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 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
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 but not slavery.[5] Slavery remaining legal in parts of India until 1876, though illegal slave holdings were still being recorded, in Princely states, by the 1891 census.[6] |
| 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.[7][8] 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
- 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.[9] |
| 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.[10] |
| 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.[11] |
| ~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.[12] |
| 956 | Goryeo Dynasty (Korea) | Slaves were freed on a large scale in 956 by the Goryeo dynasty.[13] 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".[14] |
| 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.[15] |
| 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."[16][17] |
| 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.[17] |
| 1198 | France | Trinitarian Order founded with the purpose of redeeming war captives. |
| 1214 | Korčula | The Statute of the Town abolishes slavery. [18][19][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.[20] |
| 1245 | Aragon | James I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves, but allows them to own Muslims and Pagans.[21] |
| 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.[22] 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.[23] Most aspects of serfdom are also eliminated de facto between 1315 and 1318.[24] |
| 1318 | France | King Philip V abolishes serfdom in his domain.[25] |
| 1335 | Sweden | Slavery abolished (including Sweden's territory in Finland). However, slaves are not banned entry into the country until 1813.[26] 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.[27] |
| 1368 | Ming Dynasty | Emperor Hongwu abolished most forms of slavery,[7] 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.[28] |
| 1416 | Ragusa | Slavery and slave trade abolished. |
| 1423 | Poland | King orders to free all Christian slaves.[29] |
| 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.[30] |
| 1441 | Portugal | First slaves captured in Africa were brought to Portugal.[29] |
| 1477 | Castile | Isabella I bans slavery in newly conquered territories.[31] |
| 1480 | Galicia | Remnant serfdom abolished by the Catholic Monarchs.[32] |
| 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.[33] |
| 1493 | Queen Isabella bans the enslavement of Native Americans unless they are hostile or cannibalistic.[31] 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
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1503 | Castile | Native Americans allowed to travel to Spain only on their own free will.[34] |
| 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.[35] | |
| 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).[36] |
| 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.[23] 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."[37] | |
| 1562 | Mughal Empire | Akbar I librates all Indian-born slaves and concubines in his empire.[38] |
| 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.[24] |
| Philippines | Slavery abolished by royal decree.[39] | |
| 1588 | Lithuania | The Third Statute of Lithuania abolishes slavery.[40] |
| 1590 | Japan | Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans slavery except as punishment for criminals.[41] |
| 1595 | Portugal | Trade of Chinese slaves banned.[42] |
| 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.[43] |
| 1624 | Portugal | Enslavement of Chinese banned.[44][45] |
| 1649 | Russia | The sale of Russian slaves to Muslims is banned.[46] |
| 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.[47] |
| 1677 | Maratha Empire | Shivaji I banned, freed and stopped import and export of all slaves under his Empire.[48][49][50] |
| 1679 | Russia | Feodor III converts all Russian field slaves into serfs.[51][52] |
| 1683 | Spanish Chile | Slavery of Mapuche prisoners of war abolished.[53] |
| 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
| 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."[54][55] |
| 1711-1712 | Imereti | Slave trade banned by Mamia I of Imereti. |
| 1712 | Spain | Moros cortados expelled.[56] |
| 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.[57] |
| 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."[58] 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.[59] encouraging instead the trade of African slaves to Brazil.[60][61][62][63] |
| 1766 | Spain | Muhammad III of Morocco purchases the freedom of all Muslim slaves in Seville, Cádiz, and Barcelona.[64] |
| 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.[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, and resulted in the emancipation of the remaining ten to fourteen thousand slaves or possible slaves in England and Wales, who were mostly domestic servants.[66] |
| 1773 | Portugal | A new decree by the Marquis of Pombal, signed by the king Dom José, emancipates fourth-generation slaves[59] 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] |
| 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. | |
| 1784 | Connecticut | Gradual abolition of slavery, freeing future children of slaves, and later all slaves.[79] |
| Rhode Island | Gradual abolition of slavery begins. | |
| 1786 | New South Wales | A policy of completely banning slavery is adopted by governor-designate Arthur Phillip for the soon-to-be established colony.[80] |
