Slavery has existed in numerous forms throughout the world for as long as recorded history. Although slavery continues to exist modernly on a smaller scale, mass enslavements seen around the world have been eradicated, such as the end of enslavement of Africans in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. For many countries, this slaveholding past is a source of shame and embarrassment as such actions may have been committed by their ancestors, as the modern world now accepts that slavery is a horribly unethical and immoral institution. In addition to slavery being unjustified for these reasons, the practice of slavery in the United States, particularly in the South, may also be unjustified because of the economic damage it caused to the region. The forced maritime diaspora of individuals from Africa to the United States as slaves was not only ethically and morally unjustified, but was also economically unjustified as it fostered agricultural dependence, industrial retardation, and the ultimate economic crippling of the American South. The transatlantic slave trade led to the collection and distribution of a huge quantity of individuals from Africa to various other places around the world, particularly in the Americas, Europe, and European-controlled lands. In the Americas alone, nearly eleven million slaves were delivered in total from Africa (Eltis, 2008). Of these nearly eleven million, the thirteen U.S. colonies received between three and six percent of the slaves, or at most 600,000 imported people (Eltis, 2008). However, these data do not represent the total number of people enslaved due to slave reproduction after arrival (Ulrich, 1... middle of paper... urnal of political economy, 66(2), 95-130 .Eltis, D. (2008). Transatlantic Slave Trade in the United States, 1644-1867: An Assessment of the Civil War, 54(4), 347-378.Engerman, SL (1982). The United States and the British West Indies. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 13(2), 191-220 agriculture of the north and that of the south in Economic history 1905). The economic cost of slave ownership in the Cotton Belt. Quarterly, 20(2), 257-275. Slavin, S.L (2001). (1-4).