Wikipedia
Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom
The abolition of slavery occurred at different times in different countries. It frequently occurred sequentially in more than one stage – for example, as abolition of the trade in slaves in a specific country, and then as abolition of slavery throughout empires. Each step was usually the result of a separate law or action. This timeline shows abolition laws or actions listed chronologically. It also covers the abolition of serfdom.
Although slavery of non-prisoners is technically illegal in all countries today, the practice continues in many locations around the world, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, often with government support.[1]
Ancient times edit
During classical antiquity, several prominent societies in Europe and the ancient Near East regulated enslavement for debt and the related but distinct practice of debt bondage (in which a creditor could extract compulsory labor from a debtor in repayment of their debt, but the debtor was not formally enslaved and was not subject to all the conditions of chattel slavery, such as being perpetually owned, sellable on the open market, or stripped of kinship).
Reforms listed below such as the laws of Solon in Athens, the Lex Poetelia Papiria in Republican Rome, or rules set forth in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Deuteronomy generally regulated the supply of slaves and debt-servants by forbidding or regulating the bondage of certain privileged groups (thus, the Roman reforms protected Roman citizens, the Athenian reforms protected Athenian citizens, and the rules in Deuteronomy guaranteed freedom to a Hebrew after a fixed duration of servitude), but none abolished slavery, and even what protections were instituted did not apply to foreigners or noncitizen subjects.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Early sixth century BC | Polis of Athens | The Athenian lawgiver Solon abolishes debt slavery of Athenian citizens and frees all Athenian citizens who had formerly been enslaved.[2][3] Athenian chattel slavery continued to be practiced, and the loss of debt-bondage as a competing source of compulsory labor may even have spurred slavery to become more important in the Athenian economy henceforth.[4] |
| 3rd century BC | Maurya Empire | Indian emperor Ashoka abolishes the slave trade.[5] |
| 326 BC | Roman Republic | Lex Poetelia Papiria abolishes Nexum contracts, a form of pledging the debt bondage of poor Roman citizens to wealthy creditors as security for loans. Chattel slavery was not abolished, and Roman slavery would continue to flourish for centuries. |
| 9–12 AD | Xin dynasty | Wang Mang, first and only emperor of the Xin dynasty, usurped the Chinese throne and instituted a series of sweeping reforms, including the abolition of slavery and radical land reform from 9–12 A.D.[6][7] However, this and other reforms turned popular and elite sentiment against Wang Mang, and slavery was reinstituted after he was killed by an angry mob in 23 A.D. |
Medieval times edit
- N.B.: Many of the listed reforms were reversed over succeeding centuries.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 590–604 | Rome | Pope Gregory I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves.[8] |
| 7th century | Francia | Queen Balthild, a former slave, and the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône (644–655) condemn the enslavement of Christians. Balthild purchases slaves, mostly Saxon, and manumits (frees) them.[9] |
| 741–752 | Rome | Pope Zachary bans the sale of Christian slaves to Muslims, purchases all slaves acquired in the city by Venetian traders, and sets them free. |
| 840 | Carolingian Empire Venice | Pactum Lotharii: Venice pledges to neither buy Christian slaves in the Empire, nor sell them to Muslims. Venetian slavers switch to trading Slavs from the East. |
| 873 | Christendom | Pope John VIII declares the enslavement of fellow Christians a sin and commands their release.[10] |
| ~900 | Byzantine Empire | Emperor Leo VI the Wise prohibits voluntary self-enslavement and commands that such contracts shall be null and void and punishable by flagellation for both parties to the contract.[11] |
| 956 | Goryeo Dynasty (Korea) | Slaves were freed on a large scale in 956 by the Goryeo dynasty.[12] Gwangjong of Goryeo proclaimed the Slave and Land Act (노비안검법, 奴婢按檢法), an act that "deprived nobles of much of their manpower in the form of slaves and purged the old nobility, the meritorious subjects and their offspring and military lineages in great numbers".[13] |
| 960 | Venice | Slave trade banned in the city under the rule of Doge Pietro IV Candiano. |
| 1080 | Norman England | William the Conqueror prohibits the sale of any person to "heathens" (non-Christians) as slaves. |
| 1100 | Normandy | Serfdom no longer present.[14] |
| 1102 | Norman England | The Council of London bans the slave trade: "Let no one dare hereafter to engage in the infamous business, prevalent in England, of selling men like animals."[15][16] |
| c. 1160 | Norway | The Gulating bans the sale of house slaves out of the country.[citation needed] |
| 1171 | Ireland | All English slaves in the island freed by the Council of Armagh.[16] |
| 1198 | France | Trinitarian Order founded with the purpose of redeeming war captives. |
| 1214 | Korčula | The Statute of the Town abolishes slavery.[17][18][better source needed] |
| 1218 | Aragon | Mercedarians founded in Barcelona with the purpose of ransoming poor Christians enslaved by Muslims. |
| ~1220 | Holy Roman Empire | The Sachsenspiegel, the most influential German code of law from the Middle Ages, condemns slavery as a violation of man's likeness to God.[19] |
| 1245 | Aragon | James I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves, but allows them to own Muslims and Pagans.[20] |
| 1256 | Bologna | Liber Paradisus promulgated. Slavery and serfdom abolished, all serfs in the commune are released. |
| 1315 | France | Louis X publishes a decree abolishing slavery and proclaiming that "France signifies freedom", that any slave setting foot on French ground should be freed.[21] However some limited cases of slavery continued until the 17th century in some of France's Mediterranean harbours in Provence, as well as until the 18th century in some of France's overseas territories.[22] Most aspects of serfdom are also eliminated de facto between 1315 and 1318.[23] |
| 1318 | France | King Philip V abolishes serfdom in his domain.[24] |
| 1335 | Sweden | Slavery abolished (including Sweden's territory in Finland). However, slaves are not banned entry into the country until 1813.[25] In the 18th and 19th centuries, slavery was practiced in the Swedish-ruled Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. Sweden never practiced serfdom, except in a few territories it later acquired which were ruled under a local legal code. |
| 1347 | Poland | The Statutes of Casimir the Great issued in Wiślica emancipate all non-free people.[26] |
| 1368 | Ming Dynasty | Emperor Hongwu abolished most forms of slavery,[6] limiting even the highest ranks of household to less than 20 household slaves. Later in the dynasty saw a resurgence of debt servitude, primarily in the south, as a result of population growth against the dearth of arable lands, often taking euphemisms like "adoption" to circumvent its still outlawed status.[27] |
| 1416 | Ragusa | Slavery and slave trade abolished. |
| 1423 | Poland | King orders to free all Christian slaves.[28] |
| 1435 | Canary Islands | Pope Eugene IV's Sicut Dudum bans enslavement of baptised Christians, "or those freely seeking baptism" in the Canary Islands on pain of excommunication.[29] |
| 1477 | Castile | Isabella I bans slavery in newly conquered territories.[30] |
| 1480 | Galicia | Remnant serfdom abolished by the Catholic Monarchs.[31] |
| 1486 | Aragon | Ferdinand II promulgates the Sentence of Guadalupe, abolishing Carolingian-remnant serfdom (remença) in Old Catalonia. |
| 1490 | Castile | After a long court case, the Catholic Monarchs order that all La Gomera natives enslaved in the aftermath of the 1488 rebellion must be freed and returned to the island at Conquistador Pedro de Vera's expense. De Vera is also relieved from his post as Governor of Gran Canaria in 1491.[32] |
| 1493 | Queen Isabella bans the enslavement of Native Americans unless they are hostile or cannibalistic.[30] Native Americans are ruled to be subjects of the Crown. Columbus is preempted from selling Indian captives in Seville and those already sold are tracked, purchased from their buyers and released. |
1500–1700 edit
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1503 | Castile | Native Americans allowed to travel to Spain only on their own free will.[33] |
| 1512 | The Laws of Burgos establish limits to the treatment of natives in the Encomienda system. | |
| 1518 | Spain | Decree of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V establishing the importation of African slaves to the Americas, under monopoly of Laurent de Gouvenot, in an attempt to discourage enslavement of Native Americans. |
| 1528 | Charles V forbids the transportation of Native Americans to Europe, even on their own will, in an effort to curtail their enslavement. Encomiendas are banned from collecting tribute in gold with the reasoning that Natives were selling their children to get it.[34] | |
| 1530 | Outright slavery of Native Americans under any circumstance is banned. However, forced labor under the Encomienda continues. | |
| 1536 | The Welser family is dispossessed of the Asiento monopoly (granted in 1528) following complaints about their treatment of Native American workers in Venezuela. | |
| 1537 | New World | Pope Paul III forbids slavery of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and any other population to be discovered, establishing their right to freedom and property (Sublimis Deus).[35] |
| 1542 | Spain | The New Laws ban slave raiding in the Americas and abolish the slavery of natives, but replace it with other systems of forced labor like the repartimiento. Slavery of Black Africans continues.[22] New limits are imposed to the Encomienda. |
| 1549 | Encomiendas banned from using forced labor. | |
| 1550-1551 | Valladolid Debate on the innate rights of indigenous peoples of the Americas. | |
| 1552 | Bartolomé de las Casas, "the first to expose the oppression of indigenous peoples by Europeans in the Americas and to call for the abolition of slavery there."[36] | |
| 1562 | Mughal Empire | Akbar I restricted enslavement by his soldiery.[37] |
| 1570 | Portugal | King Sebastian of Portugal bans the enslavement of Native Americans under Portuguese rule, allowing only the enslavement of hostile ones. This law was highly influenced by the Society of Jesus, which had missionaries in direct contact with Brazilian tribes. |
| 1574 | England | Last remaining serfs emancipated by Elizabeth I.[23] |
| Philippines | Slavery abolished by royal decree.[38] | |
| 1588 | Lithuania | The Third Statute of Lithuania abolishes slavery.[39] |
| 1590 | Japan | Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans slavery except as punishment for criminals.[40] |
| 1595 | Portugal | Trade of Chinese slaves banned.[41] |
| 1602 | England | The Clifton Star Chamber Case set a precedent, that impressing / enslaving children to serve as actors was illegal. |
| 1609 | Spain | The Moriscos, many of whom are serfs, are expelled from Peninsular Spain unless they become slaves voluntarily (known as moros cortados, "cut Moors") However, a large proportion avoid expulsion or manage to return.[42] |
| 1624 | Portugal | Enslavement of Chinese banned.[43][44] |
| 1649 | Russia | The sale of Russian slaves to Muslims is banned.[45] |
| 1652 | Providence Plantations | Roger Williams and Samuel Gorton work to pass legislation abolishing slavery in Providence Plantations, the first attempt of its kind in North America. It does not go into effect.[46] |
| 1677 | Maratha Empire | Shivaji I banned, freed and stopped import and export of all slaves under his Empire.[47][48][49] |
| 1679 | Russia | Feodor III converts all Russian field slaves into serfs.[50][51] |
