Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

By Jamie Wright

February 27, 2011

CJA/313

Henry

Human Trafficking

People are beaten, starved, and are strained into prostitution. The victims involved live their lives in despair; they are slaves in human trafficking. Human trafficking affects humanity personally and psychologically. The transfer of illegal immigrants across boundaries, and provides a foundation of income for prepared crime groups and even terrorists groups (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011).

Slavery is about as old as humanity itself. All of the world’s great founding traditions were involved in slavery such as Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, and India; it was a way of life. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas believed in slavery. Neither the Bible nor philosophers were in opposition to slavery. Aristotle, a truth-seeker; however, protected slavery.

During the 15th century, European travelers sailing to new lands Africa, Asia, and the Americas, began a new beginning in the history of slavery. The Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English established colonies throughout the world. The new lands especially the Americas produced new crop such as sugar and tobacco including gold. Originally, enslaved aboriginal peoples harvested and excavated in South America. However, ill treatment and diseases quickly spread throughout the native population, therefore, prompting the importation of slaves from Africa.

An estimated nine million Africans were shipped mostly to South America, primarily to Brazil in the mid 1500s to the mid 1800s. Haiti and Cuba were under the most inhumane conditions. An estimated of about 400,000 (equivalent to 5%) of all African slaves ended up in the United States; however, a few slaves had better treatment depending upon region, laws, and “owners” (n.d.).

The 17th and 18th centuries, freethinking philosophers Voltaire and John Locke recognized new meanings of poise and human sovereignty. People then began to question the morals of keeping people in oppression. Ancient culture frequently obtained slaves from beyond their borders, typically through war or territorial invasions. Dominated and confined people significantly served as cultivation workers or domestic servants.

Slavery may have reached its peak in ancient Greece following Rome, where human trafficking became a large and lucrative industry. Multiple Greek cities, (i.e. Athens, Sparta) half of the residents were slaves. Slavery was largely extensive in Rome; common people would have at least two slaves. Many slaves did more than meaningless tasks, in the Roman Empire, numerous became doctors and poets, or as influential