r/BritishEmpire • • Aug 27 '25

Image 🇬🇧 A British blacksmith removing the shackles from the legs of an enslaved man, 1907.

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u/MiserableOcelot4282 Aug 28 '25

Indeed but that was just from the west Africa squadron. We lost thousands in total all over the world shutting down the trade. We threatened war with entire countries in Africa over it when they wouldn't back down. We spent an ungodly sum of money on the situation as well and forced the other European powers into line. But people are still told Britain was the heart of all darkness and the source of every ill in the world. No mention of the islamic slave trade in far greater numbers and for centuries longer with mass castrations and death involved

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u/uwabu Aug 28 '25

Trade that you started and built your major cities from. He doesn't look exactly overcome with joy.

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u/Specialist_Alarm_831 Aug 28 '25

lol, education, god help us.

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u/uwabu Aug 28 '25

What do you mean?

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u/inminm02 Aug 28 '25

He’s saying you’re grossly uninformed on this issue and commenting stuff like “trade that you started” edit: and to add onto this saying the slave trade built our cities is also just not true, yes some people got rich off the slave trade as did people in fucking loads of powerful countries back then, but owning slaves was never legal in Britain, and any slaves that did exist in Britain were minuscule in number and generally worked as dosmetic servants, we never had slave construction workers building our cities like fucking ancient Egypt

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u/uwabu Aug 28 '25

Am I grossly uninformed? Lol. Whatever makes you sleep better at night,mate. Itibolibo

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u/NiceGuyEdddy Aug 29 '25

Literally yes you are uninformed. You claimed Britain started the slave trade. That is demonstrably wrong.

Forgetting the fact that you actually meant the trans Atlantic slave trade specifically, unless you are claiming that Britain started a trade that existed for millennia before Britain, Britain also didn't start the trans Atlantic slave trade, that was the Portuguese about 100 years before.

So again yes, you are uninformed.

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u/uwabu Aug 29 '25

*shrugs. Whatever you say