| 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.[81] | |
| 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.[82] |
| 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.[64] |
| 1792 | Denmark-Norway | Transatlantic slave trade declared illegal after 1803, though slavery continues in Danish colonies to 1848.[83] |
| 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.[84] |
| 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.[85] |
| 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.[86] |
| 1799 | New York | Gradual emancipation act freeing the future children of slaves, and all slaves in 1827.[87] |
| Scotland | The Colliers (Scotland) Act 1799 ends the legal servitude or slavery of coal and salt miners that had been established in 1606.[88] |
1800–1829
-
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.[89] |
| 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.[90] |
| 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.[91] | |
| 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.[92] | |
| Warsaw | Constitution abolishes serfdom.[93] | |
| Prussia | The Stein-Hardenberg Reforms abolish serfdom.[93] | |
| 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."[94] | |
| 1808 | United States | Importation and exportation of slaves made a crime.[95] |
| 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.[64] | |
| 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.[64] |
| 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.[96] | |
| 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.[97] | |
| 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.[98] | |
| 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.[99] | |
| Spain | Ferdinand VII signs a cedula banning the importation of slaves in Spanish possessions beginning in 1820,[64] in return for a £400,000 payment from Britain.[97] 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.[64] | |
| New York | 4 July 1827 set as date to free all ex-slaves from indenture.[100] | |
| United Provinces | Constitution supports the abolition of slavery, but does not ban it.[64] | |
| 1818 | United Kingdom Portugal | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade.[101] |
| France | Slave trade banned. | |
| United Kingdom Netherlands | Bilateral treaty taking additional measures to enforce the 1814 ban on slave trading.[101] | |
| 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).[102] | |
| 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.[103] | |
| 1821 | Mexico | The Plan of Iguala frees the slaves born in Mexico.[64] |
| 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.[64] | |
| Gran Colombia | Emancipation for sons and daughters born to slave mothers, program for compensated emancipation set.[104] | |
| 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. | |
| 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.[105] | |
| 1824 | Mexico | The new constitution effectively abolishes slavery. |
| Central America | Slavery abolished.[106] | |
| 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.[101] |
| New York | Last vestiges of slavery abolished. Children born between 1799 and 1827 are indentured until age 25 (females) or age 28 (males).[107] | |
| Saint Helena | Phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves, some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in all colonies.[84] | |
| 1829 | Mexico | Last slaves freed just as the first president of partial African ancestry (Vicente Guerrero) is elected.[70] |
1830–1849
-
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".[108] |
| 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.[109] 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.[110] |
| France | French Society for the Abolition of Slavery founded in Paris.[111] | |
| 1835 | Serbia | Freedom granted to all slaves in the moment they step on Serb soil.[112] |
| United Kingdom France | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade.[101] | |
| 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.[113] | |
| 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. |
| Texas | Slavery made legal again with independence. | |
| 1837 | Spain | Slavery abolished outside of the colonies.[64] |
| 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.[114] | |
| 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.[64] | |
| 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.[101] | |
| United Kingdom Mexico | ||
| United Kingdom Chile | ||
| United Kingdom Bolivia | ||
| 1844 | Moldavia | Mihail Sturdza abolishes slavery in Moldavia. |
| Paraguay | Slave trade abolished.[64] | |
| 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.[115] | |
| 1846 | Tunisia | Slavery abolished in Tunisia under Ahmed Bey rule.[116] |
| 1847 | Ottoman Empire | Slave trade from Africa abolished.[117] |
| Saint Barthélemy | Last slaves freed.[118] | |
| Pennsylvania | The last indentured ex-slaves, born before 1780 (fewer than 100 in the 1840 census[119]) 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.[120][121][122] |
| 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][118][123] | |
| Denmark | Last remains of the Stavnsbånd effectively abolished. | |
| United Kingdom Muscat and Oman | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade.[101] | |
| 1849 | United Kingdom Trucial States | |
| Sierra Leone | The Royal Navy destroys the slave factory of Lomboko. |
1850–1899
-
