Atlantic triangular slave trade. The most historically significant triangular trade was the transatlantic slave trade which operated between Europe, Africa and the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries.

When did the triangular trade begin?

A solution to this economic problem appeared in the form of the transatlantic slave trade, which began operating as early as the 15th century, at the very beginning of the colonial period.

How did the triangular trade begin?

The first stage began in Europe, where manufactured goods were loaded onto ships bound for ports on the African coast. There the goods were exchanged for enslaved people. The transatlantic slave trade was the second stage of the triangular trade—the shipment of enslaved people across the Atlantic Ocean.