Lesson Y8-U03-L02

Y8-U03-L02 The Triangular Trade How It Worked Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 9

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U03-L02, The Triangular Trade How It Worked: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 9: Year 8: Slavery, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which three continents were linked by the triangular trade?

    • Europe, Africa and Asia
    • Europe, the Americas and Antarctica
    • Asia, Africa and Australia
    • Europe, Africa and the Americas

  2. What was carried on Side 1 of the triangle, from Europe to Africa?

    • Sugar and tobacco, which were grown on the plantations of the Caribbean and North America
    • Manufactured goods like guns, cloth and metal tools
    • Enslaved people, who were captured inland and then marched down to the coastal forts
    • Gold and salt, which had been traded across the Sahara for many centuries before this

  3. What was the Middle Passage?

    • A river in West Africa where merchants traded gold and salt with local rulers
    • A market in Europe where sugar and tobacco were bought and sold by the merchants
    • The forced crossing of the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas
    • A plantation in the Caribbean where enslaved people were worked from dawn to dusk

  4. Which crops were carried on Side 3, from the Americas back to Europe?

    • Wheat and barley, which were grown on the farms of southern England for bread
    • Sugar, tobacco and cotton
    • Iron and coal, which were mined in the north and shipped to the Americas by sea
    • Potatoes and corn, which were carried from the Americas to feed the poor in Ireland

  5. How long did the Atlantic crossing usually take?

    • 6 to 8 days
    • 6 to 8 weeks
    • 6 to 8 hours
    • 6 to 8 months

  6. What was a plantation in the triangular trade?

    • A huge farm in the Americas where enslaved people grew crops like sugar
    • A small village in Europe where merchants lived before they sailed for the coast
    • A type of ship built in Bristol and fitted out for the long Atlantic crossing
    • A trade fair in Bristol where merchants met to sell their goods to foreign buyers

  7. Why do historians prefer the term 'enslaved person' to 'slave'?

    • It is the only term accepted in modern dictionaries
    • It reminds us people were enslaved against their will
    • It is an older word that appeared in early records
    • It describes a job title used on plantation records

  8. In what year did Britain abolish its slave trade?

    • 1807
    • 1900
    • 1738
    • 1791

  9. Which 1791 uprising led to a free state in Haiti?

    • The Peasants' Revolt
    • The Haitian Revolution
    • The Indian Rebellion
    • The Boston Tea Party

  10. What were 'Maroon' communities?

    • Royal courts in Europe where the kings and their ministers made decisions for the realm
    • Sugar plantations in England where workers grew cane in heated glass houses
    • Military ships that patrolled the coast of West Africa to stop smugglers and pirates
    • Settlements of escaped enslaved people in forests and mountains

  11. Which commodity was the biggest money-maker on Side 3 of the triangle?

    • Coal
    • Cotton cloth from India
    • Sugar
    • Tea

  12. Why could a merchant make a profit on every side of the triangle?

    • Merchants never paid any costs, because the ships and crews were provided by the government
    • Ships sailed empty on every leg of the route, carrying nothing but the crew and their supplies
    • Merchants were paid by the enslaved people themselves to carry them safely across the Atlantic
    • Cheap goods bought enslaved people, who were sold to plantations, whose crops sold for high prices

  13. Why was the trade called 'triangular'?

    • It had three merchants only, who shared the profits equally among themselves
    • It used three colours of ships, painted red, white and blue for each of the legs
    • It linked three continents in a route with three sides
    • It was shaped like a pyramid, with the merchants at the top and the sailors below

  14. Source B says the goods were exchanged on the coast 'for a good number'. What does this mean?

    • A large number of enslaved people obtained for the goods
    • A number of coins in the bank that the merchant had saved from his earlier voyages
    • A list of crops that the plantation owners would buy in the markets of Bristol
    • The number of ships sunk by storms and by the navies of rival powers at sea

  15. Which goods did European traders most often carry to West Africa to exchange for enslaved people?

    • Silver coins minted in the Spanish colonies
    • Tea and porcelain brought from China
    • Guns, cloth and metal goods made in Europe
    • Sugar and rum made on Caribbean plantations

  16. What does the trade data show about the 1700s?

    • The numbers fell steadily from 1600, and the trade was in decline throughout the 1700s
    • The trade stopped in 1700, after the last great voyage sailed from the port of Bristol
    • There were no enslaved people transported at all during the entire course of the century
    • The number transported grew sharply through the 1700s

  17. Why does the lesson say each bar of the chart 'stands for real people'?

    • Because the chart was painted by enslaved people who worked in the port of Bristol
    • Because bars are a type of ship that carried people across the Atlantic each year
    • Because bars were used to pay merchants for each voyage they completed successfully
    • So we remember that the statistics represent individual lives, with names and families

  18. Which groups profited from the triangular trade?

    • Ordinary sailors, who all became rich from the trade and retired to comfortable homes
    • The Mughal Empire, which controlled the sugar and tobacco markets of the Atlantic
    • Merchants, investors, plantation owners and port cities like Bristol and Liverpool
    • The enslaved Africans themselves, who were given a share of the profits for their work

  19. Why does the lesson say enslaved people 'profited nothing' from the trade?

    • They kept all the sugar and sold it themselves at the markets in the towns
    • They owned the plantations and had their own accounts in the banks of London
    • They were paid nothing and treated as property, not as people
    • They were paid in gold for every day of labour that they completed on the plantations

  20. Why did the trade decline towards 1807?

    • The sugar crop disappeared
    • A growing abolition movement campaigned against it
    • Merchants stopped wanting profit
    • Africa closed its ports to all trade forever

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