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).[124] | |
| 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.[125][126][127] | |
| New Granada | Slavery abolished.[104] 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.[128] | |
| Ecuador | Slavery abolished in the country by José María Urvina.[129] | |
| 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.[130] |
| United Kingdom Lagos | Bilateral treaty banning the slave trade and human sacrifice. | |
| 1853 | Argentina | Slavery abolished with the sanction of a new federal Constitution.[131] |
| 1854 | Peru | Slavery abolished by Ramón Castilla.[132][70] |
| Venezuela | Slavery abolished.[70][104] | |
| 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.[133][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.[134] |
| 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.[135] |
| United States United Kingdom | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade (African Slave Trade Treaty Act).[101] | |
| 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,[136] 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.[137] | |
| 1864 | Congress Poland | Serfdom abolished.[138] |
| 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.[139] 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.[140] |
| 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.[64] | |
| 1866 | Oklahoma | Slavery abolished.[141] 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.[64] |
| 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.[142] | |
| 1868 | 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.[64] |
| Texas | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. | |
| 1871 | Brazil | Rio Branco Law (Law of Free Birth) declares the children born to slave mothers free.[143] |
| Japan | Abolition of the han system or Japanese feudalism. | |
| 1873 | Puerto Rico | Slavery abolished. |
| United Kingdom Zanzibar Madagascar | Triple treaty abolishing the slave trade.[101] | |
| 1874 | Gold Coast | Slavery abolished.[144] |
| 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.[145] |
| 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 | Cuba | Slavery abolished.[70] |
| 1888 | Brazil | Golden Law decreeing the total abolition of slavery with immediate effect.[146] |
| 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.[147] |
| Iceland | Vistarband effectively abolished (but not de jure). | |
| 1895 | Taiwan | Taiwan is annexed by Japan, where slavery has been abolished. |
| 1895 | Egypt | Slavery abolished.[148] |
| Italian Somaliland | First slaves freed[149] | |
| 1896 | Madagascar | Slavery abolished. |
| 1897 | Zanzibar | Slavery abolished.[150] |
| Siam | Slave trade abolished.[151] | |
| 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
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Guam | Slavery abolished 22 February 1900, by proclamation of Richard P. Leary.[152] |
| 1901 | Delaware | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1902 | Cameroon | Gradual abolition of slavery.[153] |
| 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.[154] |
| British East Africa | Slavery abolished.[155] | |
| 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.[156] |
| Barotseland | Slavery abolished.[157] | |
| 1908 | Ottoman Empire | The Young Turk Revolution eradicates the open trade of Zanj and Circassian women from Constantinople.[158] |
| Congo Free State | Belgium annexes the Congo Free State, ending the practice of slavery there. | |
| 1912 | Siam | Slavery abolished.[151] |
| 1915 | British Malaya | Slavery abolished.[159] |
| 1917 | British Raj | Indian indenture system abolished.[160] |
| 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.[155] |
| 1922 | Morocco | Slave trade abolished, slave holding remained legal.[161] |
| 1923 | Afghanistan | Slavery abolished.[162] |
| 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.[citation needed] |
| Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | Slavery abolished[163] | |
| League of Nations | Temporary Slavery Commission appointed. | |
| Turkey | Slavery abolished[164] | |
| 1926 | Nepal | Slavery abolished.[165] |
| League of Nations | Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery. | |
| British Burma | Slavery abolished.[159] | |
| 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.[166] 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.[167] |
| 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.[168] |
| Nazi Germany | Nazi Germany legalized forced labor.[169] | |
| 1936 | Northern Nigeria | Slavery abolished.[170] |
| Bechuanaland | Slavery abolished.[171] | |
| 1937 | Bahrain | Slavery abolished.[172] |
| 1940 | 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. |
| 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.[173] |
| 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.[174] |
| 1949 | Kuwait | Slavery abolished.[172] |
1950–1999
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Qatar | Slavery abolished.[175][176] |
| 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 | United Nations | Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. |
| Byelorussia[177] Soviet Union United States South Vietnam | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. | |
| 1957 | United Nations | The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention eliminates some exceptions admitted in the 1930 Forced Labour Convention. |
