The triangular trade

After 1700, the number of people enslaved and transported significantly increased. It is thought that around 8.5 million enslaved Africans were taken to the Americas.

British slave ships set off from Liverpool, Glasgow or Bristol, carrying trade goods and sailed to West Africa.

• Some of those enslaved were captured directly by the British traders. Enslavers ambushed and captured local people in Africa.
• Most slave ships used British 'factors', men who lived full-time in Africa and bought enslaved people from local leaders. Enslaved peoples might have been captured during warfare or raids on their homes.
• In 1700, an enslaved person would be traded for goods valued at around three pounds. The goods might be cloth, guns, gunpowder or brandy.
• The enslaved Africans were marched to the coast in chained lines called coffles, where they were held in prisons called 'factories', which were often castle-style buildings built by the Europeans.
• While the people trading in enslaved people lived in luxury, enslaved people were kept in terrible conditions in dark rooms and basements for weeks or months until ships were ready to sail.

The slave ship then sailed across the Atlantic to the West Indies – this leg of the voyage was called the 'Middle Passage'.

• Journeys lasted from six weeks to several months, depending on the weather. The ships were often too small to carry the hundreds of enslaved Africans on board. Those enslaved were tightly packed into cramped spaces below deck with one person’s right leg chained to the left leg of another person. Conditions on the ships were terrible, and many of those enslaved died from diseases such as smallpox, scurvy and measles. As many as 2 million died during the journey via the Middle Passage.
• In the West Indies, the enslaved people were sold at an auction called a 'scramble.' Some were sent to 'seasoning camps' to be trained to follow orders often using brutal methods. Working conditions on plantations were horrific. To maximise profits with crops such as sugar, shift work was developed and brutal violence was used.
• The selling price of an enslaved person in the West Indies in 1700 was £20, so the trade was very profitable for enslavers.

Some ships, but not all, then loaded up with sugar and rum to sell in Britain, before making the voyage back home.