What was a major reason of the trans-atlantic slave trade

A main cause of the trade was the colonies that European countries were starting to develop. In America, for instance, which was a colony of England, there was a demand for many labourers for the sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. Paid labourers were too expensive, and the indigenous people had largely been wiped out by disease and conflict, so the colonisers turned to Africa to provide cheap labour in the form of slaves.