| 1683 | Spanish Chile | Slavery of Mapuche prisoners of war abolished.[52] |
| 1687 | Spanish Florida | Fugitive slaves from the Thirteen Colonies granted freedom in return for conversion to Catholicism and four years of military service. |
| 1688 | Pennsylvania | The Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery is the first religious petition against African slavery in what would become the United States. |
1701–1799 edit
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1706 | England | In Smith v. Browne & Cooper, Sir John Holt, Lord Chief Justice of England, rules that "as soon as a Negro comes into England, he becomes free. One may be a villein in England, but not a slave."[53][54] |
| 1711–1712 | Imereti | Slave trade banned by Mamia I of Imereti. |
| 1712 | Spain | Moros cortados expelled.[55] |
| 1715 | North Carolina South Carolina | Native American slave trade in the American Southeast reduces with the outbreak of the Yamasee War. |
| 1723 | Russia | Peter the Great converts all house slaves into house serfs, effectively making slavery illegal in Russia. |
| 1723–1730 | Qing Dynasty | The Yongzheng emancipation seeks to free all slaves to strengthen the autocratic ruler through a kind of social leveling that creates an undifferentiated class of free subjects under the throne. Although these new regulations freed the vast majority of slaves, wealthy families continued to use slave labor into the twentieth century.[56] |
| 1732 | Georgia | Province established without African slavery in sharp contrast to neighboring colony of Carolina. In 1738, James Oglethorpe warns against changing that policy, which would "occasion the misery of thousands in Africa."[57] Native American slavery is legal throughout Georgia, however, and African slavery is later introduced in 1749. |
| 1738 | Spanish Florida | Fort Mosé, the first legal settlement of free blacks in what is today the United States, is established. Word of the settlement sparks the Stono Rebellion in Carolina the following year. |
| 1761 | Portugal | The Marquis of Pombal bans the importation of slaves to metropolitan Portugal.[58] encouraging instead the trade of African slaves to Brazil.[59][60][61][62] |
| 1766 | Spain | Muhammad III of Morocco purchases the freedom of all Muslim slaves in Seville, Cádiz, and Barcelona.[63] |
| 1770 | Circassia | The Circassians of the Abdzakh region started a great revolution in Circassian territory in 1770. Classes such as slaves, nobles and princes were completely abolished. The Abdzakh Revolution coincides with the French Revolution. While many French nobles took refuge in Russia, some of the Circassian nobles took the same path and took refuge in Russia.[64] |
| 1771 | Kingdom of Sardinia | Serfdom abolished in the lands ruled by the House of Savoy.[65] |
| 1772 | England | Somersett's case rules that no slave can be forcibly removed from England. This case was generally taken at the time to have decided that the condition of slavery did not exist under English law in England and Wales.[66] |
| 1773 | Portugal | A new decree by the Marquis of Pombal, signed by the king Dom José, emancipates fourth-generation slaves[58] and every child born to an enslaved mother after the decree was published.[67] |
| 1774 | East India Company | Government of Bengal passed regulations 9 and 10 of 1774, prohibiting the trade in slaves without written deed, and the sale of anyone not already enslaved.[68] |
| 1775 | Virginia | Dunmore's Proclamation promises freedom to slaves who desert the American revolutionaries and join the British Army as Black Loyalists. |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Abolition Society formed in Philadelphia, the first abolition society within the territory that is now the United States of America. | |
| United States | Atlantic slave trade banned or suspended in the United Colonies during the Revolutionary War. This was a continuation of the Thirteen Colonies' non-importation agreements against Britain, as an attempt to cut all economic ties with Britain during the war.[69] | |
| 1777 | Madeira | Slavery abolished.[70] |
| Vermont | The Constitution of the Vermont Republic partially bans slavery,[70] freeing men over 21 and women older than 18 at the time of its passage.[71] The ban is not strongly enforced.[72][73] | |
| 1778 | Scotland | Joseph Knight successfully argues that Scots law cannot support the status of slavery.[74] |
| 1779 | British America | The Philipsburg Proclamation frees all slaves who desert the American rebels, regardless of their willingness to fight for the Crown. |
| 1780 | Pennsylvania | An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed, freeing future children of slaves. Those born prior to the Act remain enslaved for life. The Act becomes a model for other Northern states. Last slaves freed 1847.[75] |
| 1781 | Archduchy of Austria | Joseph II abolishes personal bondage of serfs and allows their freedom of movement with the Serfdom Patent of 1781. |
| 1783 | Russian Empire | Slavery abolished in the recently annexed Crimean Khanate.[76] |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules slavery unconstitutional, a decision based on the 1780 Massachusetts constitution. All slaves are immediately freed.[77] | |
| Austrian Empire | Joseph II abolishes slavery in Bukovina.[78] | |
| New Hampshire | Gradual abolition of slavery begins. | |
| British America | After being settled into by Quakers, Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick becomes the first settlement in British North America to ban slavery, forbidding slave masters from entering.[79] | |
| 1784 | Connecticut | Gradual abolition of slavery, freeing future children of slaves, and later all slaves.[80] |
| Rhode Island | Gradual abolition of slavery begins. | |
| 1785 | Kingdom of Hungary | In response to the Revolt of Horea, Joseph II abolishes personal bondage and allows freedom of movement for peasants in Hungary with the urbarium of 22 August 1785.[81] |
| 1786 | New South Wales | A policy of completely banning slavery is adopted by governor-designate Arthur Phillip for the soon-to-be established colony.[82] |
| 1787 | United States | The United States in Congress Assembled passes the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, outlawing any new slavery in the Northwest Territories. |
| Sierra Leone | Founded by Great Britain as a colony for emancipated slaves.[83] | |
| Great Britain | Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded in Great Britain.[70] | |
| 1788 | Sir William Dolben's Act regulating the conditions on British slave ships enacted. | |
| France | Abolitionist Society of the Friends of the Blacks founded in Paris. | |
| Denmark | Limits imposed to serfdom under the Stavnsbånd system. | |
| 1789 | France | Last remaining seigneurial privileges over peasants abolished.[84] |
| 1791 | Poland-Lithuania | The Constitution of May 3, 1791 introduced elements of political equality between townspeople and nobility, and placed the peasants under the protection of the government; thus, it mitigated the worst abuses of serfdom. |
| 1791 | France | Emancipation of second-generation slaves in the colonies.[63] |
| 1792 | Denmark-Norway | Transatlantic slave trade declared illegal after 1803, though slavery continues in Danish colonies to 1848.[85] |
| 1792 | Saint Helena | The importation of slaves to the island of Saint Helena was banned in 1792, but the phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves did not take place until 1827, which was still some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in the colonies.[86] |
| 1793 | Saint-Domingue | Commissioner Leger-Felicite Sonthonax abolishes slavery in the northern part of the colony. His colleague Etienne Polverel does the same in the rest of the territory in October. |
| Upper Canada | Importation of slaves banned by the Act Against Slavery. | |
| 1794 | France | Slavery abolished in all French territories and possessions.[87] |
| United States | The Slave Trade Act bans both American ships from participating in the slave trade and the export of slaves in foreign ships.[69] | |
| Poland-Lithuania | The Proclamation of Połaniec, issued during the Kościuszko Uprising, ultimately abolished serfdom in Poland, and granted substantial civil liberties to all peasants. | |
| 1798 | Occupied Malta | Slavery banned in the islands after their capture by French forces under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte.[88] |
| 1799 | New York | Gradual emancipation act freeing the future children of slaves, and all slaves in 1827.[89] |
| Scotland | The Colliers (Scotland) Act 1799 ends the legal servitude or slavery of coal and salt miners that had been established in 1606.[90] |
1800–1829 edit
- Illustration from the book: The Black Man's Lament, Or, How to Make Sugar by Amelia Opie (London, 1826)
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1800 | Joseon | State slavery banned in 1800. Private slavery continued until being banned in 1894. |
| 1800 | United States | American citizens banned from investment and employment in the international slave trade in an additional Slave Trade Act. |
| 1802 | France | Napoleon re-introduces slavery in sugarcane-growing colonies.[91] |
| Ohio | State constitution abolishes slavery. | |
| 1803 | Denmark-Norway | Abolition of Danish participation in the transatlantic slave trade takes effect on 1 January. |
| 1804 | New Jersey | Slavery abolished.[92] |
| Haiti | Haiti declares independence and abolishes slavery.[70] | |
| 1804–1813 | Serbia | First Serbian Uprising against Ottoman Empire. |
| 1805 | United Kingdom | A bill for abolition passes in House of Commons but is rejected in the House of Lords. |
| 1806 | United States | In a message to Congress, Thomas Jefferson calls for criminalizing the international slave trade, asking Congress to "withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights ... which the morality, the reputation, and the best of our country have long been eager to proscribe." |
| 1807 | International slave trade made a felony in Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves; this act takes effect on 1 January 1808, the earliest date permitted under the Constitution.[93] | |
| United Kingdom | Abolition of the Slave Trade Act abolishes slave trading throughout the British Empire. Captains fined £100 per slave transported. Patrols sent to the African coast to arrest slaving vessels. The West Africa Squadron (Royal Navy) is established to suppress slave trading; by 1865, nearly 150,000 people freed by anti-slavery operations.[94] | |
| Warsaw | Constitution abolishes serfdom.[95] | |
| Prussia | The Stein-Hardenberg Reforms abolish serfdom.[95] | |
| Michigan Territory | Judge Augustus Woodward denies the return of two slaves owned by a man in Windsor, Upper Canada. Woodward declares that any man "coming into this Territory is by law of the land a freeman."[96] | |
| 1808 | United States | Importation and exportation of slaves made a crime.[97] |
| 1810 | New Spain | Independence leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed the abolition of slavery three months after the start of the Independence of Mexico from Spain. |
| 1811 | United Kingdom | Slave trading made a felony punishable by transportation for both British subjects and foreigners. |
| Spain | The Cortes of Cádiz abolish the last remaining seigneurial rights.[63] | |
| British East India Company | The Company issued regulations 10 of 1811, prohibiting the transport of slaves into Company territory, adding to the 1774 restrictions.[68] | |
| Chile | The First National Congress approves a proposal of Manuel de Salas that declares Freedom of Wombs, freeing the children of slaves born in Chilean territory, regardless of their parents' condition. The slave trade is banned and the slaves who stay for more than six months in Chilean territory are automatically declared freedmen. | |
| 1812 | Spain | The Cortes of Cádiz pass the Spanish Constitution of 1812, giving citizenship and equal rights to all residents in Spain and her territories, excluding slaves. During deliberations, Deputies José Miguel Guridi y Alcocer and Agustín Argüelles unsuccessfully argue for the abolition of slavery.[63] |
