Sir Francis Drake was one of the first British slave traders

Francis Drake was presumably born without parents, which is probably why William Hawkins of Plymouth took him in when he was a young child. During his apprenticeship on Hawkin's boats, Drake gained his first seagoing instruction.

They mostly transported manufactured commodities and cloth, often illegally, but piracy was also an attraction. John Hawkins returned to England with priceless items from Guinea, including gold, ivory, pepper, and an idea. Although the Portuguese had a legal monopoly on the slave trade in West Africa, John Hawkins came up with a scheme to break into it and, in 1562, solicited the aid of friends and family to assist finance his venture. Drake, who traveled on Hawkins' second journey when he was 20 years old and not a member of that organization, would share in the proceeds. Scholars like Kris Lane describe Drake as one of the first British slave traders along with Hawkins as a result.

After that, he traveled to West Africa with his cousin John Hawkins to kidnap men and women at the beginning of 1560. In addition, they assaulted Portuguese slave ships to take their "load" of people. As the result, millions of Africans were abducted, sold, and transported across the Atlantic throughout the many centuries of transatlantic slavery. On incredibly lucrative plantations, they were held as slaves and made to labor under abhorrent conditions. Through this commerce in people and the things they were compelled to produce, Britain and other nations became very wealthy. People who were in slavery established groups and many of them rebelled in a variety of ways.