Triangular Trade Peak Volume, 1700s

By 1700 the transatlantic slave trade had transported an estimated 1.5 million Africans to the Americas since 1500. In the first half of the eighteenth century volume surged: approximately 2 million more were transported between 1700 and 1750. English, Portuguese, French, and Dutch merchants competed for supremacy, transforming West African politics and depopulating entire coastal regions.