| 1813 | New Spain | Independence leader José María Morelos y Pavón declares slavery abolished in Mexico in the documents Sentimientos de la Nación. |
| United Provinces | Law of Wombs passed by the Assembly of Year XIII. Slaves born after 31 January 1813 will be granted freedom when they are married, or on their 16th birthday for women and 20th for men, and upon their manumission will be given land and tools to work it.[98] | |
| 1814 | United Provinces | After the occupation of Montevideo, all slaves born in modern Uruguayan territory are declared free. |
| Netherlands | Slave trade abolished. | |
| 1815 | France | Napoleon abolishes the slave trade. |
| Portugal | Slave trade banned north of the Equator in return for a £750,000 payment by Britain.[99] | |
| Florida | British withdrawing after the War of 1812 leave a fully armed fort in the hands of maroons, escaped slaves and their descendants, and their Seminole allies. Becomes known as Negro Fort. | |
| United Kingdom Portugal Sweden-Norway France Austria Russia Spain Prussia | The Congress of Vienna declares its opposition to the slave trade.[100] | |
| 1816 | Estonia | Serfdom abolished. |
| Florida | Negro Fort destroyed in the Battle of Negro Fort by U.S. forces under the command of General Andrew Jackson. | |
| Algeria | Algiers bombarded by the British and Dutch navies in an attempt to end North African piracy and slave raiding in the Mediterranean. 3,000 slaves freed. | |
| 1817 | Courland | Serfdom abolished. |
| United Kingdom Spain | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade.[101] | |
| Spain | Ferdinand VII signs a cedula banning the importation of slaves in Spanish possessions beginning in 1820,[63] in return for a £400,000 payment from Britain.[99] However, some slaves are still smuggled in after this date. Both slave ownership and internal commerce in slaves remained legal. | |
| Venezuela | Simon Bolivar calls for the abolition of slavery.[63] | |
| New York | 4 July 1827 set as date to free all ex-slaves from indenture.[102] | |
| United Provinces | Constitution supports the abolition of slavery, but does not ban it.[63] | |
| 1818 | United Kingdom Portugal | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade.[103] |
| France | Slave trade banned. | |
| United Kingdom Netherlands | Bilateral treaty taking additional measures to enforce the 1814 ban on slave trading.[103] | |
| 1819 | Livonia | Serfdom abolished. |
| Upper Canada | Attorney-General John Robinson declares all black residents free. | |
| Hawaii | The ancient Hawaiian kapu system is abolished during the ʻAi Noa, and with it the distinction between the kauwā slave class and the makaʻāinana (commoners).[104] | |
| 1820 | United States | The Compromise of 1820 bans slavery north of the 36º 30' line; the Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States and Punish the Crime of Piracy is amended to consider the maritime slave trade as piracy, making it punishable with death. |
| Indiana | The supreme court orders almost all slaves in the state to be freed in Polly v. Lasselle. | |
| Spain | The 1817 abolition of the slave trade takes effect.[105] | |
| 1821 | Mexico | The Plan of Iguala frees the slaves born in Mexico.[63] |
| United States Spain | In accordance with Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Florida becomes a territory of the United States. A main reason was Spain's inability or unwillingness to capture and return escaped slaves. | |
| Peru | Abolition of slave trade and implementation of a plan to gradually end slavery.[63] | |
| Gran Colombia | Emancipation for sons and daughters born to slave mothers, program for compensated emancipation set.[106] | |
| 1822 | Haiti | Jean Pierre Boyer annexes Spanish Haiti and abolishes slavery there. |
| Liberia | Founded by the American Colonization Society as a colony for emancipated slaves. | |
| Muscat and Oman United Kingdom | First bilateral treaty limiting the slave trade in Zanzibar (Moresby Treaty). | |
| 1823 | Chile | Slavery abolished.[70] |
| United Kingdom | The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions (Anti-Slavery Society) is founded. | |
| Greece | Prohibition of slavery is enshrined in the Greek Constitution of 1823, during the Greek War of Independence.[107] | |
| 1824 | Mexico | The new constitution effectively abolishes slavery. |
| Central America | Slavery abolished.[108] | |
| 1825 | Uruguay | Importation of slaves banned. |
| Haiti | France, with warships at the ready, demanded Haiti compensate France for its loss of slaves and its slave colony | |
| 1827 | United Kingdom Sweden-Norway | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade.[103] |
| New York | Last vestiges of slavery abolished. Children born between 1799 and 1827 are indentured until age 25 (females) or age 28 (males).[109] | |
| Saint Helena | Phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves, some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in all colonies.[86] | |
| 1829 | Mexico | Last slaves freed just as the first president of partial African ancestry (Vicente Guerrero) is elected.[70] |
1830–1849 edit
- An anti-slavery map with an unusual perspective centered on West Africa, which is in the light, and contrasting the Americas and Europe in the dark. By Julius Rubens Ames, 1847.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1830 | Coahuila y Tejas | Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante attempts to implement the abolition of slavery. To circumvent the law, Anglo-Texans declare their slaves "indentured servants for life".[110] |
| 1830 | Uruguay | Slavery abolished. |
| 1831 | Bolivia | Slavery abolished.[70] |
| Brazil | Law of 7 November 1831, abolishing the maritime slave trade, banning any importation of slaves, and granting freedom to slaves illegally imported into Brazil. The law was seldom enforced prior to 1850, when Brazil, under British pressure, adopted additional legislation to criminalize the importation of slaves. | |
| 1832 | Greece | Slavery abolished with independence. |
| 1832 | Coahuila y Tejas | Anahuac Disturbances: Juan Davis Bradburn, American-born Mexican officer at Anahuac,Texas, confronts slave-owning American settlers, enforcing Mexican abolition of slavery and refusing to hand over two escaped slaves. |
| 1834 | United Kingdom | The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire but on a gradual basis over the next six years.[111] Legally frees 700,000 in the West Indies, 20,000 in Mauritius, and 40,000 in South Africa. The exceptions are the territories controlled by the East India Company and Ceylon.[112] |
| France | French Society for the Abolition of Slavery founded in Paris.[113] | |
| 1835 | Serbia | Freedom granted to all slaves in the moment they step on Serb soil.[114] |
| United Kingdom France | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade.[103] | |
| United Kingdom Denmark | ||
| Peru | A decree of Felipe Santiago Salaverry re-legalizes the importation of slaves from other Latin American countries. The line "no slave shall enter Peru without becoming free" is taken out of the Constitution in 1839.[115] | |
| 1836 | Portugal | Prime Minister Sá da Bandeira bans the transatlantic slave trade and the importation and exportation of slaves to or from the Portuguese colonies south of the equator. |
| 1837 | Spain | Slavery abolished outside of the colonies.[63] |
| 1838 | United Kingdom | All slaves in the colonies become free after a period of forced apprenticeship following the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions (now London Anti-Slavery Society) winds up. |
| 1839 | United Kingdom | The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (after several changes, now known as Anti-Slavery International) is founded. |
| East India Company | The Indian indenture system is abolished in territories controlled by the company, but this is reversed in 1842. | |
| Catholic Church | Pope Gregory XVI's In supremo apostolatus resoundingly condemns slavery and the slave trade. | |
| 1840 | United Kingdom Venezuela | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade. |
| United Kingdom | First World Anti-Slavery Convention meets in London. | |
| New Zealand | Taking slaves banned by Treaty of Waitangi.[116] | |
| 1841 | United Kingdom France Russia Prussia Austria | Quintuple Treaty agreeing to suppress the slave trade.[70] |
| United States | United States v. The Amistad finds that the slaves of La Amistad were illegally enslaved and were legally allowed, as free men, to fight their captors by any means necessary. | |
| 1842 | United Kingdom Portugal | Bilateral treaty extending the enforcement of the slave trade ban to Portuguese ships south of the Equator. |
| Paraguay | Law for the gradual abolition of slavery passed.[63] | |
| 1843 | East India Company | The Indian Slavery Act, 1843, Act V abolishes slavery in territories controlled by the company. |
| United Kingdom Uruguay | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade.[103] | |
| United Kingdom Mexico | ||
| United Kingdom Chile | ||
| United Kingdom Bolivia | ||
| 1844 | Moldavia | Mihail Sturdza abolishes slavery in Moldavia. |
| Paraguay | Slave trade abolished.[63] | |
| Dominican Republic | Dominican Republic declares independence from Haiti; abolition of slavery reinforced. [117] | |
| 1845 | United Kingdom | 36 Royal Navy ships assigned to the Anti-Slavery Squadron, making it one of the largest fleets in the world. |
| Illinois | In Jarrot v. Jarrot, the Illinois Supreme Court frees the last indentured ex-slaves in the state who were born after the Northwest Ordinance.[118] | |
| 1846 | Tunisia | Slavery abolished in Tunisia under Ahmed Bey rule.[119] |
| 1847 | Ottoman Empire | Slave trade from Africa abolished.[120] |
| Saint Barthélemy | Last slaves freed.[121] | |
| Pennsylvania | The last indentured ex-slaves, born before 1780 (fewer than 100 in the 1840 census[122]) are freed. | |
| Danish West Indies | Royal edict ruling the freedom of children born from female slaves and the total abolition of slavery after 12 years. Dissatisfaction causes a slave rebellion in Saint Croix the next year. | |
| 1848 | Austria | Serfdom abolished.[123][124][125] |
| France | Slavery abolished in the colonies. Gabon is founded as a settlement for emancipated slaves. | |
| Danish West Indies | Governor Peter von Scholten declares the immediate and total emancipation of all slaves in an attempt to end the slave revolt. For this he is recalled and tried for treason, but the charges are later dropped.[70][121][126] | |
| Denmark | Last remains of the Stavnsbånd effectively abolished. | |
| United Kingdom Muscat and Oman | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade.[103] | |
| 1849 | United Kingdom Trucial States | |
| Sierra Leone | The Royal Navy destroys the slave factory of Lomboko. |
1850–1899 edit
- Medical examination photo of Gordon showing his scourged back, widely distributed by Abolitionists to expose the brutality of slavery
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1850 | United States | The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 requires the return of escaped slaves to their owners regardless of the state they are in. |
| Brazil | Eusébio de Queirós Law (Law 581 of 4 September 1850) criminalizing the maritime slave trade as piracy, and imposing other criminal sanctions on the importation of slaves (already banned in 1831).[127] | |
| 1851 | Brazil | Bilateral treaty of 12 October, Uruguay accepts returning to Brazil the escaped slaves from that country. Brazilians who owned land in Uruguay were allowed to have slaves in their properties. |
| Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | Slavery nominally abolished along with opium, gambling, polygamy and foot binding.[128][129][130] | |
| New Granada | Slavery abolished.[106] After years of laws that only purported a partial advancement towards abolition, President José Hilario López pushed Congress to pass total abolition on 21 May. Former owners were compensated with government issued bonds.[131] | |
