The Triangular Trade

Ships were loaded in key English ports with guns, copper and brass goods and other manufactured articles.

These were then transported to the west coast of Africa and traded for young men and women who had been enslaved by African merchants.

After a long journey, crammed below decks, with little air, food or water, the survivors were sold in the southern USA, the Caribbean islands and South America, where they were used to work the plantations.

These were large farms growing crops wanted in Europe, principally tobacco, sugar and cotton. The merchant ships would load up with these products and take them back to Britain on the last leg of their journey.

It was a three-legged voyage, known as the triangular trade, designed to keep the ships fully laden at all times and maximise profits.

Ships from Glasgow took part in this trade on an occasional basis but more often engaged in direct trade with the plantations.