How did the triangular trade help the economic success of the plantation system in the west indies?
It was a simple economic process.The Indies and America had a product (Rum, tobacco, rice, sugar, cotton.) and needed slaves to incrase production. Europe wanted these products and had an industrial capacity to produce products desired in Africa(Iron, cloth and trinkets.) The First Leg carried European goods to Africa that had a product and a genuine lust for the goodies of Europe. The Middle passage carried African Slaves to the Indies and America, sold them at a profit, loaded up on Rum, tobacco, etc and made a profit on those goodies at the end of the Homeward Passage. At each point in the triangle, a profit was made such that a full circuit made the equivalent of a millionare out of the ships captain and the ships owner. With two or three passages, a crewman could buy a farm, a manor house and a pub, and retire, all from his share of the voyages.