| Ecuador | Slavery abolished in the country by José María Urvina.[132] | |
| Lagos | Reduction of Lagos: The British capture the city of Lagos and replace King Kosoko with Akitoye because of the former's refusal to ban the slave trade. | |
| 1852 | Hawaii | 1852 Constitution officially declared slavery illegal.[133] |
| United Kingdom Lagos | Bilateral treaty banning the slave trade and human sacrifice. | |
| 1853 | Argentina | Slavery abolished with the sanction of a new federal Constitution.[134] |
| 1854 | Peru | Slavery abolished by Ramón Castilla.[135][70] |
| Venezuela | Slavery abolished.[70][106] | |
| 1855 | Moldavia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1856 | Wallachia | |
| 1857 | United States | Dred Scott v. Sandford rules that black slaves and their descendants cannot gain American citizenship and are not entitled to freedom even if they live in a free state for years. |
| Egypt | Firman banning the trade of Black African (Zanj) slaves.[citation needed] | |
| 1858 | United Kingdom | British government takes direct control of all land owned by the East India Company, making previously East India Company directly managed territory subject to the slavery laws applicable in the rest of the British Empire. |
| 1859 | Atlantic Ocean | Definitive suppression of the transatlantic slave trade. |
| United States | The Wyandotte Constitution establishes the future state of Kansas as a free state, after four years of armed conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in the territory. Southern dominance in the U.S. Senate delays the admission of Kansas as a state until 1861. | |
| Russia | Kazakhs banned from having slaves, although slavery persists in some areas through the rest of the century.[136][better source needed] | |
| 1860 | United States | Last slave ship to unload illegally on U.S. territory, the Clotilda. |
| 1861 | Russia | The Emancipation reform of 1861 abolishes serfdom.[137] |
| United States | The election of Abraham Lincoln leads to the attempted secession of eleven slaveholding states and the American Civil War. | |
| United Kingdom British India | Indian Penal Code explicitly prohibits slavery in British administered territory. | |
| 1862 | United States | Congress passes the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, freeing all slaves in the District of Columbia.[138] |
| United States United Kingdom | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade (African Slave Trade Treaty Act).[103] | |
| Spanish Cuba | Slave trade abolished.[70] | |
| United States | Nathaniel Gordon becomes the only person hanged in U.S. history "for being engaged in the slave trade". | |
| 1863 | Netherlands | Slavery abolished in the colonies, emancipating 33,000 slaves in Surinam, 12,000 in Curaçao and Dependencies,[139] and an indeterminate number in the East Indies. |
| United States | Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in Confederate-controlled areas. Most slaves in "border states" are freed by state action, and a separate law frees the slaves in Washington, D.C. | |
| Iceland | Exemptions introduced to serfdom under the Vistarband system. | |
| Chatham Islands | Slavery abolished.[140] | |
| 1864 | Congress Poland | Serfdom abolished.[141] |
| 1865 | United States | Slavery abolished, except as punishment for crime, by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It frees all remaining slaves, about 40,000, in the border slave states that did not secede.[142] Thirty out of thirty-six states vote to ratify it; New Jersey, Delaware, Kentucky, and Mississippi vote against. Mississippi does not officially ratify it until 2013.[143] |
| Texas | Juneteenth: U.S. General Gordon Granger proclaims the end of slavery in Galveston. | |
| Spain | Spanish Abolitionist Society founded in Madrid by Julio Vizcarrondo, José Julián Acosta and Joaquín Sanromá.[63] | |
| 1866 | Oklahoma | Slavery abolished.[144] U.S. government treaties with the Five Tribes that governed the Indian Territory, which previously allied with the Confederacy, required them to abolish slavery for renewed U.S. recognition of their continued independence. |
| Iowa | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. | |
| New Jersey | ||
| 1867 | Spain | Law of Repression and Punishment of the Slave Trade.[63] |
| United States | Peonage Act of 1867, mostly targeting use of Native American peons in New Mexico Territory. Slavery among native tribes in Alaska was abolished after the purchase from Russia in 1867.[145] | |
| 1868 | Spanish Cuba | Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and other independence leaders free their slaves and proclaim the independence of Cuba, starting the Ten Years War. |
| 1869 | Portugal | Louis I abolishes slavery in all Portuguese territories and colonies. |
| Paraguay | Slavery abolished. | |
| 1870 | Spain | Amidst great opposition from the Cuban and Puerto Rican planters, Segismundo Moret drafts a "Law of Free Wombs" that frees children of slaves, slaves older than 65 years, and slaves serving in the Spanish Army, beginning in 1872.[63] |
| Texas | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. | |
| 1871 | Brazil | Rio Branco Law (Law of Free Birth) declares the children born to slave mothers free.[146] |
| Japan | Abolition of the han system or Japanese feudalism. | |
| 1873 | Puerto Rico | Slavery abolished. |
| United Kingdom Zanzibar Madagascar | Triple treaty abolishing the slave trade.[103] | |
| 1874 | Gold Coast | Slavery abolished.[147] |
| 1877 | Egypt | The Anglo-Egyptian Slave Trade Convention abolishes the slave trade gradually in 1877–1884. This also gradually abolishes slavery itself over the next decades. |
| 1879 | Bulgaria | Slavery abolished with independence. The Constitution states that any slave that enters Bulgarian territory is immediately freed. |
| 1882 | Ottoman Empire | A firman emancipates all slaves, white and black.[148] |
| 1884 | Cambodia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1885 | Brazil | Saraiva-Cotegipe Law passed, freeing all slaves over the age of 60 and creating other measures for the gradual abolition of slavery, such as a Manumissions Fund administered by the State. |
| 1886 | Spanish Cuba | Slavery abolished.[70] |
| 1888 | Brazil | Golden Law decreeing the total abolition of slavery with immediate effect.[149] |
| 1889 | Italy | An Italian court finds that Josephine Bakhita was never legally enslaved according to Italian, British, or Egyptian law and is a free woman. |
| 1890 | United Kingdom France Germany Portugal Congo Italy Spain Netherlands Belgium Russia Austria-Hungary Sweden-Norway Denmark United States Ottoman Empire Zanzibar | Brussels Conference Act – a collection of anti-slavery measures to put an end to the slave trade on land and sea, especially in the Congo Basin, the Ottoman Empire, and the East African coast. |
| 1894 | Korea | Slavery abolished, but it survives in practice until 1930.[150] |
| Iceland | Vistarband effectively abolished (but not de jure). | |
| 1895 | Taiwan | Taiwan is annexed by Japan, where slavery has been abolished. |
| 1895 | Egypt | Slavery abolished.[151] |
| Italian Somaliland | First slaves freed[152] | |
| 1896 | Madagascar | Slavery abolished. |
| 1897 | Zanzibar | Slavery abolished[153] except in the case of concubines (abolished in 1909[154]). |
| Siam | Slave trade abolished.[155] | |
| Bassora | Children of freedmen issued separate certificates of liberation to avoid enslavement and separation from their parents.[citation needed] | |
| 1899 | Ndzuwani | Slavery abolished. |
1900–1949 edit
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Guam | Slavery abolished 22 February 1900, by proclamation of Richard P. Leary.[156] |
| 1901 | Delaware | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1902 | Cameroon | Gradual abolition of slavery.[157] |
| 1903 | French Sudan | "Slave" no longer used as an administrative category. |
| 1904 | United Kingdom Germany Denmark Spain France Italy Netherlands Portugal Russia | International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic signed in Paris. Only France, the Netherlands and Russia extend the treaty to the whole extent of their colonial empires with immediate effect, and Italy extends it to Eritrea but not to Italian Somaliland.[158] |
| British East Africa | Slavery abolished.[159] | |
| 1905 | French West Africa | Slavery formally abolished. Though up to one million slaves gain their freedom, slavery continues to exist in practice for decades afterward. |
| 1906 | China | Slavery abolished beginning on 31 January 1910. Adult slaves are converted into hired laborers and the minors freed upon reaching age 25.[160] |
| Barotseland | Slavery abolished.[161] | |
| 1908 | Ottoman Empire | The Young Turk Revolution eradicates the open trade of Zanj and Circassian women from Constantinople.[162] |
| Congo Free State | Belgium annexes the Congo Free State, ending the practice of slavery there. | |
| 1912 | Siam | Slavery abolished.[155] |
| 1915 | British Malaya | Slavery abolished.[163] |
| 1917 | British Raj | Indian indenture system abolished.[164] |
| 1917 | Soviet Russia | Decree Abolishing Classes and Civil Ranks |
| 1918 | United States | Supreme Court rules in Arver v. United States that the 13th Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude does not apply to conscription. The government can constitutionally force people to serve in the military against their will. |
| 1919 | Tanganyika | Slavery abolished.[159] |
| 1922 | Morocco | Slave trade abolished, slave holding remained legal.[165] |
| 1923 | Afghanistan | Slavery abolished.[166] |
| Florida | Convict lease abolished after the death of Martin Tabert, who was whipped for being too ill to work.[citation needed] | |
| Hong Kong | Slavery of Mui tsai abolished. | |
| 1924 | Iraq | Slavery abolished.[167] |
| Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | Slavery abolished[168] | |
| League of Nations | Temporary Slavery Commission appointed. | |
| Turkey | Slavery abolished[169] | |
| 1926 | Nepal | Slavery abolished.[170] |
| League of Nations | Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery. | |
| British Burma | Slavery abolished.[163] | |
| United Kingdom | Law of Property Act 1925. | |
| 1927 | Spain | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| United Kingdom Nejd Hejaz | Treaty of Jeddah (1927) abolishing the slave trade. | |
| 1928 | Sierra Leone | Abolition of domestic slavery practised by local African elites.[171] Although established as a place for freed slaves, a study found practices of domestic slavery still widespread in rural areas in the 1970s.[citation needed] |
| Alabama | Convict lease abolished, the last state in the Union to do so. | |
| 1929 | Persia | Slavery abolished and criminalized.[172] |
| 1930 | League of Nations | Forced Labour Convention. |
| 1935 | Ethiopia | The invading Italian General Emilio De Bono claims to have abolished slavery in the Ethiopian Empire.[173] |
| 1936 | Northern Nigeria | Slavery abolished.[174] |
| Bechuanaland | Slavery abolished.[175] | |
| 1937 | Bahrain | Slavery abolished.[176] |
| 1941 | United States | Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Circular 3591 abolishing all forms of convict leasing. |
| 1945 | Occupied Germany | Millions of forced labourers and slaves are freed after the fall of the Third Reich; see forced labour under German rule during World War II. |
| Japanese Empire | Millions of forced labourers and sex slaves are freed after the defeat of the Japanese Empire; see comfort women, rōmusha, East Asia Development Board. | |
| 1946 | Occupied Germany | Fritz Sauckel, Nazi official responsible for procuring forced labor in occupied Europe during World War II, is convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged.[177] |
| French Sudan | Beginning of large slave defections encouraged by the French Fourth Republic and the Sudanese Union – African Democratic Rally party. | |
| 1948 | United Nations | Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares slavery contrary to human rights.[178] |
| 1949 | Kuwait | Slavery abolished.[176] |
