LEGO Animation: Real History of Slavery and the British Empire

Manufacture Dissent · May 25, 2026 · 9m

Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade wasn’t a side note in history — it was the engine that powered the rise of the British Empire. Long before the Union Jack flew across continents, British merchants, shipbuilders, bankers, and politicians were making fortunes from the buying, selling, and forced labor of millions of African people.

From the 1500s to the 1800s, British ships carried more than three million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. These voyages were financed by British banks, insured by British companies, and protected by British naval power. Cities like London…