For many people, the disturbing history of the slave trade brings to mind the horrifying experiences enslaved Africans had to go through while working on plantations in the Americas and other parts of the world.
Africans were, for centuries, captured and chained down, forced onto ships and taken into new lands against their will. Some even died before getting to their new homes due to the awful experiences on the ships that packed them like spoons, with no room even to turn.
For those who survived, it was the start of several hours of work on large plantations with little to eat and with never having to forget their status as property.
In time, the slave trade itself and the trade in goods produced by slave labor formed the most important source of income for the countries involved. So which countries grew rich from slavery?