| Albania Libya Burma Norway 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 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 Notes 12 See also 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 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 but not slavery 5 Slavery remaining legal in parts of India until 1876 though illegal slave holdings were still being recorded in Princely states by the 1891 census 6 326 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 7 8 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 Rome Pope Gregory I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves 9 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 10 741 752 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 11 900 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 12 956 Goryeo Dynasty Korea Slaves were freed on a large scale in 956 by the Goryeo dynasty 13 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 14 960 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 15 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 16 17 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 17 1198 France Trinitarian Order founded with the purpose of redeeming war captives 1214 Korcula The Statute of the Town abolishes slavery 18 19 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 20 1245 Aragon James I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves but allows them to own Muslims and Pagans 21 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 22 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 23 Most aspects of serfdom are also eliminated de facto between 1315 and 1318 24 1318 France King Philip V abolishes serfdom in his domain 25 1335 Sweden Slavery abolished including Sweden s territory in Finland However slaves are not banned entry into the country until 1813 26 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 Poland The Statutes of Casimir the Great issued in Wislica emancipate all non free people 27 1368 Ming Dynasty Emperor Hongwu abolished most forms of slavery 7 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 28 1416 Ragusa Slavery and slave trade abolished 1423 Poland King orders to free all Christian slaves 29 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 30 1441 Portugal First slaves captured in Africa were brought to Portugal 29 1477 Castile Isabella I bans slavery in newly conquered territories 31 1480 Galicia Remnant serfdom abolished by the Catholic Monarchs 32 1486 Aragon Ferdinand II promulgates the Sentence of Guadalupe abolishing Carolingian remnant serfdom remenca 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 33 1493 Queen Isabella bans the enslavement of Native Americans unless they are hostile or cannibalistic 31 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 Castile Native Americans allowed to travel to Spain only on their own free will 34 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 35 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 36 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 23 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 37 1562 Mughal Empire Akbar I librates all Indian born slaves and concubines in his empire 38 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 24 Philippines Slavery abolished by royal decree 39 1588 Lithuania The Third Statute of Lithuania abolishes slavery 40 1590 Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans slavery except as punishment for criminals 41 1595 Portugal Trade of Chinese slaves banned 42 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 43 1624 Portugal Enslavement of Chinese banned 44 45 1649 Russia The sale of Russian slaves to Muslims is banned 46 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 47 1677 Maratha Empire Shivaji I banned freed and stopped import and export of all slaves under his Empire 48 49 50 1679 Russia Feodor III converts all Russian field slaves into serfs 51 52 1683 Spanish Chile Slavery of Mapuche prisoners of war abolished 53 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 EditDate Jurisdiction Description1706 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 54 55 1711 1712 Imereti Slave trade banned by Mamia I of Imereti 1712 Spain Moros cortados expelled 56 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 57 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 58 Native American slavery is legal throughout Georgia however and African slavery is later introduced in 1749 1738 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 Portugal The Marquis of Pombal bans the importation of slaves to metropolitan Portugal 59 encouraging instead the trade of African slaves to Brazil 60 61 62 63 1766 Spain Muhammad III of Morocco purchases the freedom of all Muslim slaves in Seville Cadiz and Barcelona 64 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 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 and resulted in the emancipation of the remaining ten to fourteen thousand slaves or possible slaves in England and Wales who were mostly domestic servants 66 1773 Portugal A new decree by the Marquis of Pombal signed by the king Dom Jose emancipates fourth generation slaves 59 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 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 1784 Connecticut Gradual abolition of slavery freeing future children of slaves and later all slaves 79 Rhode Island Gradual abolition of slavery begins 1786 New South Wales A policy of completely banning slavery is adopted by governor designate Arthur Phillip for the soon to be established