1950–1999 edit
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Qatar | Slavery abolished.[179][180] |
| 1953 | Australia Canada Liberia New Zealand South Africa Switzerland United Kingdom | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1954 | Afghanistan Austria Cuba Denmark Egypt Finland India Italy Mexico Monaco Sweden Syria | |
| 1955 | Ecuador Greece Iraq Israel Netherlands Pakistan Philippines Republic of China (Taiwan) Turkey | |
| 1956 | timeline, abolition, slavery, serfdom, abolition, slavery, occurred, different, times, different, countries, frequently, occurred, sequentially, more, than, stage, example, abolition, trade, slaves, specific, country, then, abolition, slavery, throughout, empi. The abolition of slavery occurred at different times in different countries It frequently occurred sequentially in more than one stage for example as abolition of the trade in slaves in a specific country and then as abolition of slavery throughout empires Each step was usually the result of a separate law or action This timeline shows abolition laws or actions listed chronologically It also covers the abolition of serfdom Proclamation of the Abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies 27 April 1848 1849 by Francois Auguste Biard Palace of Versailles Although slavery of non prisoners is technically illegal in all countries today the practice continues in many locations around the world primarily in Africa Asia and Eastern Europe often with government support 1 Contents 1 Ancient times 2 Medieval times 3 1500 1700 4 1701 1799 5 1800 1829 6 1830 1849 7 1850 1899 8 1900 1949 9 1950 1999 10 2000 present 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External linksAncient times editMain article Slavery in antiquity During classical antiquity several prominent societies in Europe and the ancient Near East regulated enslavement for debt and the related but distinct practice of debt bondage in which a creditor could extract compulsory labor from a debtor in repayment of their debt but the debtor was not formally enslaved and was not subject to all the conditions of chattel slavery such as being perpetually owned sellable on the open market or stripped of kinship Reforms listed below such as the laws of Solon in Athens the Lex Poetelia Papiria in Republican Rome or rules set forth in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Deuteronomy generally regulated the supply of slaves and debt servants by forbidding or regulating the bondage of certain privileged groups thus the Roman reforms protected Roman citizens the Athenian reforms protected Athenian citizens and the rules in Deuteronomy guaranteed freedom to a Hebrew after a fixed duration of servitude but none abolished slavery and even what protections were instituted did not apply to foreigners or noncitizen subjects Date Jurisdiction DescriptionEarly sixth century BC nbsp Polis of Athens The Athenian lawgiver Solon abolishes debt slavery of Athenian citizens and frees all Athenian citizens who had formerly been enslaved 2 3 Athenian chattel slavery continued to be practiced and the loss of debt bondage as a competing source of compulsory labor may even have spurred slavery to become more important in the Athenian economy henceforth 4 3rd century BC nbsp Maurya Empire Indian emperor Ashoka abolishes the slave trade 5 326 BC Roman Republic Lex Poetelia Papiria abolishes Nexum contracts a form of pledging the debt bondage of poor Roman citizens to wealthy creditors as security for loans Chattel slavery was not abolished and Roman slavery would continue to flourish for centuries 9 12 AD Xin dynasty Wang Mang first and only emperor of the Xin dynasty usurped the Chinese throne and instituted a series of sweeping reforms including the abolition of slavery and radical land reform from 9 12 A D 6 7 However this and other reforms turned popular and elite sentiment against Wang Mang and slavery was reinstituted after he was killed by an angry mob in 23 A D Medieval times editMain article Slavery in medieval Europe N B Many of the listed reforms were reversed over succeeding centuries Date Jurisdiction Description590 604 nbsp Rome Pope Gregory I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves 8 7th century Francia Queen Balthild a former slave and the Council of Chalon sur Saone 644 655 condemn the enslavement of Christians Balthild purchases slaves mostly Saxon and manumits frees them 9 741 752 nbsp Rome Pope Zachary bans the sale of Christian slaves to Muslims purchases all slaves acquired in the city by Venetian traders and sets them free 840 nbsp Carolingian Empire nbsp Venice Pactum Lotharii Venice pledges to neither buy Christian slaves in the Empire nor sell them to Muslims Venetian slavers switch to trading Slavs from the East 873 Christendom Pope John VIII declares the enslavement of fellow Christians a sin and commands their release 10 900 Byzantine Empire Emperor Leo VI the Wise prohibits voluntary self enslavement and commands that such contracts shall be null and void and punishable by flagellation for both parties to the contract 11 956 Goryeo Dynasty Korea Slaves were freed on a large scale in 956 by the Goryeo dynasty 12 Gwangjong of Goryeo proclaimed the Slave and Land Act 노비안검법 奴婢按檢法 an act that deprived nobles of much of their manpower in the form of slaves and purged the old nobility the meritorious subjects and their offspring and military lineages in great numbers 13 960 nbsp Venice Slave trade banned in the city under the rule of Doge Pietro IV Candiano 1080 nbsp Norman England William the Conqueror prohibits the sale of any person to heathens non Christians as slaves 1100 nbsp Normandy Serfdom no longer present 14 1102 nbsp Norman England The Council of London bans the slave trade Let no one dare hereafter to engage in the infamous business prevalent in England of selling men like animals 15 16 c 1160 nbsp Norway The Gulating bans the sale of house slaves out of the country citation needed 1171 nbsp Ireland All English slaves in the island freed by the Council of Armagh 16 1198 nbsp France Trinitarian Order founded with the purpose of redeeming war captives 1214 Korcula The Statute of the Town abolishes slavery 17 18 better source needed 1218 nbsp Aragon Mercedarians founded in Barcelona with the purpose of ransoming poor Christians enslaved by Muslims 1220 nbsp Holy Roman Empire The Sachsenspiegel the most influential German code of law from the Middle Ages condemns slavery as a violation of man s likeness to God 19 1245 nbsp Aragon James I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves but allows them to own Muslims and Pagans 20 1256 nbsp Bologna Liber Paradisus promulgated Slavery and serfdom abolished all serfs in the commune are released 1315 nbsp France Louis X publishes a decree abolishing slavery and proclaiming that France signifies freedom that any slave setting foot on French ground should be freed 21 However some limited cases of slavery continued until the 17th century in some of France s Mediterranean harbours in Provence as well as until the 18th century in some of France s overseas territories 22 Most aspects of serfdom are also eliminated de facto between 1315 and 1318 23 1318 nbsp France King Philip V abolishes serfdom in his domain 24 1335 nbsp Sweden Slavery abolished including Sweden s territory in Finland However slaves are not banned entry into the country until 1813 25 In the 18th and 19th centuries slavery was practiced in the Swedish ruled Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy Sweden never practiced serfdom except in a few territories it later acquired which were ruled under a local legal code 1347 nbsp Poland The Statutes of Casimir the Great issued in Wislica emancipate all non free people 26 1368 nbsp Ming Dynasty Emperor Hongwu abolished most forms of slavery 6 limiting even the highest ranks of household to less than 20 household slaves Later in the dynasty saw a resurgence of debt servitude primarily in the south as a result of population growth against the dearth of arable lands often taking euphemisms like adoption to circumvent its still outlawed status 27 1416 nbsp Ragusa Slavery and slave trade abolished 1423 nbsp Poland King orders to free all Christian slaves 28 1435 nbsp Canary Islands Pope Eugene IV s Sicut Dudum bans enslavement of baptised Christians or those freely seeking baptism in the Canary Islands on pain of excommunication 29 1477 nbsp Castile Isabella I bans slavery in newly conquered territories 30 1480 nbsp Galicia Remnant serfdom abolished by the Catholic Monarchs 31 1486 nbsp Aragon Ferdinand II promulgates the Sentence of Guadalupe abolishing Carolingian remnant serfdom remenca in Old Catalonia 1490 nbsp Castile After a long court case the Catholic Monarchs order that all La Gomera natives enslaved in the aftermath of the 1488 rebellion must be freed and returned to the island at Conquistador Pedro de Vera s expense De Vera is also relieved from his post as Governor of Gran Canaria in 1491 32 1493 Queen Isabella bans the enslavement of Native Americans unless they are hostile or cannibalistic 30 Native Americans are ruled to be subjects of the Crown Columbus is preempted from selling Indian captives in Seville and those already sold are tracked purchased from their buyers and released 1500 1700 editDate Jurisdiction Description1503 nbsp Castile Native Americans allowed to travel to Spain only on their own free will 33 1512 The Laws of Burgos establish limits to the treatment of natives in the Encomienda system 1518 nbsp Spain Decree of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V establishing the importation of African slaves to the Americas under monopoly of Laurent de Gouvenot in an attempt to discourage enslavement of Native Americans 1528 Charles V forbids the transportation of Native Americans to Europe even on their own will in an effort to curtail their enslavement Encomiendas are banned from collecting tribute in gold with the reasoning that Natives were selling their children to get it 34 1530 Outright slavery of Native Americans under any circumstance is banned However forced labor under the Encomienda continues 1536 The Welser family is dispossessed of the Asiento monopoly granted in 1528 following complaints about their treatment of Native American workers in Venezuela 1537 New World Pope Paul III forbids slavery of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and any other population to be discovered establishing their right to freedom and property Sublimis Deus 35 1542 nbsp Spain The New Laws ban slave raiding in the Americas and abolish the slavery of natives but replace it with other systems of forced labor like the repartimiento Slavery of Black Africans continues 22 New limits are imposed to the Encomienda 1549 Encomiendas banned from using forced labor 1550 1551 Valladolid Debate on the innate rights of indigenous peoples of the Americas 1552 Bartolome de las Casas the first to expose the oppression of indigenous peoples by Europeans in the Americas and to call for the abolition of slavery there 36 1562 nbsp Mughal Empire Akbar I restricted enslavement by his soldiery 37 1570 nbsp Portugal King Sebastian of Portugal bans the enslavement of Native Americans under Portuguese rule allowing only the enslavement of hostile ones This law was highly influenced by the Society of Jesus which had missionaries in direct contact with Brazilian tribes 1574 nbsp England Last remaining serfs emancipated by Elizabeth I 23 nbsp Philippines Slavery abolished by royal decree 38 1588 nbsp Lithuania The Third Statute of Lithuania abolishes slavery 39 1590 nbsp Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans slavery except as punishment for criminals 40 1595 nbsp Portugal Trade of Chinese slaves banned 41 1602 nbsp England The Clifton Star Chamber Case set a precedent that impressing enslaving children to serve as actors was illegal 1609 nbsp Spain The Moriscos many of whom are serfs are expelled from Peninsular Spain unless they become slaves voluntarily known as moros cortados cut Moors However a large proportion avoid expulsion or manage to return 42 1624 nbsp Portugal Enslavement of Chinese