Scientist and banker benefited from gold mined primarily by enslaved Africans in Brazil, book claims

Summary

A new book, Ricardo’s Dream by Nat Dyer, reveals that Sir Isaac Newton’s wealth was closely tied to the transatlantic slave trade during his tenure as master of the mint at the Bank of England.

Newton profited from gold mined by enslaved Africans in Brazil, much of which was converted into British currency under his oversight, earning him a fee for each coin minted.

While Newton’s scientific legacy remains untarnished, the book highlights his financial entanglement with slavery, a common thread among Britain’s banking and finance elites of the era.

  • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.eeEnglish
    16·
    29 days ago

    I see no need to go back over history constantly bringing this shit up.

    Bringing what up? The truth?

    You might as well say that you don’t see a need to even observe history if you take issue with people discussing the verifiable fact that Newton’s wealth came from slavery.

    If anything, it sounds like you might have a vested interest in downplaying information like this. I would be curious to see where your family’s wealth came from.

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
      19·
      29 days ago

      Ok, but what do you want anyone to do about it? The guy has been dead for hundreds of years and we can’t just pretend that gravity and calculus don’t exist because he was a dick.

      • frezik@midwest.socialEnglish
        18·
        29 days ago

        People don’t just see Issac Newton as an important scientific contributor. They idolize him. Same for people like Thomas Jefferson. Appreciating history means understanding the full range of the people involved. When things like this are downplayed, it gives in to a narrative of history that supports terrible policies today.

      • kryptonite@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        29 days ago

        Newton wasn’t the only one who developed calculus. Leibnitz developed it independently around the same time, and both of them had prior mathematicians’ work to base their work on. If it weren’t for Newton, we would still have calculus.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus

        That said, we can acknowledge Newton’s mathematical and scientific achievements while still acknowledging problematic or terrible things that he also did. We don’t need to whitewash history in order to recognize someone’s achievements.

    • dumbass@leminal.spaceEnglish
      4·
      29 days ago

      This is how I see it, if they were someone from history who was rich, I assume it’s because of slavery. It’s easier to count the amount of people who got rich without slavery on your hands.