Noorie Madarbux

How far do you agree that the growth of the British Empire to 1763 was dependent on the rapid development of the slave trade?

I agree to a high extent that slavery played a significant role in the expansion of the British Empire. I agree with this statement because slavery was one of the reasons that allowed the British to import a high amount of goods and to also receive an immense amount of profits. Even though slavery was considered of great importance, there were other key factors involved with the expansion of the British Empire - slavery being partly involved and responsible. The slave trade was mainly involved in two key aspects: the growth of the sea trade and finally the existing colonies/settlements.

Trade was one of the main key factors that allowed the British Empire to increase and grow steadily. This trading routine was the beginning of the Empire and from all the joint stock companies formed, Britain allowed its Empire to grow in profits and increase in size. The Slave trade played a major role in the growth of seaborne commerce/trade mainly across the Atlantic seas. The use of slavery helped the British a vast amount by bringing in increased profits and goods such as cotton, tobacco and sugar. This triangular trade was a three point voyage in which Britain gained prosperity and wealth in return. The triangular slave trade supplied the Atlantic colonies with African people, which then were forced to work on the specific plantations. Slaves were transported across the Atlantic; they were bought and sold, and ended up working on plantations growing the crops that the Europeans craved. The empire believed that it was all about their dominance in trade and it was known as being ‘Americanised’. Being ‘Americanised’, meant that Britain being increasingly centred on the America’s therefore meant being increasingly centred on slavery. From this, we can see that the slave trade was highly involved and helped the trading of the British.

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Joint stock companies such as the Royal African Company and the East India Company were mainly the most dominant companies in trade. These companies also played a part in the slave trade as they had the permission to and therefore they did. The Royal African Company received a monopoly of the trade from King Charles to supply slaves to the British colonies of the Carribean. By doing this, it would further streamline the efficiency of the slave trade and allowed thousands of slaves a year to be exported. Headquarters of the British East India Company meant that London supplied commodites ...

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