banned 43 44 1649 nbsp Russia The sale of Russian slaves to Muslims is banned 45 1652 nbsp Providence Plantations Roger Williams and Samuel Gorton work to pass legislation abolishing slavery in Providence Plantations the first attempt of its kind in North America It does not go into effect 46 1677 nbsp Maratha Empire Shivaji I banned freed and stopped import and export of all slaves under his Empire 47 48 49 1679 nbsp Russia Feodor III converts all Russian field slaves into serfs 50 51 1683 nbsp Spanish Chile Slavery of Mapuche prisoners of war abolished 52 1687 nbsp Spanish Florida Fugitive slaves from the Thirteen Colonies granted freedom in return for conversion to Catholicism and four years of military service 1688 nbsp Pennsylvania The Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery is the first religious petition against African slavery in what would become the United States 1701 1799 editDate Jurisdiction Description1706 nbsp England In Smith v Browne amp Cooper Sir John Holt Lord Chief Justice of England rules that as soon as a Negro comes into England he becomes free One may be a villein in England but not a slave 53 54 1711 1712 nbsp Imereti Slave trade banned by Mamia I of Imereti 1712 nbsp Spain Moros cortados expelled 55 1715 nbsp North Carolina nbsp South Carolina Native American slave trade in the American Southeast reduces with the outbreak of the Yamasee War 1723 nbsp Russia Peter the Great converts all house slaves into house serfs effectively making slavery illegal in Russia 1723 1730 nbsp Qing Dynasty The Yongzheng emancipation seeks to free all slaves to strengthen the autocratic ruler through a kind of social leveling that creates an undifferentiated class of free subjects under the throne Although these new regulations freed the vast majority of slaves wealthy families continued to use slave labor into the twentieth century 56 1732 nbsp Georgia Province established without African slavery in sharp contrast to neighboring colony of Carolina In 1738 James Oglethorpe warns against changing that policy which would occasion the misery of thousands in Africa 57 Native American slavery is legal throughout Georgia however and African slavery is later introduced in 1749 1738 nbsp Spanish Florida Fort Mose the first legal settlement of free blacks in what is today the United States is established Word of the settlement sparks the Stono Rebellion in Carolina the following year 1761 nbsp Portugal The Marquis of Pombal bans the importation of slaves to metropolitan Portugal 58 encouraging instead the trade of African slaves to Brazil 59 60 61 62 1766 nbsp Spain Muhammad III of Morocco purchases the freedom of all Muslim slaves in Seville Cadiz and Barcelona 63 1770 nbsp Circassia The Circassians of the Abdzakh region started a great revolution in Circassian territory in 1770 Classes such as slaves nobles and princes were completely abolished The Abdzakh Revolution coincides with the French Revolution While many French nobles took refuge in Russia some of the Circassian nobles took the same path and took refuge in Russia 64 1771 nbsp Kingdom of Sardinia Serfdom abolished in the lands ruled by the House of Savoy 65 1772 nbsp England Somersett s case rules that no slave can be forcibly removed from England This case was generally taken at the time to have decided that the condition of slavery did not exist under English law in England and Wales 66 1773 nbsp Portugal A new decree by the Marquis of Pombal signed by the king Dom Jose emancipates fourth generation slaves 58 and every child born to an enslaved mother after the decree was published 67 1774 nbsp East India Company Government of Bengal passed regulations 9 and 10 of 1774 prohibiting the trade in slaves without written deed and the sale of anyone not already enslaved 68 1775 nbsp Virginia Dunmore s Proclamation promises freedom to slaves who desert the American revolutionaries and join the British Army as Black Loyalists nbsp Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Abolition Society formed in Philadelphia the first abolition society within the territory that is now the United States of America nbsp United States Atlantic slave trade banned or suspended in the United Colonies during the Revolutionary War This was a continuation of the Thirteen Colonies non importation agreements against Britain as an attempt to cut all economic ties with Britain during the war 69 1777 nbsp Madeira Slavery abolished 70 nbsp Vermont The Constitution of the Vermont Republic partially bans slavery 70 freeing men over 21 and women older than 18 at the time of its passage 71 The ban is not strongly enforced 72 73 1778 nbsp Scotland Joseph Knight successfully argues that Scots law cannot support the status of slavery 74 1779 nbsp British America The Philipsburg Proclamation frees all slaves who desert the American rebels regardless of their willingness to fight for the Crown 1780 nbsp Pennsylvania An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed freeing future children of slaves Those born prior to the Act remain enslaved for life The Act becomes a model for other Northern states Last slaves freed 1847 75 1781 nbsp Archduchy of Austria Joseph II abolishes personal bondage of serfs and allows their freedom of movement with the Serfdom Patent of 1781 1783 nbsp Russian Empire Slavery abolished in the recently annexed Crimean Khanate 76 nbsp Massachusetts Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules slavery unconstitutional a decision based on the 1780 Massachusetts constitution All slaves are immediately freed 77 nbsp Austrian Empire Joseph II abolishes slavery in Bukovina 78 nbsp New Hampshire Gradual abolition of slavery begins nbsp British America After being settled into by Quakers Beaver Harbour New Brunswick becomes the first settlement in British North America to ban slavery forbidding slave masters from entering 79 1784 nbsp Connecticut Gradual abolition of slavery freeing future children of slaves and later all slaves 80 nbsp Rhode Island Gradual abolition of slavery begins 1785 nbsp Kingdom of Hungary In response to the Revolt of Horea Joseph II abolishes personal bondage and allows freedom of movement for peasants in Hungary with the urbarium of 22 August 1785 81 1786 nbsp New South Wales A policy of completely banning slavery is adopted by governor designate Arthur Phillip for the soon to be established colony 82 1787 nbsp United States The United States in Congress Assembled passes the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 outlawing any new slavery in the Northwest Territories nbsp Sierra Leone Founded by Great Britain as a colony for emancipated slaves 83 nbsp Great Britain Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded in Great Britain 70 1788 Sir William Dolben s Act regulating the conditions on British slave ships enacted nbsp France Abolitionist Society of the Friends of the Blacks founded in Paris nbsp Denmark Limits imposed to serfdom under the Stavnsband system 1789 nbsp France Last remaining seigneurial privileges over peasants abolished 84 1791 nbsp Poland Lithuania The Constitution of May 3 1791 introduced elements of political equality between townspeople and nobility and placed the peasants under the protection of the government thus it mitigated the worst abuses of serfdom 1791 nbsp France Emancipation of second generation slaves in the colonies 63 1792 nbsp Denmark Norway Transatlantic slave trade declared illegal after 1803 though slavery continues in Danish colonies to 1848 85 1792 nbsp Saint Helena The importation of slaves to the island of Saint Helena was banned in 1792 but the phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves did not take place until 1827 which was still some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in the colonies 86 1793 nbsp Saint Domingue Commissioner Leger Felicite Sonthonax abolishes slavery in the northern part of the colony His colleague Etienne Polverel does the same in the rest of the territory in October nbsp Upper Canada Importation of slaves banned by the Act Against Slavery 1794 nbsp France Slavery abolished in all French territories and possessions 87 nbsp United States The Slave Trade Act bans both American ships from participating in the slave trade and the export of slaves in foreign ships 69 nbsp Poland Lithuania The Proclamation of Polaniec issued during the Kosciuszko Uprising ultimately abolished serfdom in Poland and granted substantial civil liberties to all peasants 1798 nbsp Occupied Malta Slavery banned in the islands after their capture by French forces under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte 88 1799 nbsp New York Gradual emancipation act freeing the future children of slaves and all slaves in 1827 89 nbsp Scotland The Colliers Scotland Act 1799 ends the legal servitude or slavery of coal and salt miners that had been established in 1606 90 1800 1829 edit nbsp Illustration from the book The Black Man s Lament Or How to Make Sugar by Amelia Opie London 1826 Date Jurisdiction Description1800 Joseon State slavery banned in 1800 Private slavery continued until being banned in 1894 1800 nbsp United States American citizens banned from investment and employment in the international slave trade in an additional Slave Trade Act 1802 nbsp France Napoleon re introduces slavery in sugarcane growing colonies 91 nbsp Ohio State constitution abolishes slavery 1803 nbsp Denmark Norway Abolition of Danish participation in the transatlantic slave trade takes effect on 1 January 1804 nbsp New Jersey Slavery abolished 92 nbsp Haiti Haiti declares independence and abolishes slavery 70 1804 1813 nbsp Serbia First Serbian Uprising against Ottoman Empire 1805 nbsp United Kingdom A bill for abolition passes in House of Commons but is rejected in the House of Lords 1806 nbsp United States In a message to Congress Thomas Jefferson calls for criminalizing the international slave trade asking Congress to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights which the morality the reputation and the best of our country have long been eager to proscribe 1807 International slave trade made a felony in Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves this act takes effect on 1 January 1808 the earliest date permitted under the Constitution 93 nbsp United Kingdom Abolition of the Slave Trade Act abolishes slave trading throughout the British Empire Captains fined 100 per slave transported Patrols sent to the African coast to arrest slaving vessels The West Africa Squadron Royal Navy is established to suppress slave trading by 1865 nearly 150 000 people freed by anti slavery operations 94 nbsp Warsaw Constitution abolishes serfdom 95 nbsp Prussia The Stein Hardenberg Reforms abolish serfdom 95 nbsp Michigan Territory Judge Augustus Woodward denies the return of two slaves owned by a man in Windsor Upper Canada Woodward declares that any man coming into this Territory is by law of the land a freeman 96 1808 nbsp United States Importation and exportation of slaves made a crime 97 1810 nbsp New Spain Independence leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed the abolition of slavery three months after the start of the Independence of Mexico from Spain 1811 nbsp United Kingdom Slave trading made a felony punishable by transportation for both British subjects and foreigners nbsp Spain The Cortes of Cadiz abolish the last remaining seigneurial rights 63 nbsp British East India Company The Company issued regulations 10 of 1811 prohibiting the transport of slaves into Company territory adding to the 1774 restrictions 68 nbsp Chile The First National Congress approves a proposal of Manuel de Salas that declares Freedom of Wombs freeing the children of slaves born in Chilean territory regardless of their parents condition The slave trade is banned and the slaves who stay for more than six months in Chilean territory are automatically declared freedmen 1812 nbsp Spain The Cortes of Cadiz pass the Spanish Constitution of 1812 giving citizenship and equal rights to all residents in Spain and her territories excluding slaves During deliberations Deputies Jose Miguel Guridi y Alcocer and Agustin Arguelles unsuccessfully