Triangle Trade / A Modern Tour of Providence
The Triangle Trade, or also known as the "Notorious Triangle", refers to a visual pattern which depicts the trading routes throughout the 18th Century that extended from Rhode Island, the West Indies, to Cape Verde. In other words, from New England, to the Caribbean, to Africa. This historical event is part of this thesis because it gives substantial precedents that reinforce the theory of how history repeats itself. It is also an event that can be placed side-by-side to contemporary times.
Sixty to ninety percent of all American slave trade was controlled by merchants of the nation's smallest state, Rhode Island. Here, rum distilled "was traded along the African coast and directly exchanged there for slaves". But in order to produce the rum, the distilleries needed molasses--a dark brown syrup and by-product of sugarcane. The West Indies, with its a tropical climate, would serve as the molasses cornerstone and the third point in the triangle trade. Like the basic principles of a trading economy, the West Indies would required something in return. New England merchants thus traded recently bought slaves from the slaving grounds of Cape Verde in exchange for molasses, then would trade rum for slaves in Africa, and the cycle would repeat itself. By 1765, the Rhode Island economy had become dependent on the slave trade. However, some historians say that places like Newport, R.I. were heavily influenced by Quakerism, which exempted itself "from the atrocities of slavery". Conflicting reports, on the other hand, point out that African slaves "provided Newport with the man power that was necessary for the production, loading, and transportation of rum." Therefore, "investors, bankers, loan officers, and shipping manufacturers played an active role in the slave trade." It is no coincidence that those responsible for the separation of families, inhumane working conditions, unjust labeling, and economic domination in 1765 are still present in society today.
