“Instigator”? Not really. As I’ve mentioned already, slavery has existed as long as civilisation.
In the case of English involvement, we took the transatlantic trade from the Portuguese. The slaves we transported were captured by fellow Africans and sold to us, as against sent via the Sahara route.
So no, NOT instigators.
We’re the English prime movers, oh definitely, though if you look at the numbers of slaves transported overland in Africa, they’re also obscene.
I’ll happily re highlight the banning of slavery within the British Empire.
Especially when compared to the US, who not only continued until their civil war, but then found a way around its banning with the use of indentured servitude, which is basically slavery by another name.
What a lovely race humans are.