You can’t get far in an internet search without running into reputable sources that detail amazing number of slaves still being traded in the world today. The numbers are so overwhelming that, at first, I wanted to refute them. How could this be? 27 million slaves? This is obviously an estimate, but it’s an estimate that is touted by the best sources.

“There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The modern commerce in humans rivals illegal drug trafficking in it’s global reach – and in the destruction of lives.” – Andrew Cockburn, National Geographic Magazine

This interactive map, from National Geographic, shows the scope of slave trafficking throughout the world.