This leg also traveled through the West Indies where some slaves were exchanged for sugar and molasses which was then shipped up to New England and distilled into rum. The remainders of the slaves were also auctioned off in southern New England. Once in New England, ships were then loaded with furs, fish and fruit which were then shipped on the final leg of the journey to Europe, who benefited most because she received many imported goods from their colonies and, compared to the imports, exported very little. The Triangular Trade proved to be a very successful means of transporting goods between continents that lacked goods which the other continents were able to provide in exchange for goods which they had in their possession. However, because Africa"s chief export were slaves, a commodity of humans who were treated as goods, Africa lost more than it gained. Despite the moral brutality, slaves were transported by way of the Middle Passage, which when investigated, reveals this unacceptable practice of human brutality enacted upon fellow humans.
The second leg of the Triangular Trade formed the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage consisted primarily of slave trade from African empires to the New World. Using Africans for the purpose of trade was a method conceived not by the runners of the Triangle Trade, rather it was a practice which had been practiced for centuries, dating back to the days of the Islamic-run, trans-Saharan trade routes. However, the shipmen of the Triangular Trade took the slave trade to a new and unprecedented level. The African nations would war between one another in order to acquire more slaves to support the New World's demand for slaves. Henceforth, there was a plethora of slaves waiting when the slave traders arrived on the African coast. The African's were loaded into the bottoms of the ships just as the cargo they were being treated as was loaded. However, these humans were subjugated to packing in a much more inhumane manner than that of the goods.