Similarities Between Slavery And The Atlantic Slave Trade

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Forced labor has been a worldwide problem for thousands of years. Millions of marginalized human beings have been kidnapped, taken away from their families, and forced against their will to work for people of higher power. In the 15th century, as Europeans were starting to settle in the Americas, the demand for cheap and efficient labor increased. The native americans that were already providing labor at the time were very susceptible to the diseases the Europeans were bringing over, and they weren't very efficient in farming. This led the Europeans to invade Africa, and kidnap Africans because they were immune to more diseases, and they were more proficient in the agricultural field. These Africans were ripped from their families, thrusted …show more content…

All individuals that are or were victims of both slavery and human trafficking were kidnapped, and forced into horrific conditions. And they never saw the benefits of the work they were forced to do. Human trafficking is often referred to as modern slavery, and this is because these human beings, or in other words prisoners, are pried away from their families, homes, and communities and demand that they work for the same people that selfishly ruined their lives. Human trafficking in modern times is the involuntary movement of human beings. And these humans are forced to work in farms, as sex slaves, in factories, or used as domestic slaves in houses. And these workers were not paid or given any benefits (Aguilar-Millan, 2008, 45). The tragedy of this is that these people are often killed while in this system, and the chances of them escaping are slim to none. This is directly related to the Atlantic slave trade because those who were victims of it were not on those ships by choice, they were kidnapped and violently forced onto these gigantic ships with hundreds of other slaves under horrible conditions. While in America, they were beaten, starved, and treated as animals while they worked for the benefit of the country and people that enslaved them. A slave, in the Europeans eyes, were not people. They were seen as property and they were …show more content…

The Atlantic slave trade was a significant source of income for European countries, and this was because it was involved in the triangle trade. The Atlantic slave trade was a key factor in the triangle trade between the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Slaves would be shipped to the Americas and used to farm and collect raw goods. These good would be shipped to Europe, and finished goods would be sent back to America. And all of this would be to the benefit of the Europeans (Abingdon: RM Education, 2011). This saw that the labor that the Africans were being forced to do became a stable source of income for these imperialistic countries. This in relation to human trafficking is very similar because in most countries where it is a real problem, it generates a lot of the economy for that country. And all of this money is coming from the sales and labor of the victims who were abducted. Human trafficking generates more money than the average person assumes. The annual revenue in the UK that comes from human trafficking is estimated to be in the billions. And all of that money goes to the drug lords and power hungry people that control this traffick rinks (Aguilar-Millan, 2008, 45). From this, it is evident that those victimized by both the slave trade and human trafficking have benefits, but these benefits only ever affect the ones that put them in the

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