Final answer:
New England merchants converted molasses into rum as part of the triangular trade, a cycle that relied on enslaved African labor for the production of sugar and other cash crops, which were exchanged for captives in Africa.
Step-by-step explanation:
The imported item that merchants of New England converted into a more stable and profitable product to ship to Africa was molasses, which they transformed into rum. This process was part of the triangular trade, a system that involved shipping goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved people from Africa to the Americas, and raw materials from the Americas to Europe. New England merchants received molasses, a by-product of sugar cane production from plantations in the Caribbean, and then manufactured it into rum. This rum was then traded in Africa for captives to be sent across the Atlantic, perpetuating the cycle of the trade system.
Enslaved Africans were forced to work on plantations to grow lucrative cash crops such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton, which were then traded for European manufactured goods. The labor and production of enslaved peoples were foundational to the prosperity of these trade networks. The transformation of molasses to rum by New England merchants was one aspect of this broader economic system, which relied heavily on the exploitation of human lives.