 From the 17th century into the 19th century, transportation to the colonies as a criminal or an indentured servant served as punishment for both serious and petty crimes, or for simply being poor and viewed as an 'undesirable', facilitated by the Transportation Act of 1717.During the same period, workhouses employed people whose poverty left them no other alternative than to work under forced labour conditions.British merchants were among the largest participants in the Atlantic slave trade and British owners living within the British isles, as well as within its colonies, owned African slaves.