How much money did the slave trade owners make a year?

Answer 1

The exact number of British ships that took part in the Slave Trade will probably never be known but, in the 245 years between Hawkins first voyage and the abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807, merchants in Britain despatched about 10,000 voyages to Africa for slaves, with merchants in other parts of the British Empire perhaps fitting out a further 1,150 voyages.

Historian, Professor David Richardson, has calculated that British ships carried 3.4 million or more enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Between 1750 and 1780, about 70% of the government's total income came from taxes on goods from its colonies. The money made on the Transatlantic Slave Trade triangle was vast and poured into Britain and other European countries involved in slavery, changing their landscapes forever. In Britain, those who had made much of their wealth from the trade built fine mansions, established banks such as the Bank of England and funded new industries.

Who profited?

British slave ship owners - some voyages made 20-50% profit. Large sums of money were made by ship owners who never left England.

British Slave Traders - who bought and sold enslaved Africans.

Plantation Owners - who used slave labour to grow their crops. Vast profits could be made by using unpaid workers. Planters often retired to Britain with the profits they made and had grand country houses built for them. Some planters used the money they had made to become MPs. Others invested their profits in new factories and inventions, helping to finance the Industrial Revolution.

The factory owners in Britain - who had a market for their goods. Textiles from Yorkshire and Lancashire were bought by slave-captains to barter with. One half of the textiles produced in Manchester were exported to Africa and half to the West Indies. In addition, industrial plants were built to refine the imported raw sugar. Glassware was needed to bottle the rum.

West African leaders involved in the trade - who captured people and sold them as slaves to Europeans.

The ports - Bristol and Liverpool became major ports through fitting out slave ships and handling the cargoes they brought back. Between 1700 and 1800, Liverpool's population rose from 5000 to 78,000.

Bankers - banks and finance houses grew rich from the fees and interest they earned from merchants who borrowed money for their long voyages.

Ordinary people - the Transatlantic Slave Trade provided many jobs for people back in Britain. Many people worked in factories which sold their goods to West Africa. These goods would then be traded for enslaved Africans. Birmingham had over 4000 gun-makers, with 100,000 guns a year going to slave-traders.

Others worked in factories that had been set up with money made from the Slave Trade. Many trades-people bought a share in a slave ship. Slave labour also made goods, such as sugar, more affordable for people living in Britain.

Answer 2

Slaves cost about $2,000 each in the late 1700's. With 33.33% inflation they cost about $66,000 each. From here on out all calculations are in modern currency values:

Slave ships took 4 months each way and 2 months to sell their load of about 400 slaves. Also there was a 40% mortality rate so there was about 240 slaves arriving to the United States.

240 x $66,000 = $15,840,000

Then it cost about $200,000 to feed the slaves, $350,000 to pay the crew, and about $50,000 maitanence on the boat.

Therefore the profit would be $15,240,000.

Then the auctioning companies who sold the slaves took about 30% of the profit leaving the slavers with $10,668,000 profit.

This leaves them with time to make two trips a year with a grand total of about $21,336,000 a year.