20 S. U. Abramovaprecise standpoint on this question: the flourishing and wealth of the metro-
politan country depend on the size of the slave trade, the import of slaves to the
plantations.
In Capital, Karl Marx quotes a prominent historian, a specialist of the
colonial period: 'It is the agriculture of the West Indies, which has been for
centuries prolific of fabulous wealth, which has engulfed millions of the African
race.'^12 And that was exactly the way things stood. The American colonies,
the slave trade and the 'triangular' trade were a major factor in the primary
accumulation of capital and had a substantial impact on the economic devel-
opment of the metropolitan countries, but the fabulous wealth of the West
Indies and of the American planters was created by the hands of Africans,
scores of thousands of whom perished in the conditions of plantation slavery.
In distinction to several present-day historians this was well understood by
contemporaries.
To quote a British historian, at the opening of the eigtheenth century :the African slave trade was the foundation on which colonial industry and the colonial
commerce of European countries rested. It dominated the relations between the
countries of Western Europe and their colonies; it was one of the most important
factors in the warsthe of the century; it played a considerable role in the domestic
affairs of the nations involved in it.^13
One has only to recall the asiento. Being well aware of the profits that would
come pouring in from the delivery of slaves to the Spanish colonies and from
the goods that were smuggled during those voyages, European countries vied
to obtain this contract. According to the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) following the
war for the Spanish inheritance, Great Britain, as the victor, succeeded to the
asiento previously held by France and gained several additional privileges
into the bargain.^14 According to contemporaries, obtaining the asiento was a
huge victory for British diplomacy.
In the eighteenth century, the interests of European society were closely
linked with the slave trade, which had a great impact on the growth of Euro-
pean ports and promoted the emergence of manufacturers processing raw
materials cultivated by Africans. In 1796, during debates held in the British
Parliament on the question of abolishing the slave trade, Tarleton and Young,
members of the House of Commons, who represented the interests of ship-
builders and slave-traders, claimed that the abolition of the slave trade would
ruin London, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow.^15
The manufacturers of Nantes maintained in all competence :
The slave trade is the basis of all our navigations. It brings manpower to till the land
of our islands. In exchange the islands give us an abundance of sugar, coffee, cotton
and indigo which are used in domestic and foreign trade.^16