argue for the abolition of slavery 63 1813 nbsp New Spain Independence leader Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon declares slavery abolished in Mexico in the documents Sentimientos de la Nacion nbsp United Provinces Law of Wombs passed by the Assembly of Year XIII Slaves born after 31 January 1813 will be granted freedom when they are married or on their 16th birthday for women and 20th for men and upon their manumission will be given land and tools to work it 98 1814 nbsp United Provinces After the occupation of Montevideo all slaves born in modern Uruguayan territory are declared free nbsp Netherlands Slave trade abolished 1815 nbsp France Napoleon abolishes the slave trade nbsp Portugal Slave trade banned north of the Equator in return for a 750 000 payment by Britain 99 nbsp Florida British withdrawing after the War of 1812 leave a fully armed fort in the hands of maroons escaped slaves and their descendants and their Seminole allies Becomes known as Negro Fort nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Portugal nbsp Sweden Norway nbsp France nbsp Austria nbsp Russia nbsp Spain nbsp Prussia The Congress of Vienna declares its opposition to the slave trade 100 1816 nbsp Estonia Serfdom abolished nbsp Florida Negro Fort destroyed in the Battle of Negro Fort by U S forces under the command of General Andrew Jackson nbsp Algeria Algiers bombarded by the British and Dutch navies in an attempt to end North African piracy and slave raiding in the Mediterranean 3 000 slaves freed 1817 nbsp Courland Serfdom abolished nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Spain Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade 101 nbsp Spain Ferdinand VII signs a cedula banning the importation of slaves in Spanish possessions beginning in 1820 63 in return for a 400 000 payment from Britain 99 However some slaves are still smuggled in after this date Both slave ownership and internal commerce in slaves remained legal nbsp Venezuela Simon Bolivar calls for the abolition of slavery 63 nbsp New York 4 July 1827 set as date to free all ex slaves from indenture 102 nbsp United Provinces Constitution supports the abolition of slavery but does not ban it 63 1818 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Portugal Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade 103 nbsp France Slave trade banned nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Netherlands Bilateral treaty taking additional measures to enforce the 1814 ban on slave trading 103 1819 nbsp Livonia Serfdom abolished nbsp Upper Canada Attorney General John Robinson declares all black residents free nbsp Hawaii The ancient Hawaiian kapu system is abolished during the ʻAi Noa and with it the distinction between the kauwa slave class and the makaʻainana commoners 104 1820 nbsp United States The Compromise of 1820 bans slavery north of the 36º 30 line the Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States and Punish the Crime of Piracy is amended to consider the maritime slave trade as piracy making it punishable with death nbsp Indiana The supreme court orders almost all slaves in the state to be freed in Polly v Lasselle nbsp Spain The 1817 abolition of the slave trade takes effect 105 1821 nbsp Mexico The Plan of Iguala frees the slaves born in Mexico 63 nbsp United States nbsp Spain In accordance with Adams Onis Treaty of 1819 Florida becomes a territory of the United States A main reason was Spain s inability or unwillingness to capture and return escaped slaves nbsp Peru Abolition of slave trade and implementation of a plan to gradually end slavery 63 nbsp Gran Colombia Emancipation for sons and daughters born to slave mothers program for compensated emancipation set 106 1822 nbsp Haiti Jean Pierre Boyer annexes Spanish Haiti and abolishes slavery there nbsp Liberia Founded by the American Colonization Society as a colony for emancipated slaves nbsp Muscat and Oman nbsp United Kingdom First bilateral treaty limiting the slave trade in Zanzibar Moresby Treaty 1823 nbsp Chile Slavery abolished 70 nbsp United Kingdom The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions Anti Slavery Society is founded nbsp Greece Prohibition of slavery is enshrined in the Greek Constitution of 1823 during the Greek War of Independence 107 1824 nbsp Mexico The new constitution effectively abolishes slavery nbsp Central America Slavery abolished 108 1825 nbsp Uruguay Importation of slaves banned nbsp Haiti France with warships at the ready demanded Haiti compensate France for its loss of slaves and its slave colony1827 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Sweden Norway Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade 103 nbsp New York Last vestiges of slavery abolished Children born between 1799 and 1827 are indentured until age 25 females or age 28 males 109 nbsp Saint Helena Phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in all colonies 86 1829 nbsp Mexico Last slaves freed just as the first president of partial African ancestry Vicente Guerrero is elected 70 1830 1849 edit nbsp An anti slavery map with an unusual perspective centered on West Africa which is in the light and contrasting the Americas and Europe in the dark By Julius Rubens Ames 1847 Date Jurisdiction Description1830 nbsp Coahuila y Tejas Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante attempts to implement the abolition of slavery To circumvent the law Anglo Texans declare their slaves indentured servants for life 110 1830 nbsp Uruguay Slavery abolished 1831 nbsp Bolivia Slavery abolished 70 nbsp Brazil Law of 7 November 1831 abolishing the maritime slave trade banning any importation of slaves and granting freedom to slaves illegally imported into Brazil The law was seldom enforced prior to 1850 when Brazil under British pressure adopted additional legislation to criminalize the importation of slaves 1832 nbsp Greece Slavery abolished with independence 1832 nbsp Coahuila y Tejas Anahuac Disturbances Juan Davis Bradburn American born Mexican officer at Anahuac Texas confronts slave owning American settlers enforcing Mexican abolition of slavery and refusing to hand over two escaped slaves 1834 nbsp United Kingdom The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire but on a gradual basis over the next six years 111 Legally frees 700 000 in the West Indies 20 000 in Mauritius and 40 000 in South Africa The exceptions are the territories controlled by the East India Company and Ceylon 112 nbsp France French Society for the Abolition of Slavery founded in Paris 113 1835 nbsp Serbia Freedom granted to all slaves in the moment they step on Serb soil 114 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp France Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade 103 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Denmark nbsp Peru A decree of Felipe Santiago Salaverry re legalizes the importation of slaves from other Latin American countries The line no slave shall enter Peru without becoming free is taken out of the Constitution in 1839 115 1836 nbsp Portugal Prime Minister Sa da Bandeira bans the transatlantic slave trade and the importation and exportation of slaves to or from the Portuguese colonies south of the equator 1837 nbsp Spain Slavery abolished outside of the colonies 63 1838 nbsp United Kingdom All slaves in the colonies become free after a period of forced apprenticeship following the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions now London Anti Slavery Society winds up 1839 nbsp United Kingdom The British and Foreign Anti Slavery Society after several changes now known as Anti Slavery International is founded nbsp East India Company The Indian indenture system is abolished in territories controlled by the company but this is reversed in 1842 nbsp Catholic Church Pope Gregory XVI s In supremo apostolatus resoundingly condemns slavery and the slave trade 1840 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Venezuela Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade nbsp United Kingdom First World Anti Slavery Convention meets in London nbsp New Zealand Taking slaves banned by Treaty of Waitangi 116 1841 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp France nbsp Russia nbsp Prussia nbsp Austria Quintuple Treaty agreeing to suppress the slave trade 70 nbsp United States United States v The Amistad finds that the slaves of La Amistad were illegally enslaved and were legally allowed as free men to fight their captors by any means necessary 1842 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Portugal Bilateral treaty extending the enforcement of the slave trade ban to Portuguese ships south of the Equator nbsp Paraguay Law for the gradual abolition of slavery passed 63 1843 nbsp East India Company The Indian Slavery Act 1843 Act V abolishes slavery in territories controlled by the company nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Uruguay Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade 103 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Mexico nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Chile nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Bolivia1844 nbsp Moldavia Mihail Sturdza abolishes slavery in Moldavia nbsp Paraguay Slave trade abolished 63 nbsp Dominican Republic Dominican Republic declares independence from Haiti abolition of slavery reinforced 117 1845 nbsp United Kingdom 36 Royal Navy ships assigned to the Anti Slavery Squadron making it one of the largest fleets in the world nbsp Illinois In Jarrot v Jarrot the Illinois Supreme Court frees the last indentured ex slaves in the state who were born after the Northwest Ordinance 118 1846 nbsp Tunisia Slavery abolished in Tunisia under Ahmed Bey rule 119 1847 nbsp Ottoman Empire Slave trade from Africa abolished 120 nbsp Saint Barthelemy Last slaves freed 121 nbsp Pennsylvania The last indentured ex slaves born before 1780 fewer than 100 in the 1840 census 122 are freed nbsp Danish West Indies Royal edict ruling the freedom of children born from female slaves and the total abolition of slavery after 12 years Dissatisfaction causes a slave rebellion in Saint Croix the next year 1848 nbsp Austria Serfdom abolished 123 124 125 nbsp France Slavery abolished in the colonies Gabon is founded as a settlement for emancipated slaves nbsp Danish West Indies Governor Peter von Scholten declares the immediate and total emancipation of all slaves in an attempt to end the slave revolt For this he is recalled and tried for treason but the charges are later dropped 70 121 126 nbsp Denmark Last remains of the Stavnsband effectively abolished nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Muscat and Oman Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade 103 1849 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Trucial States nbsp Sierra Leone The Royal Navy destroys the slave factory of Lomboko 1850 1899 edit nbsp Medical examination photo of Gordon showing his scourged back widely distributed by Abolitionists to expose the brutality of slavery Date Jurisdiction Description1850 nbsp United States The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 requires the return of escaped slaves to their owners regardless of the state they are in nbsp Brazil Eusebio de Queiros Law Law 581 of 4 September 1850 criminalizing the maritime slave trade as piracy and imposing other criminal sanctions on the importation of slaves already banned in 1831 127 1851 nbsp Brazil nbsp Uruguay Bilateral treaty of 12 October Uruguay accepts returning to Brazil the escaped slaves from that country Brazilians who owned land in Uruguay were allowed to have slaves in their properties Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Slavery nominally abolished along with opium gambling polygamy and foot binding 128 129 130 nbsp New Granada Slavery abolished 106 After years of laws that only purported a partial advancement towards abolition President Jose Hilario Lopez pushed Congress to pass total abolition on 21 May Former owners were compensated with government issued bonds 131 nbsp Ecuador Slavery abolished in the country by Jose Maria Urvina 132 Lagos Reduction