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Period 4
3/14/17
Transatlantic Slave Trade and Modern Human Trafficking Comparison Essay
There is a common misconception that slavery ended in the 19th century; the truth is that
slavery is still prominent today but is now known as human trafficking. Human trafficking is
person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of
subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery." The slave trade that
ended in the 19th century is the transatlantic slave trade, in which European interests and African
entrepreneurs transported African mostly POW's to the West Indies, Brazil, Europe and the
Americas. Today, traffickers exploit mostly marginalized women and children because they are
the most vulnerable. Human trafficking is currently the fasted-growing organized crime in the
world, with at least 27 million slaves exploited--many more slaves than were traded 400 years
ago, and for a cheaper price. The transatlantic slave trade and human trafficking are similar in
that they are both motivated by monetary benefits but different in that human trafficking is more
sexually exploitative.
The transatlantic slave trade and modern human traficking are both motiviated by
money and the demand for goods and services. In the tranatlantic slave trade, impoverished
Africans would sometimes sell members of their family to slave traders for monetary
compensation. In the modern day a similar trend exists; families might sell women and children
into arranged mariages, traficking and slavery. Another motive of both past and present slavery
is the need for labor and rare goods. A big reason for the transatlantic slave trade was the growth
in sugar production which led to higher demand for plantation laborers. Similarily, labor and
Julia Henderson
Period 4
3/14/17
prostitution are sadly services that are currently in demand and potentially lucrative. In the
transatlantic slave export, Africans were driven to sell slaves in exchange for rare european
goods like textiles, hardware and guns. Today, some people are traficked for the sake of organ
removal and the sale of organs-- while not so much a "good," organs are again valuable objects
that play a part in modern slavery. Another cause of slave trade was that Africans toke advantage
of vulnerable people by selling their prisoners of war into slavery. Similarily, in human
trafficking, women and children--especially those who are marginalized--are the main victims of
exploitation since they are the most vulnerable and can easily be taken advantage of.
In human trafficking, people are mainly sold for sexual exploitation compared to
transatlatic slavery that was for the sole purpose of slave labor. As before mentioned, in the past
plantation owners bought slaves to work in their plantation feilds. In the case of human
trafficking, 80% is for sexual exploitation and only 19% is for forced labor. The awful people
that are engaged in human trafficking rape and sexually abuse women and children as well as
men. Furthermore, young women are forced into prostitution and are victims to high rates of
sexually transmitted diseases. Another difference between the motives of past and present
slavery is that today's human trafficking, when it does involve forced labor, is driven by demand
in many different industries like illegal mining and chicken farming not only in plantation labor
like it was before. Subsequently, human trafficking takes place worldwide rather than just in
select wealthy plantation countries. Human trafficking has been reported in every country
countries. The opposite is true of the transatlantic slave trade, which exported mainly to Brazil,
Julia Henderson
Period 4
3/14/17
the West Indies, Portugal and Spain. Human trafficking is worst in parts of Asia as well as
The impacts on individual victims of transatlantic slavery and human trafficking are
similar, though the local impacts of the transatlantic slave trade are more prominent than those of
human trafficking. Due to the brutal treatment of slaves and victims of traficking, both were/are
physically harmed from excessive labor. Victims of trafficking suffer from similar psychological
damages as slaves; this includes trauma and PTSD. Due to the sale of so many people into
slavery, central Africa experienced a population decline. Similarily, major prominence of human
trafficking can result in a smaller ratio of women to men since women are more often abducted
as victims. The close quarters of the middle passage caused many slaves to die of disease.
Similarily, sexual exploitation in human trafficking can result in victims contracting potentially
fatal diseases like HIV/AIDS. Victims of human traficking, like slaves, are often fed very little
and suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Locally, the transatlantic slave trade had a negative
impact on the African economy. Also, in the destinations of export slave trade, African
culture--including language and religion-- was suppressed becaus slave owners feared strong
Even though the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery in 1865, slavery is still
happening in the U.S. (and worldwide) in the form of human trafficking. We must bring
awareness to the issue of modern forced labor and sexual exploitation in order to combat this
problem. Traffickers are getting away with commiting illegal acts. Our laws need to be better
inforced in order to protect victims from the same terrible impacts that the transatlantic slave