Atlantic World Geography and the Triangular Trade — Four Continents, One Integrated System

Morning Meeting + standing recite MG-8 Sovereignty + MG-9 Humanity-FIRST + MG-10 Resilience-FIRST. Preview the 1619 Project: Born on the Water book cover (do NOT yet open the book — that is Lesson 9 with MG-15 protocol).

• Standing recite all THREE Promises
• Preview Born on the Water cover
• Affirm: 'Today we map the Atlantic World as ONE integrated system. Lesson 9 will be the trauma-informed Middle Passage deep work.'

Show MG-1 Atlantic World map. Walk through FOUR CONTINENTS: WEST AFRICA — name and locate the major coastal kingdoms (Kongo, Asante, Dahomey, Oyo, Senegambia). These were SOVEREIGN KINGDOMS with their own governments, art, religion, and trade networks long before European arrival. EUROPE — name the four colonial powers (Spain, France, Netherlands, Britain) and Portugal. THE AMERICAS — point out the Caribbean sugar islands (Saint-Domingue, Jamaica, Barbados, Cuba), Brazil, and the 13 Colonies organized into 3 regions (MG-3). Then show MG-5 Triangular Trade Diagram. Trace the three main arrows: (1) Europe → Africa (manufactured goods: textiles, weapons, alcohol, metal, cowrie shells); (2) Africa → Americas (enslaved Africans via the Middle Passage); (3) Americas → Europe (sugar / tobacco / rice / indigo / molasses). Then trace the NEW ENGLAND SUB-CYCLE: Caribbean → New England (molasses for rum distilleries); New England → Caribbean (rum); New England → West Africa (rum). Banner: '12.5 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic between 1525-1866; 1.8 million died during the Middle Passage. ~388,000 disembarked directly in what became the United States; over 90% disembarked in the Caribbean and Brazil.' Apply NCGE Five Themes at Atlantic World scale.

• An integrated economic system.

  model Because the same merchant ships often participated in multiple legs; the same currency/credit system tied them; the manufactured goods sent to Africa were paid for by sugar profits earned from American plantations worked by enslaved Africans transported from Africa. It is a closed-loop system.

  prompt Why was the Triangular Trade ONE integrated system not three separate trades?
• Slavery was a New England issue too, not a Southern-only issue.

  model Caribbean molasses → New England rum distilleries (especially Newport RI and Boston MA) → rum to West African coast → enslaved Africans to Caribbean. New England participated in the slave trade through this rum-and-molasses sub-cycle.

  prompt How did the NEW ENGLAND SUB-CYCLE work?

• Name 3 West African coastal kingdoms.
• Why was the Triangular Trade one integrated system?
• Compute: if molasses costs 12 shillings per gallon and rum sells for 4 pounds per gallon (1 pound = 20 shillings), what is the profit per gallon?

Children apply NCGE Five Themes to the Triangular Trade — LOCATION (latitude/longitude of Cape Coast Castle Ghana, Charleston SC, Boston MA), PLACE (physical and cultural features), HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION (sugar monoculture and Caribbean ecology), MOVEMENT (Triangular Trade as integrated system), REGIONS (3 colonial regions, West African coast, Caribbean).

M-5-F-GEO-05-A Diagram

Large 36 x 48 inch wall diagram showing three curving arrows connecting West Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Each arrow labeled with goods and people: (1) WEST AFRICA → AMERICAS with the Middle Passage explicitly named and a small dignified Brookes-ship outline at the base of the arrow with the line 'Remember.' (2) AMERICAS → EUROPE with sugar (Caribbean), tobacco (Chesapeake), rice (South Carolina), indigo (South Carolina), molasses (Caribbean to New England rum distilleries); (3) EUROPE → WEST AFRICA with manufactured goods (textiles, weapons, alcohol, metal goods, cowrie shells). New England sub-cycle shown as a smaller triangle in the upper right. Major West African kingdoms named: Kongo, Asante, Dahomey, Oyo, Senegambia. Banner at bottom: '12.5 million Africans forcibly transported 1525-1866; 1.8 million died during the Middle Passage. ~388,000 disembarked directly in what would become the United States; over 90% disembarked in the Caribbean and Brazil. Source: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, slavevoyages.org.' Style: solemn, factual, no minimization, no graphic imagery.

