, made an agreement with the English whereby English ships could supply Spanish colonies with a certain number of slaves each year. This agreement was called the asiento
• The triangular trade became even more important from about 1650 when the sugar boom began
• West Africa had become an important centre for other goods besides slaves
• Names given to areas along the West African coast


  • Grain Coast-land that traded in peppercorns
  • Ivory Coast
  • Gold Coast
  • Oil Rivers-Niger River delta (palm oil)
  • Slave Coast
• Slave trading extended to points much further north and south of the Slave Coast area
• The Triangular Trade


  • European ships loaded with guns, cloth, liquor and other goods sailed to West Africa
  • These goods were traded for African slaves
  • Slaves were packed aboard the ships and transported across the Atlantic to be sold to planters in the Caribbean
  • Ships were then loaded with colonial produce before sailing back to Europe
• The course taken by these ships was more or less triangular, so this was called the Triangular Trade
• The slave coast was between the Niger and Volta coast