England
In Britain, profits were made from exporting manufactured goods to Africa and importing slave products such as sugar even as ports including Bristol, Glasgow and Liverpool flourished. Statistics show that between 1761 and 1808, British traders made as much as 96.5 million (about $13 billion in value today) by hauling 1,428,000 African captives across the Atlantic and selling them as slaves. The Royal Africa Company, for instance, could buy an enslaved African with trade goods worth $5 and sell that individual in the Americas for $32. Profits accrued from the slave trade were used to build banks like Barclays and the Bank of London and equip institutions like All Souls College, Oxford. What is more, slavery provided industries with access to raw materials, becoming necessary for the Industrial Revolution, and in all, the commercial, financial, legal and insurance institutions who gave their support to the inhumane practice all benefited.
