Records show that Black me and women have live in Britain in small numbers since at least the 12th century, but it was the Empire that cause there numbers to swell exponentially in the 17th and 18th centuries. As the British empire expanded Africans and Afro- Caribbean slaves were ferried across the sea to work in plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas were they had to do back breaking labor all their lives under the scalding sun. Others in much smaller numbers were ferried into the ports of London, Liverpool and Bristol - on the same ships that brought Imperial products such as tea, sugar, coffee, cotton, rum, fruits, wine, tobacco, and oil to enrich the national economy.
Those Black People that came to Britain were often brought in by planters, government officials, military and naval officers returning to the United Kingdom. Slave were seen as reassuring companions who might staunch some of the loneliness felt by the white expatriates on their long voyages back to an island they had not seen for decades. Other black people were offered to commanders of slaving vessels as gifts and were later sold into domestic service at the quayside auctions or at coffee houses in London, where they were given names such as John Limehouse or Tom Camden.
Slavery was legal in Britain until 1772 and many of the African found themselves working as Butlers or house hold attendant s in Aristocratic families. Most of the Black Slaves were treated like props to show off to there friends as they were given very color full clothes with very bright color turban to wear and were always very visible when they had friends or family round for visit and when they went out.
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