of Lagos The British capture the city of Lagos and replace King Kosoko with Akitoye because of the former s refusal to ban the slave trade 1852 nbsp Hawaii 1852 Constitution officially declared slavery illegal 133 nbsp United KingdomLagos Bilateral treaty banning the slave trade and human sacrifice 1853 nbsp Argentina Slavery abolished with the sanction of a new federal Constitution 134 1854 nbsp Peru Slavery abolished by Ramon Castilla 135 70 nbsp Venezuela Slavery abolished 70 106 1855 nbsp Moldavia Slavery abolished 1856 nbsp Wallachia1857 nbsp United States Dred Scott v Sandford rules that black slaves and their descendants cannot gain American citizenship and are not entitled to freedom even if they live in a free state for years nbsp Egypt Firman banning the trade of Black African Zanj slaves citation needed 1858 nbsp United Kingdom British government takes direct control of all land owned by the East India Company making previously East India Company directly managed territory subject to the slavery laws applicable in the rest of the British Empire 1859 Atlantic Ocean Definitive suppression of the transatlantic slave trade nbsp United States The Wyandotte Constitution establishes the future state of Kansas as a free state after four years of armed conflict between pro slavery and anti slavery groups in the territory Southern dominance in the U S Senate delays the admission of Kansas as a state until 1861 nbsp Russia Kazakhs banned from having slaves although slavery persists in some areas through the rest of the century 136 better source needed 1860 nbsp United States Last slave ship to unload illegally on U S territory the Clotilda 1861 nbsp Russia The Emancipation reform of 1861 abolishes serfdom 137 nbsp United States The election of Abraham Lincoln leads to the attempted secession of eleven slaveholding states and the American Civil War nbsp United KingdomBritish India Indian Penal Code explicitly prohibits slavery in British administered territory 1862 nbsp United States Congress passes the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act freeing all slaves in the District of Columbia 138 nbsp United States nbsp United Kingdom Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade African Slave Trade Treaty Act 103 nbsp Spanish Cuba Slave trade abolished 70 nbsp United States Nathaniel Gordon becomes the only person hanged in U S history for being engaged in the slave trade 1863 nbsp Netherlands Slavery abolished in the colonies emancipating 33 000 slaves in Surinam 12 000 in Curacao and Dependencies 139 and an indeterminate number in the East Indies nbsp United States Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in Confederate controlled areas Most slaves in border states are freed by state action and a separate law frees the slaves in Washington D C nbsp Iceland Exemptions introduced to serfdom under the Vistarband system nbsp Chatham Islands Slavery abolished 140 1864 nbsp Congress Poland Serfdom abolished 141 1865 nbsp United States Slavery abolished except as punishment for crime by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution It frees all remaining slaves about 40 000 in the border slave states that did not secede 142 Thirty out of thirty six states vote to ratify it New Jersey Delaware Kentucky and Mississippi vote against Mississippi does not officially ratify it until 2013 143 nbsp Texas Juneteenth U S General Gordon Granger proclaims the end of slavery in Galveston nbsp Spain Spanish Abolitionist Society founded in Madrid by Julio Vizcarrondo Jose Julian Acosta and Joaquin Sanroma 63 1866 nbsp Oklahoma Slavery abolished 144 U S government treaties with the Five Tribes that governed the Indian Territory which previously allied with the Confederacy required them to abolish slavery for renewed U S recognition of their continued independence nbsp Iowa Thirteenth Amendment ratified nbsp New Jersey1867 nbsp Spain Law of Repression and Punishment of the Slave Trade 63 nbsp United States Peonage Act of 1867 mostly targeting use of Native American peons in New Mexico Territory Slavery among native tribes in Alaska was abolished after the purchase from Russia in 1867 145 1868 nbsp Spanish Cuba Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and other independence leaders free their slaves and proclaim the independence of Cuba starting the Ten Years War 1869 nbsp Portugal Louis I abolishes slavery in all Portuguese territories and colonies nbsp Paraguay Slavery abolished 1870 nbsp Spain Amidst great opposition from the Cuban and Puerto Rican planters Segismundo Moret drafts a Law of Free Wombs that frees children of slaves slaves older than 65 years and slaves serving in the Spanish Army beginning in 1872 63 nbsp Texas Thirteenth Amendment ratified 1871 nbsp Brazil Rio Branco Law Law of Free Birth declares the children born to slave mothers free 146 nbsp Japan Abolition of the han system or Japanese feudalism 1873 nbsp Puerto Rico Slavery abolished nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Zanzibar nbsp Madagascar Triple treaty abolishing the slave trade 103 1874 nbsp Gold Coast Slavery abolished 147 1877 nbsp Egypt The Anglo Egyptian Slave Trade Convention abolishes the slave trade gradually in 1877 1884 This also gradually abolishes slavery itself over the next decades 1879 nbsp Bulgaria Slavery abolished with independence The Constitution states that any slave that enters Bulgarian territory is immediately freed 1882 nbsp Ottoman Empire A firman emancipates all slaves white and black 148 1884 nbsp Cambodia Slavery abolished 1885 nbsp Brazil Saraiva Cotegipe Law passed freeing all slaves over the age of 60 and creating other measures for the gradual abolition of slavery such as a Manumissions Fund administered by the State 1886 nbsp Spanish Cuba Slavery abolished 70 1888 nbsp Brazil Golden Law decreeing the total abolition of slavery with immediate effect 149 1889 nbsp Italy An Italian court finds that Josephine Bakhita was never legally enslaved according to Italian British or Egyptian law and is a free woman 1890 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp France nbsp Germany nbsp Portugal nbsp Congo nbsp Italy nbsp Spain nbsp Netherlands nbsp Belgium nbsp Russia nbsp Austria Hungary nbsp Sweden Norway nbsp Denmark nbsp United States nbsp Ottoman Empire nbsp Zanzibar nbsp Persia Brussels Conference Act a collection of anti slavery measures to put an end to the slave trade on land and sea especially in the Congo Basin the Ottoman Empire and the East African coast 1894 nbsp Korea Slavery abolished but it survives in practice until 1930 150 nbsp Iceland Vistarband effectively abolished but not de jure 1895 nbsp Taiwan Taiwan is annexed by Japan where slavery has been abolished 1895 nbsp Egypt Slavery abolished 151 nbsp Italian Somaliland First slaves freed 152 1896 nbsp Madagascar Slavery abolished 1897 nbsp Zanzibar Slavery abolished 153 except in the case of concubines abolished in 1909 154 nbsp Siam Slave trade abolished 155 nbsp Bassora Children of freedmen issued separate certificates of liberation to avoid enslavement and separation from their parents citation needed 1899 nbsp Ndzuwani Slavery abolished 1900 1949 editDate Jurisdiction Description1900 nbsp Guam Slavery abolished 22 February 1900 by proclamation of Richard P Leary 156 1901 nbsp Delaware Thirteenth Amendment ratified 1902 nbsp Cameroon Gradual abolition of slavery 157 1903 nbsp French Sudan Slave no longer used as an administrative category 1904 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Germany nbsp Denmark nbsp Spain nbsp France nbsp Italy nbsp Netherlands nbsp Portugal nbsp Russia International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic signed in Paris Only France the Netherlands and Russia extend the treaty to the whole extent of their colonial empires with immediate effect and Italy extends it to Eritrea but not to Italian Somaliland 158 nbsp British East Africa Slavery abolished 159 1905 nbsp French West Africa Slavery formally abolished Though up to one million slaves gain their freedom slavery continues to exist in practice for decades afterward 1906 nbsp China Slavery abolished beginning on 31 January 1910 Adult slaves are converted into hired laborers and the minors freed upon reaching age 25 160 nbsp Barotseland Slavery abolished 161 1908 nbsp Ottoman Empire The Young Turk Revolution eradicates the open trade of Zanj and Circassian women from Constantinople 162 nbsp Congo Free State Belgium annexes the Congo Free State ending the practice of slavery there 1912 nbsp Siam Slavery abolished 155 1915 nbsp British Malaya Slavery abolished 163 1917 nbsp British Raj Indian indenture system abolished 164 1917 nbsp Soviet Russia Decree Abolishing Classes and Civil Ranks1918 nbsp United States Supreme Court rules in Arver v United States that the 13th Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude does not apply to conscription The government can constitutionally force people to serve in the military against their will 1919 nbsp Tanganyika Slavery abolished 159 1922 nbsp Morocco Slave trade abolished slave holding remained legal 165 1923 nbsp Afghanistan Slavery abolished 166 nbsp Florida Convict lease abolished after the death of Martin Tabert who was whipped for being too ill to work citation needed nbsp Hong Kong Slavery of Mui tsai abolished 1924 nbsp Iraq Slavery abolished 167 nbsp Anglo Egyptian Sudan Slavery abolished 168 nbsp League of Nations Temporary Slavery Commission appointed nbsp Turkey Slavery abolished 169 1926 nbsp Nepal Slavery abolished 170 nbsp League of Nations Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery nbsp British Burma Slavery abolished 163 nbsp United Kingdom Law of Property Act 1925 1927 nbsp Spain 1926 Slavery Convention ratified nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Nejd nbsp Hejaz Treaty of Jeddah 1927 abolishing the slave trade 1928 nbsp Sierra Leone Abolition of domestic slavery practised by local African elites 171 Although established as a place for freed slaves a study found practices of domestic slavery still widespread in rural areas in the 1970s citation needed nbsp Alabama Convict lease abolished the last state in the Union to do so 1929 nbsp Persia Slavery abolished and criminalized 172 1930 nbsp League of Nations Forced Labour Convention 1935 nbsp Ethiopia The invading Italian General Emilio De Bono claims to have abolished slavery in the Ethiopian Empire 173 1936 nbsp Northern Nigeria Slavery abolished 174 nbsp Bechuanaland Slavery abolished 175 1937 nbsp Bahrain Slavery abolished 176 1941 nbsp United States Franklin D Roosevelt signs Circular 3591 abolishing all forms of convict leasing 1945 nbsp Occupied Germany Millions of forced labourers and slaves are freed after the fall of the Third Reich see forced labour under German rule during World War II nbsp Japanese Empire Millions of forced labourers and sex slaves are freed after the defeat of the Japanese Empire see comfort women rōmusha East Asia Development Board 1946 nbsp Occupied Germany Fritz Sauckel Nazi official responsible for procuring forced labor in occupied Europe during World War II is convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged 177 nbsp French Sudan Beginning of large slave defections encouraged by the French Fourth Republic and the Sudanese Union African Democratic Rally party 1948 nbsp United Nations Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares slavery contrary to human rights 178 1949 nbsp Kuwait Slavery abolished 176 1950 1999 editDate Jurisdiction Description1952 nbsp Qatar Slavery abolished 179 180 1953 nbsp Australia nbsp Canada nbsp Liberia nbsp New Zealand nbsp South Africa nbsp Switzerland nbsp United Kingdom 1926 Slavery Convention ratified 1954 nbsp Afghanistan nbsp Austria nbsp Cuba nbsp Denmark nbsp Egypt nbsp Finland nbsp India nbsp Italy nbsp Mexico nbsp Monaco nbsp Sweden nbsp Syria1955 nbsp Ecuador nbsp Greece nbsp Iraq nbsp Israel nbsp Netherlands nbsp Pakistan nbsp Philippines nbsp Republic of China Taiwan nbsp Turkey1956 span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library, article, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games. |