Commodity

Definition

A raw material or agricultural product traded in bulk, such as sugar, tobacco or cotton. The Atlantic economy was built on commodities produced by enslaved labour, and following one commodity from field to ship to port to table is a good way to teach the system. Take care not to let the language of prices hide the people, who were treated as property by the law of the time. See also: plantation, Atlantic slave trade, and the guide Commodities and the Atlantic Economy.