Impact of Caribbean trade on the British economy

• Slave produced goods such as sugar and coffee were imported into British ports helping them to become rich and powerful trading centres.
• Work was provided in many ports as men were employed as sailors, shipbuilders and dock workers.
• The profits made from the slave trade were also invested in the development of other British industries, particularly banking, ship-building, and textiles.
• Wealthy colonial families built huge mansions in many of the British cities where they traded.
• Many important government buildings in British cities were constructed using the profits of the slave trade.
• Glasgow’s economy benefited from the tobacco trade, while slave cotton provided work for the mills of Lancashire.
• The slave trade transformed struggling ports into rich and prosperous trading centres such as Bristol, London, and Liverpool.
• Banking and insurance businesses grew, especially in London.
• Lloyd’s of London, Barclays, and The Royal Bank of Scotland are long-established companies with connections to transatlantic slave trading.