The Triangle Trade

New England's soil is thin and rocky, so farms are small. The sea is where your wealth is. Your fishing boats catch far more fish than your people can eat, so you dry and salt the extra to sell. Whalers bring home whale oil for lamps. Your forests give lumber, and your shipyards build ships. You have 7 merchant ships, the most of any colony. Your main ports are Boston and Newport.

Rhode Island has distilleries (factories that make rum). Rum is made from molasses (the syrup left over from making sugar), and molasses comes from the West Indies. Game rule: each rum you trade uses up 2 molasses. The sugar islands pay well for fish and lumber. You are short of farm crops and of goods made in England. England's trade rules said the colonies had to buy manufactured goods from England. Two regions have no ships, so you can carry their cargo and charge for it. You start with no molasses, so get some from the West Indies before you sell rum. Other regions want your whale oil and your rum, and your ships can earn fees. Work out the best trades you can.

In New England, fishermen, sailors, and shipbuilders did most of the work, and enslaved people worked in port towns like Newport and Boston. The molasses was made by enslaved Africans, people forced to work for life with no pay. Ships from Newport carried rum to West Africa and traded it for captured people. Then they carried those people across the Atlantic in chains. That forced crossing is called the Middle Passage.

Farms in the Middle Colonies grow huge amounts of wheat and corn, far more than your people can eat. The region was called the breadbasket of the colonies. You also raise cattle and cut lumber from your forests. Traders get furs from Native Americans, and furs bring a high price in England. Your two main ports are Philadelphia and New York City. You have 2 merchant ships. That is enough to trade on your own, but not to carry a lot.

Every region needs food, and you grow it. But wheat and cattle are heavy and cheap. You are short of manufactured goods (things made by skilled workers in workshops) and of goods from warm places. England's trade rules said the colonies had to buy manufactured goods from England. Sugar is expensive in England. If you trade wheat in the West Indies for sugar, you can take the sugar to England and trade it for the manufactured goods you lack. Try to make the best trades you can.

On Middle Colonies farms, the work was done by farm families, indentured servants (workers who owed years of work), and some enslaved people. The sugar islands grew almost no food, because nearly every field was sugar cane. Your wheat, cattle, and lumber fed and built the plantations. There, enslaved Africans were forced to work for no pay. They had been carried across the Atlantic in chained ships. That forced crossing is called the Middle Passage. Slavery was legal in the Middle Colonies too. New York City had one of the largest numbers of enslaved people of any colonial city.

Tobacco is the great cash crop (a crop grown to sell) of the Southern Colonies. You grow so much that the price has dropped, and England pays little for it. South Carolina grows rice, some silk, and indigo (a plant that makes a blue dye). North Carolina makes naval stores (pine tar and resin used to build ships). You also have fish, lumber, and furs. That is eight kinds of goods, the most of any region. Your main ports are Charleston and Savannah. But you have no ships.

England's cloth makers want your indigo, and English buyers want your tobacco and rice. Shipbuilders everywhere want naval stores. You are short of food grains and of manufactured goods (things made by skilled workers). England's trade rules said your tobacco and indigo could be sold only to England, and manufactured goods had to come from England. Your first problem is moving your goods. Hire a ship from New England, the Middle Colonies, or England and pay with some of your goods, or trade for a ship of your own. Then work out the best trades you can.

Your crops were planted and harvested by enslaved Africans and their children, who were forced to work for life with no pay. In South Carolina, more than half of all the people were enslaved. Many had been carried from West Africa across the Atlantic in crowded ships. That forced crossing is called the Middle Passage.

The islands of the West Indies, such as Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Kitts, are covered with sugar cane. Sugar is expensive and wanted all over the world, so you hold the most valuable good in the game. Making sugar also leaves molasses (a dark syrup), which New England turns into rum. You also grow citrus fruit, like limes and oranges. Your main port is Kingston, in Jamaica. You have no ships.

England pays high prices for sugar, and New England wants your molasses for its rum. But planters used nearly every field for cane, so the islands grow little else. You are short of food and of manufactured goods (things made by skilled workers). England's trade rules said your sugar could be sold only within England's empire, and manufactured goods had to come from England. Hire a ship from New England, the Middle Colonies, or England to carry your cargo, or trade for a ship. Sugar is your strongest card, so do not give it away cheaply. Work out the best trades you can.

The sugar was made by enslaved Africans, who were forced to plant, cut, and boil the cane in heat and danger, with no pay. Most people on the islands were enslaved. They had been taken from Africa and carried across the Atlantic in chained, crowded ships. That forced crossing is called the Middle Passage.

You represent the merchants of England, the Mother Country (the nation that rules the colonies). English workshops make manufactured goods (things made by skilled workers): guns, gunpowder, tools, books, clothing, and fine furniture. You also hold silver. Your main port is London. You have 8 merchant ships, the most in the game.

England believed colonies existed to make it rich. That idea is called mercantilism. The colonies had to buy manufactured goods from England. They had to sell many of their crops to England too. But England lacks the goods of colonial farms and forests. You must import a long list of colonial goods. Trade your manufactured goods for colonial raw materials (goods from nature, like crops and wood). Two regions have no ships, so you can also carry their cargo and charge for it. Work out the best trades you can.

In England, workers in workshops and mills made the cloth, guns, and tools, often for low pay. English ships also carried people. They took cloth, guns, and metal goods to West Africa and traded them for captured Africans. Then they carried those people across the Atlantic in chains. That forced crossing is called the Middle Passage. In the Americas, the people who lived were sold into slavery. The ships came home with sugar and tobacco grown by enslaved people.