The very first ship of Africans to arrive in the US was Dutch and they traded their cargo for goods with the original colonists of Hampton Roads, Virginia. Technically, they were indentured servants and not slaves.
While the Brits were dominant in the “triangular trade” the whole of western Europe and the Africans themselves were buyers and sellers.
Of course, you’re right.
It’s just that the Brits are obsessed with our race problems, refusing to admit they had anything to do with it. Same with their activities in South Africa!
Sure, but the important point about the 19th century is not that it started off with legal slavery, just as had centuries for time immemorial, but rather that one whole category of slavery was abolished by century's end.
outofsalt: " (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches us anything.) "
History has much to teach, but we are very slow learners, easily distracted by bright-shiny objects in the news.