Elon Musk sparked yet another controversy with a tweet, this time defending the British Empire’s role in the slave trade by referencing the Bible.
The Tesla CEO faced backlash on social media after claiming that the British Empire played a leading role in ending slavery. He stated that many people don’t realize the Empire was the “driving force” behind abolishing slavery on a global scale.
Musk wrote:
“Not many people these days know that the British Empire was the driving force behind ending the vast majority of global slavery. Slavery or de facto slavery was standard practice throughout the world from the dawn of civilization until a few hundred years ago. It is even discussed at length in the Bible.”
In addition, Musk shared posts from another account that praised the British Empire for doing “a lot of good.”
A Controversial Legacy
The British Empire’s involvement in the slave trade dates back to 1562. By the 1730s, Britain had become the largest slave-trading nation in the world. Many cities in the UK are still grappling with the long-lasting effects of the transatlantic slave trade today.
India is one country that suffered greatly under British colonial rule. Once the world’s largest economy, it became one of the poorest nations after decades of British control, with millions of people dying of starvation during this period.
Some estimates suggest that British colonialism caused the deaths of 100 million Indians in just 40 years—more than the combined toll of famines in the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and North Korea.
The Devastation of the Slave Trade
The transatlantic slave trade has been described as the greatest manmade human disaster in history. From 1662 to 1807, British and colonial ships transported around 3.4 million Africans. Of these, about 2.96 million survived the grueling ‘middle passage’ to be sold into slavery in the Americas.
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