MG-5 Diagram

Atlantic World Triangular Trade Diagram — three large curving arrows connecting West Africa, the Americas, and Europe, with each arrow labeled with what flowed along it: (1) WEST AFRICA → AMERICAS: enslaved Africans, with the Middle Passage explicitly named and the small Brookes-ship outline shown with the line 'Remember.' (2) AMERICAS → EUROPE: sugar (from the Caribbean and Brazil sugar islands), tobacco (from the Chesapeake), rice (from the South Carolina Low Country), indigo (from South Carolina), molasses (from the Caribbean to New England rum distilleries — a New England-specific economic role); (3) EUROPE → WEST AFRICA: manufactured goods (textiles, weapons, alcohol, metal goods, cowrie shells from the Indian Ocean trade). A sub-arrow from WEST AFRICA → EUROPE shows gold and ivory and pepper. A sub-arrow from CARIBBEAN → NEW ENGLAND shows molasses for the rum distilleries; from NEW ENGLAND → WEST AFRICA shows rum (the New-England-specific triangular sub-cycle). Major West African kingdoms named: Kongo, Asante, Dahomey, Oyo, Senegambia. Banner: 'Approximately 12.5 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic between 1525 and 1866; an estimated 1.8 million died during the Middle Passage. Approximately 388,000 disembarked directly in what would become the United States; over 90% disembarked in the Caribbean and Brazil. Source: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, slavevoyages.org' Style: solemn, factual, no minimization.

• On a blank Atlantic World map, label the 5 West African kingdoms, 4 Caribbean sugar islands, and 3 colonial regions.

  scaffold Use MG-1 reference; partner check.
• Compute: the Brookes slave ship was 100 ft long and 25 ft wide and held 482 captives. What is the area per captive in square feet? (100 × 25 = 2,500 sq ft / 482 = 5.19 sq ft per captive — the dignity-of-Math context, treated with MG-9 Humanity-FIRST anchor; this prepares Lesson 9 but does not yet open the trauma-informed deep work.)

  scaffold Math G5-Fall decimal arithmetic (decimals to thousandths).

M-5-F-GEO-05-B Chart

1 page reference chart: 12 pence = 1 shilling; 20 shillings = 1 pound; example conversions shown. A loaf of bread in 1750 Boston cost ~4 pence; a chicken cost ~6 pence; a laborer earned ~2 shillings per day; an enslaved person was sold for ~50-80 pounds. The economic-scale context is shown with MG-9 Humanity-FIRST anchor — the listing 'an enslaved person was sold for ~50-80 pounds' uses present-tense ('a human being who was enslaved was sold for ___') and is framed with the chart's footer 'These prices are documented historical facts; we cite them to understand the colonial economy, not to reduce human beings to prices.'

MG-9 Illustration

Humanity-First Promise — paired with MG-8 for trauma-informed lessons on slavery (Lessons 9, 10, 13, 16, 19). Five-line text: 'When we learn about chattel slavery, we begin with the HUMANITY of the enslaved person — their name (if known), their family, their place of origin, their resistance, their dignity. We never reduce a human being to a number, a price, or a victim alone.' Style: dignified scroll layout matching MG-8.

• Trace one route of the Triangular Trade in one sentence.
• Compute one Brookes-ship area-per-captive ratio in square feet.
• Name one West African coastal kingdom.

• Standing recite the Three Promises
• Preview tomorrow: Columbus and the Taíno — Loewen BOOK-VS-EVIDENCE work on the dominant Columbus narrative

• Find one source about ONE West African kingdom (Kongo, Asante, Dahomey, Oyo, or Senegambia); bring back one fact about its pre-1492 history.