The transatlantic slave trade took place between the continents of Europe, Africa and America from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The reason this trade is called the triangular trade is because it was usually made up of three different voyages which formed a triangular trade pattern. Some slave trading voyages were made directly between the continents of America and Africa.
The first part of the triangular slave trade was the voyage from Europe to Africa. In Africa European slave traders bought enslaved Africans in exchange for goods shipped from Europe. The second part of the triangular slave trade was the voyage from Africa to the Americas. This is often called the Middle Passage. This was the part of the triangle where enslaved Africans were forcibly shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. On reaching the Americas those Africans who had survived the terrible journey were sold as slaves to work on plantations. The third and final part of the triangular slave trade was the return voyage from the Americas to Europe. Slave ships returned to Europe loaded with goods produced on plantations using slave labour. It could take slave ships up to one year to complete the entire triangular voyage.
The triangular pattern of the slave trade helped it to grow quickly. The money made from selling the products of slave labour in Europe was invested in further slave trading voyages. These then supplied plantations with more slave labour with which to produce more crops such as sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice and later, cotton. | 
