US History - Triangle/Slave Trade & Mercantilism

Aim: What was the triangle trade?

Do Now: What was one cause of the triangle trade or slave trade?

Triangle Trade and Slavery

As colonies in the Americas grew, so did the need for cheap, reliable labor. At first, European settlers attempted to enslave Native Americans. This was a failure because Native Americans were unsuited to plantation work. Also, it was easy for them to escape and return to their people. Europeans then turned to Africa for its labor source. Starting in the 1500s, large numbers of Africans were bought and transported to the Americas for agricultural work. This trade eventually became very large and profitable and was known as the Triangle Trade due to goods and people moving from Europe to Africa to the Americas. The slave trade resulted in the African Diaspora, which is the large, forced migration of millions of people.

Mercantilism

Mercantilism is the policy of building a nation's wealth by exporting more goods than it imports. Colonies were instrumental in this policy as they supplied their parent nations with raw materials that were used to produce finished goods, and then exported back to the colonies. Colonies not only served as a source for the raw materials, but also as an exclusive market for the parent country. The result of this policy was the further weakening of the feudal system and the rise of the Middle Class as the dominating force in Europe.

Classwork & Homework

Lesson PowerPoint: Triangle Trade

Lesson PowerPoint viewed Online: Triangle Trade Presentation

Lesson Video: Triangle Trade

Lesson Activity: Write a Reflection and Summary Paragraph about the slave trade/triangle trade

Homework: Econimienda System in Latin America