Transatlantic trade

Britain

During colonial times, and its colonies engaged in the "triangular trade, "transporting natural resources, goods, and people across the Atlantic Ocean to enrich their motherland.

mercantilist goals

Establishing colonies promoted in two ways: first, the colonies ensured the mother country had a cheap supply of raw materials (timber, sugar, tobacco, furs, just to name a few), and second, the colonies served as captive market for finished goods (furniture, guns, metal implements)

cultural shifts

Trade with Europeans had far- reaching effects on Native American communities, including wars, , and disease.

Navigation Act

In 1651 Parliament passed the first , intended to govern the terms of trade between Great Britain and its colonies.

16th

During the and 17th centuries, trade laws (and their scope of enforcement) changed as new kings and new prime ministers came to power in the British government.

Establishing colonies promoted mercantilist goals in two ways

first, the colonies ensured the mother country had a cheap supply of raw materials (timber, sugar, tobacco, furs, just to name a few), and second, the colonies served as captive market for finished goods (furniture, guns, metal implements)

Although this generalization demonstrates how each continent supplied the others with the goods or labor they lacked, the reality was a bit more complex

few ships would have completed the full triangle, and ships might also make more than one stop in the colonies-to exchange food from New England and enslaved people from the sugar islands, for instance

The British colonies in North America specialized in producing or obtaining commodities that Europeans valued

the islands of the Caribbean produced sugar, Carolina produced rice and indigo, the Chesapeake produced tobacco, and the Middle colonies produced foodstuffs like grain

European traders prized the animal skins that Native American hunters provided

beaver furs in the North and deerskins in the South

Why did the British government pass the Navigation Acts? Were they effective?

promote the self-sufficiency of the British Empire by restricting colonial trade to England and decreasing dependence on foreign imported goods.

How did the triangular trade work? Why was it important to the colonial system?

urope supplied Africa and the Americas with finished goods, the Americas supplied Europe and Africa with raw materials, and Africa supplied the Americas with enslaved laborers.

How did trade with Europeans affect Native American communities? How did trade with Native Americans affect Europeans?

warfare, cultural change, and disease