From the time the first settlers discovered they could not expect much from the soil of New England , the sea played a major role in the region's economy.
In Colonial times, New England prospered from fishing and trade . One kind of trade was the "triangular trade": New Englanders brought sugar up from the islands of the west Indies , used the sugar to make rum,took the rum to West Africa and traded it for slaves, and then sold the slaves in the West Indies.