Slavery of the 19th & 20th Centuries was most certainly a terrible event in world history. What people seem to forget is that slavery has been with us for millenia and that our ancestors suffered badly as did ,many other European people. The instigators of this crime against humanity were of course the Roman invaders. What many people are ignorant of is that not only were slaves taken by force in Briton but many were 'given' by tribal leaders wishing to ingratiate themselves with the conquerers. Of course this is comparable with the great stain on relatively recent history concerning African slaves, not only were these people taken by force many were sold by their own tribes for a few hundred glass beads. The Islamic nations were great slave traders and the Europeans and Americans 'learned their trade' from these Arabic nations. Also it is interesting to surmise what if? What if the slave trade had not happened? It is easy to conjecture that many of the black people whose ancestors were stolen from Africa may not have existed today. Why? Because disease, famine and starvation were endemic. Many slaves were taken in tribal wars, indeed was this the forerunner of ethnic cleansing? Zanzibar, the great crossroads of Africa and the Indies was the greatest slave port in the world closely followed by Mombassa. Liverpool and London were just bridal paths against the notorious motorways of African slavers. And let us not forget the great nations of the Caribbean, the United states and Central America. These places were founded upon slaves, they certainly would not exist as we know them today. So I say NO! We should not apologise for the slave trade. The ordinary man in the street certainly did not profit from it, the profiteers were the already rich, those whose ancestors had exploited the British people already with their serfs, labourers and indentured children. The titled gentlefolk of Great Britain prospered as they always do. And of course never forget, it all started i