triangular trade: Meaning and Definition of

trian'gular trade'

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a pattern of colonial commerce in which slaves were bought on the African Gold Coast with New England rum and then traded in the West Indies for sugar or molasses, which was brought back to New England to be manufactured into rum.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.