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Firstly, it was money, the slave trade made a lot of people a lot of money. Secondly, prestige, it was mainly the rich and well to do who had slaves. But as a nation, they didn't, it brought shame on us, which is still with us, although it should be remembered that even though the British were one of the first to trade in slaves, we were the first to abolish it.
"Shame on us which is still with us" - what utter silly rubbish. To answer the question, one of the principal benefits was that at that time they assisted us in growing and processing adequate and necessary quantities of sugar in the Caribbean for the diet of the people of this nation (sugar beet which could be grown in Europe had yet to be understood). Here is a group happily at work.
We were such nice people we did this.......
In the 17th century, slavery was used as punishment by conquering English Parliament armies against native Catholics in Ireland. Between the years 1649 and 1653, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland by the New Model Army under the command of Oliver Cromwell, thousands of Irish Catholics were forced into slavery. Cromwell had a deep religious dislike of the Catholic religion, and many Irish Catholics who had participated in Confederate Ireland had all their land confiscated and were transported to the West Indies as slaves.
Have a look here.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_trade
In the 17th century, slavery was used as punishment by conquering English Parliament armies against native Catholics in Ireland. Between the years 1649 and 1653, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland by the New Model Army under the command of Oliver Cromwell, thousands of Irish Catholics were forced into slavery. Cromwell had a deep religious dislike of the Catholic religion, and many Irish Catholics who had participated in Confederate Ireland had all their land confiscated and were transported to the West Indies as slaves.
Have a look here.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_trade
Tatty, I appreciate your point of view, but even though it had nothing to do with us, (we weren't there), people are still apologising for it, we know its was wrong, but you have to look at it in the light of the time, Happy slaves?, probably if you like being someone elses property, and have been forcibly removed from your homeland and family.
Why are the British castigated more than other European countries for their role in the Atlantic slave trade of Africans?
The Portuguese had a monopoly for 200 years (mid 15th to mid 17th centuries), were responsible for about 36% of all trading and were the last Europeans to abolish slavery.
Spanish ~ 23% (continued slave trade for more than 20 years after Britain stops)
British ~ 21% (first to abolish slavery, pressured other countries over many years to also abolish slavery, set up naval anti-slavery patrols)
French ~ 14% (ended slave trade 40 years after Britain)
Dutch ~ 5%
I lived for more than twenty years in the Caribbean, Chessman, (principally Trinidad and Jamaica), and studied slavery amongst other things at the University of the West Indies. It is an extremely complex subject, not all one sided, and this apology thing has present day free money from the British Government for the lad's as it's objective, nothing else (ever thought about the Carib's?). Happy? Of course they were. Here is a group out on a Sunday afternoon stroll, and here is another group off on a picnic. Irish slaves in the Caribbean, Shaney? Well, thats a surprise, but it does perhaps answer why banana's grow upside down and are curved instead of straight.
Yes Ratty Bollax,as a matter of fact, Irish slaves in the West Indies, in their thousands. No doubt like their African counterparts delighted to be rounded up and shipped thousands of miles from their homes never to see their children, parents or loved ones ever again. I can't imagine why I never realised how happy slaves were until I read your enlightned text.Thank you from the bottom of my heart for opening my eyes.Info here http://republican-news.org/archive/1997/February20/20stkt.html
on the St Kitts monument to the Irish slaves.
Slavery was solely money oriented ( and in the case of Irish slaves, politically beneficial), that's how Britain benefitted.
NoxLumos.
.... blimey, the IRA have turned up !! I'm all of a tremble !! Anyway, here is the badge of St Kitts in which you can see that the Irish lady looks happy, well-fed, well groomed and generally fine although in true Irish form she has lost a shoe and half the strings of her harp.
To keep to the question.
British people 'in general' benefitted from slave-made goods. The main benefit was to the few businessmen who prospered on the profit of these goods and the trade of slaves itself.
Ships left British west coast ports like Liverpool and Bristol laden which firearms, gunpowder, metals, alcohol, cotton goods, beads, knives, mirrors - the sort of things which African chiefs did not have, and which were often of very poor quality. These goods were exchanged for slaves - people who had been captured in local tribal wars perhaps, or who had been taken prisoner especially for this trade by the trading tribe.
The slave ships sailed from Africa across the Atlantic. Any slaves who had managed to survive the journey were taken to shore and were sold to plantation owners in the West Indies, the southern colonies of America (Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia) where they spent the rest of their lives working to produce goods like cotton, tobacco, sugar cane and coffee.
The slave-produced goods were shipped back to Britain where they were manufactured or refined (if necessary) and then either sold domestically or re-exported at a vast profit. The slave trade brought in huge amounts of money to Britain, and few people even knew what was going on in the plantations, let alone cared.
By the middle of the 18th century British ships were carrying about 50,000 slaves a year. Royal Navy sailors said that they could smell the stench of a ship carrying slaves anything up to 10 miles downwind.
Chessman, we get your point, no need to keep rattling on.
It will come as no surprise tha the slaves were packed tightly into the slave ships, so that they could hardly move. Often they were chained down; they were allowed little exercise and they were kept in horrendous conditions in the hold of the ship. Often if a ship sank, they would drown in their chains with the ship.
I could have said that in my previous post, but I thought it rather obvious. Your post could even be considered distasteful so I would just stick to the question.
It will come as no surprise tha the slaves were packed tightly into the slave ships, so that they could hardly move. Often they were chained down; they were allowed little exercise and they were kept in horrendous conditions in the hold of the ship. Often if a ship sank, they would drown in their chains with the ship.
I could have said that in my previous post, but I thought it rather obvious. Your post could even be considered distasteful so I would just stick to the question.
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