How to Place Slavery into British Identity - Dr William Pettigrew

Britain was one of the most prolific nation of slavers, and yet we tend to elide this from our histories. Dr Pettigrew considers British slavery within our history and as a part of the global history of slavery:
www.gresham.ac....
This lecture will revisit the determinants of British identity by examining the problem of slavery in British history from Roman times to the present day. Freedom and slavery provide the compass points for much of the British story but the causes, experiences, and legacies of slavery have not been fully integrated into British consciousness. An analysis of the economic, political, intellectual, and constitutional meanings of slavery in British history can suggest means to integrate slavery constructively into the story of Britain.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College Website: www.gresham.ac....
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[@ofearghas]

Disappointed not to hear mention of half a million Irish indentured labour used in the Caribbean 16C, not quite 'slavery' technically, but if it walks like a duck...

[@ofearghas]

+Dtg Red The Irish were classified as 'indentured labour', with the promise of freedom after 12 years. I wonder how many made it. We were moved up the ranks to be a better class of slave and by the end of the nineteenth century 50% of the English army worldwide were Irish. Sad, following as it did the genocide (misrepresented as a famine, see Marx & Engels 'On Ireland and the Irish Question') of the preceding decades.

[@zeddez1005]

@Blacka Đøn No, the slavery of Europeans predates black slavery in Meopitamiain, North Africa and in subsequent Arab lands. By the way much more brutal as the men were castrated and therefore their lineage genocided. Additionally, the Irish were the first slaves in both the US colonies and the Caribbean. Cornwall sold them off as did later Kings.

[@GoldTradersNiche]

wasn't the indentured servant system put in place after slavery was abolished really just slavery in another form...?

[@robertfpv7733]

Gold Trader's Niche 2017 yep I guess they were trying to pull a fast one to make themselves look good but they treated them basically as slaves

[@mrlin1687]

It's my understanding that slavery prior to chattel slavery was essentially indentured slavery. Indentured slavery was a limitation to freedom based on class and punishment, or capture after war. Slaves under indentured slavery also had limited rights. In the context of transatlantic slave trade from Spain it started a little bit like indentured slavery. Britain introduced chattel slavery (very different to indentured slavery) creating competition in producing more profit, to which chattel slavery was then taken on by all those involved in the slave trade to make more money. Later on indentured slavery was reintroduced again via India to the Caribbean. Africa/Rome/Greece had indentured slaves however this was no way near the same as Chattel slavery. That's my understanding of it.

[@zeddez1005]

No, Indentured servitude pre-dated chattel slavery.