How Did The Industrial Revolution Lead To The Slave Trade?

From the 15th century to the 19th century, Britain was the leading European country in the slave trade market, transporting roughly 3.4 million slaves during this period. Most of the slaves were bought from Western or Central African countries such as Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. The slaves were then taken to newly colonized portions of the Americas, predominantly to islands in the Caribbean. The theological differences and commercial rivalry with Spain was only further aggravated the already contentious relationship when Cromwell began his Western Design campaign against them in 1654. In 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish war, the Cromwell lead military seized Jamaica, one of the major producers of sugar of the time. Through the Western Design, Cromwell sought to “shift the balance of power between the major European colonial powers in the Caribbean ”. This drive for economic and colonial expansion lead to the industrialization of Great Britain, something that would have never been possible if not for the capital growth and economic development vis-à-vis the Atlantic slave trade. In other words the establishment of slavery and the trade that it gave rise to, were the catalyst for an industrial revolution in Great Britain.

The first and most important factor that can be attributed to Britain’s economic growth is the transport of slaves from Western and Central Africa to the Americas; not only did slavery help fund the industrialization of Britain on a national scale, but also on an individual level. Britain saw an enormous influx of capital through their various trading companies and agricultural settlements in the Caribbean and Americas, but as Eric Williams suggests, slavery had precipitated these ...

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...y of whom also served as mayors of Liverpool and Members of Parliament, essentially reinforcing the fact that most of the wealthiest political figures rose to power through the slave trade.

As Eric Williams suggests in “Slavery and Capitalism”, slavery helped in financing the British Industrial revolution via capital mobility and large scale investments and it was abandoned when it stopped being profitable. Once again, reinforcing the idea that all of Britain’s political and social reforms were economically motivated. Albeit, the slave trade furnished an economic base for a large-scale international trading network. Without this international network of merchants and exporters, the British would not have an inexpensive source of raw goods, nor a way to produce it. Many argue that without the slave trade, the industrial revolution would have never been possible.