Britain didn’t start the slave trade but it did end it

This is very relevant to reparations

At the time of writing (2026) the subject of the transatlantic slave trade is high on the list of topics that are at the forefront of political awareness.

Currently there is a call by politicians and activists in several nations that suffered from the effects of slavery for Britain to pay reparations for its role in the slave trade. Britain after all made lots of money out of the trade.

The narrative usually implies that Britain practically invented the slave trade and was uniquely brutal in its execution of the trade. The truth is that slavery has existed almost since the beginning of any form of human society, long before the transatlantic slave trade, and that by its nature it’s often brutal, involving one group of people raiding the territory of another group and capturing and kidnapping some of the inhabitants.

The transatlantic slave trade came to an end when it did very much due to the fact that Britain decided that slavery was morally wrong. The British government passed the Slave Trade Act in 1807 after which Britain actively moved to end the slave trade. This included the patrolling of the seas to intercept slave ships at the cost of many British sailors’ lives and a great cost to the British exchequer.