Triangular trade in the context of "Atlantic slave trade"

The Dutch Golden Age (Dutch: Gouden Eeuw [ˈɣʌudən ˈeːu, ˈɣʌudə ˈʔeːu]) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the Rampjaar occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific developments, art and overseas colonisation was among the most prominent in Europe. The first half of the period spanned from the beginning of the Eighty Years' War until its conclusion in 1648, with the second half lasting until the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War. During the period, Dutch colonialists, many of them affiliated with the East India Company and West India Company, established trading posts and colonies in the Americas, Southern Africa and Asia, protected by the powerful Dutch States Navy. The Dutch also dominated the triangular trade and Atlantic slave trade during this period.

Dutch culture flourished during this period as well. However, by the end of the 17th century, conflicts with neighbouring powers as well as declining economic influence led to the end of this period. The process by which the Dutch Republic became one of the foremost maritime and economic powers of the world during the era has been referred to as the "Dutch Miracle" by historian K. W. Swart. The term "Dutch Golden Age" has been controversial in the 21st century due to the extensive Dutch involvement in slavery and colonialism during the period, and it has been deprecated by several museums in the Netherlands, including the Amsterdam Museum.

Proto-globalization or early modern globalization is a period of the history of globalization roughly spanning the years between 1500 and 1800, following the period of archaic globalization. First introduced by historians A. G. Hopkins and Christopher Bayly, the term describes the phase of increasing trade links and cultural exchange that characterized the period immediately preceding the advent of so-called "modern globalization" in the 19th century.

Proto-globalization distinguished itself from modern globalization on the basis of expansionism, the method of managing global trade, and the level of information exchange. The period is marked by the shift of hegemony to Western Europe, the rise of larger-scale conflicts between powerful nations such as the Thirty Years' War, and demand for commodities, most particularly slaves. The triangular trade made it possible for Europe to take advantage of resources within the western hemisphere. The transfer of plant and animal crops and epidemic diseases associated with Alfred Crosby's concept of the Columbian exchange also played a central role in this process. Proto-globalization trade and communications involved a vast group including European, Middle Eastern, Indian, Southeast Asian, and Chinese merchants, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.

The planter class was a racial and socioeconomic class which emerged in the Americas during European colonization in the early modern period. Members of the class, most of whom were settlers of European descent, consisted of individuals who owned or were financially connected to plantations, large-scale farms devoted to the production of cash crops in high demand across markets in Europe and America. These plantations were operated by the forced labor of enslaved people and indentured servants and typically existed in subtropical, tropical, and somewhat more temperate climates, where the soil was fertile enough to handle the intensity of plantation agriculture. Cash crops produced on plantations owned by the planter class included tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, indigo, coffee, tea, cocoa, sisal, oil seeds, oil palms, hemp, rubber trees, and fruits. In North America, the planter class formed part of the American gentry.

As European settlers began to colonize the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, they quickly realized the economic potential of growing cash crops which were in high demand in Europe. Settlers began to establish plantations, the majority of which were located in the West Indies. Initially, these plantations were operated with the labor of indentured servants from Europe, but they were eventually supplanted by enslaved Africans brought to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade. Colonial plantations eventually formed a key component of the triangular trade, whereby European goods were brought to Africa and exchanged for slaves, which were brought to the Americas to be sold to colonists, who used them to produce cash crops which were shipped back to Europe; most African slaves brought to the Americas were sold to the planter class, who frequently subjected them to brutal mistreatment.

The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans sold for enslavement were forcibly transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first side of the triangle), which were then traded for captive Africans. Slave ships transported the African captives across the Atlantic (second side of the triangle). The proceeds from selling these enslaved people were then used to buy products such as furs and hides, tobacco, sugar, rum, and raw materials, which would be transported back to Europe (third side of the triangle, completing it).

The First Passage was the forced march of Africans from their inland homes, where they had been captured for enslavement by rulers of other African states or members of their own ethnic group, to African ports. Here they were imprisoned until they were sold and loaded onto a ship. The Final Passage was the journey from the port of disembarkation in the Americas to the plantation or other destination for enslavement into forced labor. The Middle Passage across the Atlantic joined these two. Voyages on the Middle Passage were large financial undertakings, generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals.

The first European contact in 1492 started an influx of communicable diseases into the Caribbean. Diseases originating in the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) came to the New World (the Americas) for the first time, resulting in demographic and sociopolitical changes due to the Columbian Exchange from the late 15th century onwards. While some of the indigenous died of disease, others died of harsh working conditions. These working conditions were enforced because of the sugar cane in the area. The colonists were realizing that the number of people working was decreasing quickly, so they brought enslaved Africans to work there. These Africans brought more disease to the indigenous, killing more of them. The Indigenous peoples of the Americas had little immunity to the predominantly Old World diseases, resulting in significant loss of life and contributing to their enslavement and exploitation perpetrated by the European colonists. Waves of enslaved Africans were brought to replace the dwindling Indigenous populations, solidifying the position of disease in triangular trade.

The Dutch States Navy (Dutch: Staatse vloot, lit. 'States fleet') was the navy of the Dutch Republic from 1588 to 1795. Coming into existence during the Eighty Years' War, the States Navy played a major role in expanding and protecting the Dutch colonial empire, in addition to participating in numerous conflicts with rival European powers. The States Navy consisted of five admiralties, which were respectively based in Amsterdam, Friesland, the Noorderkwartier, Rotterdam and Zeeland. This organisational structure contributed to the decentralised nature of the States Navy, which heavily relied upon privateers and armed merchantmen in times of war.

In addition to the Eighty Years' War, the States Navy also participated in the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Dutch–Portuguese War, the Northern Wars, the Franco-Dutch War and various conflicts of the French–Habsburg rivalry. It also played a major role in protecting Dutch overseas trade, including Dutch involvement in the triangular trade and the Atlantic slave trade. As a result of the War of the First Coalition, the Dutch Republic ceased to exist in 1795, being succeeded by the Batavian Republic; the States Navy was correspondingly transformed into the Batavian Navy. The current navy of the Netherlands, the Royal Netherlands Navy, is the modern successor of the States Navy and inherited many of its traditions.

The Gaspee affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspee was a Royal Navy revenue schooner that enforced the Navigation Acts around Newport, Rhode Island, in 1772. It ran aground in shallow water while chasing the packet boat Hannah on June 9 off Warwick, Rhode Island. A group of men led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown attacked, boarded, and burned the Gaspee to the waterline.

The event sharply increased tensions between American colonists and Crown officials, particularly given that it had followed the Boston Massacre in 1770. Crown officials in Rhode Island aimed to increase their control over the colony's legitimate trade and stamp out smuggling in order to increase their revenue from the colony. Concomitantly, Rhode Islanders increasingly protested the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts and other British policies that had interfered with the colony's traditional businesses, which primarily rested on involvement in the triangular slave trade.