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Just as Flemish and Dutch artisans had kick-started the growth of manufacturing in the Middle Ages, Walloons and Huguenots played a key part in the move to a capitalist economy based on banks, credit, stocks and shares.

This was a period when wealth and power started moving away from aristocratic landowners to businesses trading internationally in commodities such as sugar, tobacco, spices, tea, coffee and textiles.

The Bank of England, partly financed by Huguenots, and the London Stock Exchange formed the financial hub of Britain. This system of trade and profit required Britain to gain access to raw materials and cheap or enslaved labour. This resulted in increasing numbers of African and Asian people being brought to Britain, in most cases as forced labour.

The world of commerce and stock markets that was born in 17th and 18th century Britain is still the dominant economic system in the 21st century.