<P> The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade . Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods, which were traded for purchased or kidnapped Africans, who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves; the slaves were then sold or traded for raw materials, which would be transported back to Europe to complete the voyage . Voyages on the Middle Passage were large financial undertakings, generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals . </P> <P> The "Middle Passage" was considered a time of in - betweenness for those being traded from Africa to America . The close quarters and intentional division of pre-established African communities by the ship crew motivated captive Africans to forge bonds of kinship which then created forced transatlantic communities . </P>

The aspect of the atlantic slave trade named the middle passage refers to