The word slavery tends to conjure images of Africans transported in chains during the transatlantic slave trade, Holocaust victims during World War II, or Japanese prisoners in internment camps along the West Coast of United States. Slavery, also referred to as human trafficking, can be defined as the systematic practice of removing individual rights and freedoms, as well as involving inhumane conditions including forced labor or sex. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation and harboring of persons across borders by improper means, such as force, abduction, fraud or coercion” (“Human Trafficking”) . While there is a tendency to view slavery or human trafficking as an issue of the past, it is clear that servitude remains rampant globally. It is crucial to understand modern slavery by examining the characteristics of slavery throughout history, the various methods of forced slavery, and the responses and reactions of modern abolitionists to rectify the evil acts of slavery. Kidnapping is one of the key factors identifying slavery; the transatlantic slave trade was the emergence of the kidnapping and transportation of Africans from their homeland to the Americas. An average of 38,000 Africans were brought to the Americas each year during the transatlantic slave trade (Wilberforce 648). As the duration of the transatlantic slave trade increased, so did the number of people transported. In 1768 there were 167,000 slaves in Jamaica; Governor Keith reported that 193,000 slaves were on the Jamaican island in 1774, and by December 1787 the number had grown to 256,000 slaves, as reported by Lieutenant Governor Clerke (Wilberforce 6...... half of document.. ... .2009.Pasquier, Michael and Gina Misiroglu. "The Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition", ed. "The New Slave Trade". : 21-24. EBSCO Web. 12 February 2010. Wignall, Scott “Constitution of the United States (1789).” ”, ed. 3. Armonk, New York: MD Sharpe, Inc., 2007. 23-26.