colony 80 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 81 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 Stavnsband system 1789 France Last remaining seigneurial privileges over peasants abolished 82 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 64 1792 Denmark Norway Transatlantic slave trade declared illegal after 1803 though slavery continues in Danish colonies to 1848 83 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 84 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 85 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 Polaniec issued during the Kosciuszko 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 86 1799 New York Gradual emancipation act freeing the future children of slaves and all slaves in 1827 87 Scotland The Colliers Scotland Act 1799 ends the legal servitude or slavery of coal and salt miners that had been established in 1606 88 1800 1829 Edit 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 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 89 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 90 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 91 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 92 Warsaw Constitution abolishes serfdom 93 Prussia The Stein Hardenberg Reforms abolish serfdom 93 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 94 1808 United States Importation and exportation of slaves made a crime 95 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 Cadiz abolish the last remaining seigneurial rights 64 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 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 64 1813 New Spain Independence leader Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon declares slavery abolished in Mexico in the documents Sentimientos de la Nacion 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 96 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 97 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 98 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 99 Spain Ferdinand VII signs a cedula banning the importation of slaves in Spanish possessions beginning in 1820 64 in return for a 400 000 payment from Britain 97 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 64 New York 4 July 1827 set as date to free all ex slaves from indenture 100 United Provinces Constitution supports the abolition of slavery but does not ban it 64 1818 United Kingdom Portugal Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade 101 France Slave trade banned United Kingdom Netherlands Bilateral treaty taking additional measures to enforce the 1814 ban on slave trading 101 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 kauwa slave class and the makaʻainana commoners 102 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 103 1821 Mexico The Plan of Iguala frees the slaves born in Mexico 64 United States 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 Peru Abolition of slave trade and implementation of a plan to gradually end slavery 64 Gran Colombia Emancipation for sons and daughters born to slave mothers program for compensated emancipation set 104 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 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 105 1824 Mexico The new constitution effectively abolishes slavery Central America Slavery abolished 106 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 colony1827 United Kingdom Sweden Norway Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade 101 New York Last vestiges of slavery abolished Children born between 1799 and 1827 are indentured until age 25 females or age 28 males 107 Saint Helena Phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in all colonies 84 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 Description1830 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 108 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 109 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 110 France French Society for the Abolition of Slavery founded in Paris 111 1835 Serbia Freedom granted to all slaves in the moment they step on Serb soil 112 United Kingdom France Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade 101 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 113 1836 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 Texas Slavery made legal again with independence 1837 Spain Slavery abolished outside of the colonies 64 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 114 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 64 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 101 United Kingdom Mexico United Kingdom Chile United Kingdom Bolivia1844 Moldavia Mihail Sturdza abolishes slavery in Moldavia Paraguay Slave trade abolished 64 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 115 1846 Tunisia Slavery abolished in Tunisia under Ahmed Bey rule 116 1847 Ottoman Empire Slave trade from Africa abolished 117 Saint Barthelemy Last slaves freed 118 Pennsylvania The last indentured ex slaves born before 1780 fewer than 100 in the 1840 census 119 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 120 121 122 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 70 118 123 Denmark Last remains of the Stavnsband effectively abolished United Kingdom Muscat and Oman Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade 101 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 Description1850 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 