Slave Trade Compared To Human Trafficking
Slave trade and human traffic are common terms that are easily mistaken since they both encompass of human transfer. It is extremely difficult to differentiate the two terms especially if a keen study is not well established to distinguish the two terms. However, a keen study indicates that the slave trade and human trafficking are two diverse aspects that happened at two different eras. The slave trade took place during the colonial era while human trafficking is still taking place. For this reason, although the two have some similarity, the concepts are exceedingly difficult (Bales & Soodalter, 2010). For the case of this paper, the difference between slave trade and human trafficking will be vividly outlined.
One key difference between slave trade and human trafficking is that the slave trade encompassed of buying as selling from human beings for the key purpose of obtaining labor. During the sixteenth and the seventeenth century, the European explored Africa for resources and greener pastures. Since the Europeans needed raw materials for their companies, they explored Africa to obtain the diverse materials (Cullen-DuPont, 2009). After obtaining the different raw materials, the European then needed labor especially the unskilled labor to work in the industries.
This forced the Europeans to acquire Africans who would work in the industries and farms. For this reason, Africans were then bought from Africa and transported to Europe so that they can work in the industries and farms. Therefore, the key function of the slave trade was to get Africans who could work in the plantations also provide unskilled labor in the firms. This is totally contrary to human trafficking, which encompass of, fraud, force or any other form of coercion (Quirk, 2011). This is done so as to transport persons from one place to another with the main aim of exploiting the human beings. Human trafficking usually encompasses of forced child labor, exploiting of the female race sexually and bonded or forced labor (Bales & Soodalter, 2010).
Another key difference between slave trade and human trafficking is that the slave trade involved the selling of persons either from one continent to another or from one race to another. For slave trade to take place, it forced to be movement of person from continent to another. For instance, the European bought slaves from Africa to the European continent (Quirk, 2011). This makes slave trade much more intensive and worldwide spread. However, human trafficking can be undertaken both internally and internationally. Human trafficking can take place even between two homes. Where a girl child might be forced to get married to an old man so as the family can earn money from the marriage (Cullen-DuPont, 2009). This clearly indicates that human trafficking can take place under one race and inside a nation without having to cross the migration boundary.
Another extreme difference between the slave trade and human trafficking is that, during the slave trade, human beings were notified that they were being sold. Even if, the slave was not informed, it was clear that the slave was being sold to a different boss. This is remarkably different with the current human trafficking. During human trafficking, the person might not even get to know that he or she is being tricked or deceived so as to be used. The person being trafficked usually does not have the prior idea that he or she is being deceived until the final stage (Bales & Soodalter, 2010). This makes it extremely difficult in the current society to realize if one is being deceived or so as to be taken advantage.
During the process of the slave trade, the individual being moved from one place to another is usually purchased from the owner. This was particularly common the in the olden days, were slaves were exchanged with property. For one to be capable of having a slave, he or she had to buy the slave using money. In some other circumstances, slaves were exchanged with other thins such as ornaments, gold or tools. This indicates that before a slave trade would take place, there must be exchange of commodities or minerals with the slave (Quirk, 2011). There is a price that the buyer must give to get a slave.
This is totally different with human trafficking that takes place in the current world. People who are confined might be transferred from one place to another without being exchanged with anything in return. The people in custody might be used for forced or debt bonded labor where they are allowed to work before being released. The person being trafficked might not honestly be bought by money, but other regulations might be imposed to ensure that the agreement is achieved. The monetary terms are usually carried out without the concern of the individual that is being trafficked (Cullen-DuPont, 2009).
Human trafficking is a extraordinarily wide aspect that has no specified boundaries. Almost all people whether rich or poor can participate in the trafficking for their own ethical. The age is also not well adhered to as even children can be trafficked from one place to another. Children might be exploited for child labor hence affecting their rights. However, trade was only common for the mature and the grown ups. Only adults were being traded from one place to another for the reason of providing unskilled labor to the Americans (Bales & Soodalter, 2010).
References
Bales, K., & Soodalter, R. (2010). The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in
America Today, With a New Preface, California: University of California Press
Cullen-DuPont, k. (2009). Human trafficking, New York: InfoBase Publishing
Quirk, J. (2011). The Anti-Slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking,
London: University of Pennsylvania Press
