Trafficking in Native Communities

Trafficking in Native Communities

Although attention to human trafficking has grown in the last few years, trafficking is not a modern crime. Trafficking has existed in Native communities for centuries, since the earliest point of contact with Europeans. According to journal accounts, Christopher Columbus engaged in the exploitation of indigenous people from the moment he encountered them, including providing indigenous women and girls for his crew and tolerating rape and other atrocities. This behavior set the tone for the exploitation and abuse of Native women at the hands of non-Native men that continues into the 21st century.