anguilla has mostly been part of the british empire since the 17th century. the british brought thousands of slaves from africa and forced them to work, like they did all over the caribbean and north america. many of the slaves decided to run away rather than be forced to work. when the british decided to abolish slavery they paid all the slave owners a lot of money, but didn't give anything to the slaves. now anguilla gets most of its money from fishing and tourism.