As I've said elsewhere, Europeans were only doing what everybpody has been doing since the Year Dot. But the particular climate and geology of Western Europe facilitated the more rapid development of advanced technology, as well as giving us pale skins. This meant that Europeans had a distinct edge when it came to behaving badly to others.

It was not without cost. The British Empire was built off the backs of people like my ancestors, who were Yorkshire coal-miners. Believe me, most of those people would have swapped lives with a Black slave in Jamaica or Alabama in an eyeblink. When the only freedom you have is the freedom to starve, then being free isn't that glorious!