Placing the British slave trade in its proper comparative context reveals a picture that the reparations campaign consistently refuses to present.
Portugal transported approximately 5.8 million enslaved Africans over a period of roughly 400 years. Brazil, as the primary destination, received around 4.9 million enslaved people, making it by far the largest single recipient in the Americas.
Britain transported approximately 3.1 million enslaved Africans over a period of active trade of roughly 150 years. British Caribbean colonies received around 2.3 million enslaved people.
France transported approximately 1.4 million enslaved Africans. Its colonies, particularly Saint-Domingue, which became Haiti, were among the most brutal plantation systems in the Americas.
The Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, and the United States also participated in the trade, though on smaller scales.
Britain was therefore the second-largest transporter of enslaved people in the Atlantic trade, after Portugal, and the largest single-nation trader during the period of its most active participation. These are serious numbers and they carry serious moral weight.
But they also show that Portugal transported nearly twice as many enslaved people as Britain, over a much longer period, and has faced only a fraction of the reparations pressure. France, whose conduct toward Haiti after independence was arguably more egregious than anything Britain did, receives far less attention. The United States, which enslaved people on its own soil until 1865, is engaged in its own reparations debate domestically but is not a significant target of CARICOM’s campaign.
The focus of the reparations campaign on Britain specifically, rather than on all slave-trading nations in proportion to their participation, suggests that the campaign is driven by considerations other than strictly proportional historical accountability.
