Historically, several European countries—including England, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Germany—played significant roles in the transatlantic slave trade and other forms of slavery. Here is an overview:

1. England
   England was a leading nation in the transatlantic slave trade from the 1600s to the 1800s. British ships transported millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas, where they labored on plantations in the Caribbean and North America. The Royal African Company (founded in 1660) held a monopoly on England’s slave trade for many years. The slave trade became a cornerstone of the British Empire, fueling its economic success. Slavery was formally abolished in the British Empire in 1833.

2. Netherlands
   The Netherlands actively participated in the transatlantic slave trade through the Dutch West India Company, which operated trading posts in West Africa. Dutch colonies, such as Suriname and parts of the Caribbean, became centers of slave-based economies, with enslaved people working on sugar and coffee plantations. Slavery was not abolished in Dutch colonies until 1863, later than in many other European countries.

3. Spain
   Spain was one of the first nations to use African slaves in its American colonies, especially in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Spanish also implemented the encomienda system in Latin America, which effectively enslaved Indigenous people and forced them to work for colonial rulers. Spain gradually outlawed slavery in its colonies during the 1800s, with the final abolition in Cuba in 1886.

4. Portugal
   Portugal was among the earliest players in the slave trade, transporting enslaved Africans as early as the 1400s. The Portuguese slave trade supplied labor to Brazil, which became the largest slave market in the Americas. Brazil continued using slave labor until 1888, making it the last American nation to abolish slavery. Portugal amassed substantial wealth through the slave trade, particularly through its involvement in West Africa and later in its colonies in Angola and Mozambique.

5. Germany
   Germany was never as prominent in the transatlantic slave trade as the other countries, but German traders participated, and German banks financed parts of the trade. German states also had African colonies in the late 1800s and early 1900s (such as German South West Africa, now Namibia), where Germans imposed brutal labor conditions and persecution, especially against the Herero and Nama peoples, leading to genocide.

These countries' participation in slavery had profound and long-lasting effects on both colonized societies and European ones. The economic profits from the slave trade helped finance industrial development in Europe, while colonized regions paid a high price through intergenerational trauma and economic exploitation.