Triangular Trade Quiz

Triangular Trade

• The Triangular Trade involved a three-part trade route: Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
• The first leg (Europe to Africa) carried manufactured goods (guns, textiles) in exchange for enslaved people.
• The second leg (Africa to the Americas) transported enslaved people across the Atlantic.
• The third leg (Americas to Europe) carried raw materials like cotton, sugar, tobacco, etc.

Methods of Obtaining Enslaved People

• Enslaved people were acquired through kidnapping, trading, or were prisoners of war.

Middle Passage

• The Middle Passage was the dangerous journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

• Conditions were horrific and brutal.

• Many enslaved people died from disease, starvation, or other forms of mistreatment

• Roughly 10,000,000 enslaved people were taken.

Loose Packing vs Tight Packing

• Loose packing involved fewer enslaved people per ship to minimize deaths during the journey.
• Tight packing involved more to maximize profit.

Columbian Exchange

• The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations (including enslaved people), technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) in the 15th and 16th centuries.
• The Old World gave the Americas livestock (horses, cows, pigs), crops (wheat, rice, sugarcane), and diseases.
• The Americas gave the Old World potatoes, maize (corn), tomatoes, and tobacco.

Explorers

• Christopher Columbus: Sailed for Spain; landed in the Bahamas (mistakenly thinking it was the East Indies)
• John Cabot: Explored for England, claimed land
• Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer; maps; America named in his honor
• Vasco Nunez de Balboa: Spanish explorer; first European to see the Pacific Ocean
• Jacques Cartier: French explorer, explored Canada, discovered land and named it Canada after himself.
• Hernan Cortez: Spanish explorer; led expedition to Mexico; conquered the Aztec Empire
• Francisco Pizarro: Led Spanish forces; conquered the Inca Empire in South America
• Robert de La Salle: Discovered the Mississippi River (for France) which then became known as the Mississippi River

Age of Exploration

• Motivation:
  • Fame, glory, spreading Christianity, Wealth.
• Inventions:
  • Caravel: sturdy ship; Portuguese invention; used for travel, only needed 6' of water to sail.
  • Astrolabe: tool used to measure the position of stars
  • Sextant: tool use to measure the position of stars
• Reason for Exploration:
  • High demand for labor
  • Indentured servants cost too much
• Slavery:
  • Killed many native Americans
  • Europeans took lands (and people)

Treaty of Tordesillas

• Agreement between Spain and Portugal to divide newly discovered territories.
• Imaginary line (line of demarcation) that drew a boundary in the Atlantic Ocean.

Vikings

• First Europeans to sail across the Atlantic Ocean
• Landed in Newfoundland, Canada
• Did not claim the land, and were forgotten

Effects of Slave Trade

• Increased warfare in Africa.
• Atlantic Slave Trade lasted for 300 years.
• Over 10 to 15 million slaves were taken across the Atlantic.
• Slave labor helped establish the economies of the Americas.
• African Diaspora, when Africans from around Africa were sold and dispersed across the Atlantic

Notable Figures (other relevant terms)

• Prince Henry: Began sailing school for navigation in 1419
• Bartolomeu Dias: First European to sail around the southern tip of Africa
• Vasco da Gama: First European to reach India by sea.