Transatlantic Slave Trade System

Timeline

1. 1490–1550West African coast to Brazil · South AmericaFrom the 1490s the Portuguese shipped African slaves on a large scale from the West African coast (around the Gulf of Guinea) to Brazil and São Tomé, establishing the institutional framework of transatlantic slave transport and receiving tacit approval from a papal bull and the Treaty of Tordesillas, laying a legal precedent for later involvement by other nations.
2. 1601–1700Atlantic triangular trade zone · North AmericaIn the early 17th century, the Dutch West India Company (1621) and the British Royal African Company (1660) successively received monopolies on the slave trade, and the triangular trade pattern formally took shape: European manufactured goods shipped to West Africa in exchange for slaves, slaves shipped to the Americas in exchange for tobacco, sugar, and cotton, which were then shipped back to Europe. The volume of slave transport rose sharply in this stage, and the system became highly commercialized and institutionalized.