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 124 1851 Brazil 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 125 126 127 New Granada Slavery abolished 104 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 128 Ecuador Slavery abolished in the country by Jose Maria Urvina 129 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 130 United KingdomLagos Bilateral treaty banning the slave trade and human sacrifice 1853 Argentina Slavery abolished with the sanction of a new federal Constitution 131 1854 Peru Slavery abolished by Ramon Castilla 132 70 Venezuela Slavery abolished 70 104 1855 Moldavia Slavery abolished 1856 Wallachia1857 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 133 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 134 United States The election of Abraham Lincoln leads to the attempted secession of eleven slaveholding states and the American Civil War United KingdomBritish 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 135 United States United Kingdom Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade African Slave Trade Treaty Act 101 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 Curacao and Dependencies 136 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 137 1864 Congress Poland Serfdom abolished 138 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 139 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 140 Texas Juneteenth U S General Gordon Granger proclaims the end of slavery in Galveston Spain Spanish Abolitionist Society founded in Madrid by Julio Vizcarrondo Jose Julian Acosta and Joaquin Sanroma 64 1866 Oklahoma Slavery abolished 141 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 Jersey1867 Spain Law of Repression and Punishment of the Slave Trade 64 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 142 1868 Cuba Carlos Manuel de Cespedes 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 64 Texas Thirteenth Amendment ratified 1871 Brazil Rio Branco Law Law of Free Birth declares the children born to slave mothers free 143 Japan Abolition of the han system or Japanese feudalism 1873 Puerto Rico Slavery abolished United Kingdom Zanzibar Madagascar Triple treaty abolishing the slave trade 101 1874 Gold Coast Slavery abolished 144 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 145 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 Cuba Slavery abolished 70 1888 Brazil Golden Law decreeing the total abolition of slavery with immediate effect 146 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 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 Korea Slavery abolished but it survives in practice until 1930 147 Iceland Vistarband effectively abolished but not de jure 1895 Taiwan Taiwan is annexed by Japan where slavery has been abolished 1895 Egypt Slavery abolished 148 Italian Somaliland First slaves freed 149 1896 Madagascar Slavery abolished 1897 Zanzibar Slavery abolished 150 Siam Slave trade abolished 151 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 EditDate Jurisdiction Description1900 Guam Slavery abolished 22 February 1900 by proclamation of Richard P Leary 152 1901 Delaware Thirteenth Amendment ratified 1902 Cameroon Gradual abolition of slavery 153 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 154 British East Africa Slavery abolished 155 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 25 156 Barotseland Slavery abolished 157 1908 Ottoman Empire The Young Turk Revolution eradicates the open trade of Zanj and Circassian women from Constantinople 158 Congo Free State Belgium annexes the Congo Free State ending the practice of slavery there 1912 Siam Slavery abolished 151 1915 British Malaya Slavery abolished 159 1917 British Raj Indian indenture system abolished 160 1917 Soviet Russia Decree Abolishing Classes and Civil Ranks1918 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 155 1922 Morocco Slave trade abolished slave holding remained legal 161 1923 Afghanistan Slavery abolished 162 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 citation needed Anglo Egyptian Sudan Slavery abolished 163 League of Nations Temporary Slavery Commission appointed Turkey Slavery abolished 164 1926 Nepal Slavery abolished 165 League of Nations Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery British Burma Slavery abolished 159 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 166 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 167 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 168 Nazi Germany Nazi Germany legalized forced labor 169 1936 Northern Nigeria Slavery abolished 170 Bechuanaland Slavery abolished 171 1937 Bahrain Slavery abolished 172 1940 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 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 173 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 174 1949 Kuwait Slavery abolished 172 1950 1999 EditDate Jurisdiction Description1952 Qatar Slavery abolished 175 176 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 Syria1955 Ecuador Greece Iraq Israel Netherlands Pakistan Philippines Republic of China Taiwan Turkey1956 United Nations Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery Byelorussia 177 Soviet Union United States South Vietnam 1926 Slavery Convention ratified 1957 United Nations The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention eliminates some exceptions admitted in the 1930 Forced Labour Convention Albania Libya Burma Norway 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. |