Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade vs. Human Trafficking
Ariel Bosselaar
Professor Gabriele Gottlieb
Hst. 300: Writing History December 15, 2011
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade VS. Human Trafficking Although slavery may have legally ended in 1865 with the end of the Civil War, it continues to be a problem worldwide today. “The UN International Labor Organization (ILO) calculates the minimum number of people in forced labor at 12.3 million, while research by Free the Slaves, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the United Sates, puts the number at 27 million.” Even so, there are many similarities between the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and human trafficking today. All through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade slavery happened mostly in colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean, where slaves were used to grow cash crops and mine for gold and silver. While today slavery happens worldwide, where they are forced into prostitution or some form of labor. Marinela Badea was a seventeen year old girl from Romania who was made to come to Manchester to work as a prostitute. In Thailand there is a problem with children being sold by their parents to make up a substantial number of the prostitutes in Thailand. These are just a few examples of human trafficking around the world; there are many more cases in places like England, Scotland, the United States, China, and so many more locations. Although slavery used to be mostly contained to the Atlantic shores now it has spread all over the world where it continues to be a problem. Today and during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade people taken to be slaves underwent a voyage to a distant place to be sold to foreign merchants. During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his home and made to travel weeks to the coast to be sold to a foreign merchant, where he was worked as hard as possible and often not feed as well as he should have been. In Nymlal, Sudan in 1986 a seven year old boy named Francis Bok was kidnapped by raiders
Professor Gabriele Gottlieb
Hst. 300: Writing History December 15, 2011
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade VS. Human Trafficking Although slavery may have legally ended in 1865 with the end of the Civil War, it continues to be a problem worldwide today. “The UN International Labor Organization (ILO) calculates the minimum number of people in forced labor at 12.3 million, while research by Free the Slaves, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the United Sates, puts the number at 27 million.” Even so, there are many similarities between the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and human trafficking today. All through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade slavery happened mostly in colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean, where slaves were used to grow cash crops and mine for gold and silver. While today slavery happens worldwide, where they are forced into prostitution or some form of labor. Marinela Badea was a seventeen year old girl from Romania who was made to come to Manchester to work as a prostitute. In Thailand there is a problem with children being sold by their parents to make up a substantial number of the prostitutes in Thailand. These are just a few examples of human trafficking around the world; there are many more cases in places like England, Scotland, the United States, China, and so many more locations. Although slavery used to be mostly contained to the Atlantic shores now it has spread all over the world where it continues to be a problem. Today and during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade people taken to be slaves underwent a voyage to a distant place to be sold to foreign merchants. During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his home and made to travel weeks to the coast to be sold to a foreign merchant, where he was worked as hard as possible and often not feed as well as he should have been. In Nymlal, Sudan in 1986 a seven year old boy named Francis Bok was kidnapped by raiders