Economics, The British Empire, Triangle Trade, and Slavery

The fundamental economic problem facing ALL societies. Essentially it is how to satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources. All governments and people try to solve this problem.

Scarcity

Work that is performed for someone (can't be touched)

Services

People who use these goods and services

Consumers

How much of a good/service is wanted or needed by consumers.

Demand

The study of how goods and services are produced and distributed. Also, the study of scarcity, or how people try to satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources.

Economics

Goods sent out of a country (can also be services)

Exports

Things that are bought sold, traded, and produced.

Goods

Goods brought into a country (can also be services)

Imports

England

In 1000, who made up England?

England & Wales

In 1284, who made up England?

England, Wales, & Scotland

In 1707, who made up Great Britain?

Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) and Ireland

In 1801, who made up the United Kingdom (UK)?

Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland) and Northern Ireland (Ireland is an independent country)

In 1921, who made up the United Kingdom?

Basic requirements for survival like food, water, and shelter/ clothing

Needs

Illegal trade (in/out of a country)

Smuggling

The amount of goods/services available to consumers.

Supply

The exchange of goods/services

Trade

Things that people desire, but don't need for survival

Wants

Africa imported rum, iron, gunpowder, cloth, and tools from the colonies. It exported slaves, gold, and pepper to the West Indies.

What and where did Africa import and export in Triangle Trade?

England imported sugar, molasses, and fruit from the West Indies as well as lumber, furs, whale oil, iron, gunpowder, rice, tobacco, indigo, and naval stores from the colonies. They exported manufactured goods, clothes, furniture, and luxuries to the colonies.

What and where did England import and export in Triangle Trade?

The West Indies imported slaves, gold, and pepper from Africa and flour, fish, and meat from the colonies. They exported sugar, molasses, and fruit to England and also slaves, money, molasses, and sugar to the colonies.

What and where did the West Indies import and export in Triangle Trade?

The colonies imported slaves, money, molasses, and sugar from the West Indies. They also imported manufactured goods, clothes, furniture, and luxuries from England. They exported lumber, fur, whale oil, iron, gunpowder, rice, tobacco, indigo, and naval stores to England. The colonies also exported flour, fish, and meat to the West Indies and rum, iron, gunpowder, cloth, and tools to Africa.

What and where did the colonies import and export in Triangle Trade?

European nations gained many things from the slave trade. They could sell slaves for a high profit. Also, they could have slaves work for them for no pay. In the Southern colonies especially, the slave trade was a lucrative business because the slaves would work on plantations.

What benefits did European nations gain from the slave trade?

It's an adjective describing things from the British Isles, or island of Great Britain.

What does the term British refer to?

A group of nations, territories, and colonies ruled over by an emperor or another powerful leader of government. Examples include the British Empire and Roman Empire

What is an empire?

An economic theory/practice that was popular in Europe during the 1500s through the 1800s... it is said that for a nation to gain power it had to gain wealth... to gain wealth a nation had to export more than it imported. Some Europeans nations developed strong navies and started colonies around the world to help build their empires. Nations that had these economic empires very rich, powerful, and influential.

What is mercantilism?

The middle passage was the journey from Africa to the West Indies across the Atlantic.

What was the middle passage?

Prices fall

When demand goes down...

Prices rise

When demand goes up...

Prices rise

When supply goes down...

Prices fall

When supply goes up...

The quote is both literal and metaphorical. Because of its numerous territories that spread all over the world at the height of its empire, literally the sun could never set on all of the British Empire's colonies at once. Also, it can be taken metaphorically: the British had such a golden age it seemed that it would never end... their "sun" would never set.

Where does the quote, "The sun never sets on the British Empire," come from?

They had a powerful navy, huge economic empire, and reliable and lucrative trade routes.

Why was the British Empire so powerful?

Slaves were considered human gold because they were so profitable. Other Africans would sell the Europeans slaves in exchange for things like guns, so the Europeans didn't even have to capture the slaves. Then, they could be sold for a high cost in the colonies.

Why were slaves considered human gold?