Foxy,
I had to laugh, the Conversation wishes to be taken seriously, yet to illustrate the claim that Britain built railways to facilitate the movement of troops, the picture shewn to prove the point, is of the, Darjeeling railway which was built, primarily, ot enable the Government officials and their families to get to the Hill Station quicker in the annual exodus from the hot plains in summer.
I’ ve travelled on this World heritage railway and the journey can be done by bicycle in a faster time.

Slavery was the standard practise in all the world and the biggest
slavers were Africans as they harvested their own contrymen & women
to sell them all over the known world. There may well have been more
white slaves than black slaves at various times.

It all continued on until the British government was convinced by
members of parliament that it was time for it to end.
The Royal Navy was given the job to end slavery.
The navy was successful in the Atlantic Ocean areas, but the Arab
trade continues in the Eastern European countries.
Why do you think Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs etc are known as Slavs ?

But more to the point, elect a Head of State and you create a
politician and an isolated power centre. You see this in Africa since decolonisation.

What we are seeing with Barbados is the writing on the
wall for the British Crown in former imperial possessions.
The queen is still head of state in 15 nations, including
the UK, Canada and Australia and support is reportedly
waning in the latter country.

In neighbouring New Zealand meanwhile a recent survey showed
that 50% of respondents favoured retaining the monarchy, even
after the death of the current queen compared with 44% who
favoured a republic.

This is a turnaround from a similar poll taken 2 years ago
when 55% said they wanted to become a republic.

The only thing these polls can tell us is that support for
the monarchy in Britain's former imperial possessions remain
volatile and the chances are that the sun will set on the crown elsewhere before too long.

Will Australia be next?

It's a risky thing to predict.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

The United States is a Republic !
Say no more ! Say no more !

Foxy,
There's no denying that people from Europe got out of hand all over the world. At least they recorded much of their misdeeds.
Our libraries are filled to the brim with such documents but what they're increasingly being filtered of are the documentations of incidents when the boot was on the other foot.
Warfare between tribes, slavery, exploitation & aggression wherever Europeans were too small in numbers to defend themselves.
So far as Australia goes you should really read "By flood & Field" !

No comment on the Conversation’s blunder?
Just imagine moving thousands of troops on a narrow gauge railway with a top speed of about 15 miles per hour a far better illustration would have been a 5’6” gauge locomotive capable of pulling a 600 ton train at 80 mph.