My latest audio book I am listening to is about the British Empire. It is fascinating to hear that the empire was built on the profit from drug rushes- those produced by tea, sugar and cigarettes.
It seems without sugar, Britain might not have attempted to justify the slave trade. It was argued that only Africans could survive to heat to work the sugar and cotton plantations. Of course none of this justifies such an evil but it is at least useful to begin to understand it.
There is also a strong sense of it all growing gradually from a trading company to having an army to protect to begining to rule in India especially. How we slowly begin to slip away.
I may blog about this a bit as I listen more to it.
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