CHRONOLOGY: Who banned slavery when?
(Reuters) - Britain marks 200 years on March 25 since it enacted a law banning the transatlantic slave trade, although full abolition of slavery did not follow for another generation.
Following are some key dates in the transAtlantic trade in slaves from Africa and its abolition.
1444 - First public sale of African slaves in Lagos, Portugal
1482 - Portuguese start building first permanent slave trading post at Elmina, Gold Coast, now Ghana
1510 - First slaves arrive in the Spanish colonies of South America, having traveled via Spain
1518 - First direct shipment of slaves from Africa to the Americas
1777 - State of Vermont, an independent Republic after the American Revolution, becomes first sovereign state to abolish slavery
1780s - Transatlantic slave trade reaches peak
1787 - The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded in Britain by Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson
1792 - Denmark bans import of slaves to its West Indies colonies, although the law only took effect from 1803.
1807 - Britain passes Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, outlawing British Atlantic slave trade.
- United States passes legislation banning the slave trade, effective from start of 1808.
1811 - Spain abolishes slavery, including in its colonies, though Cuba rejects ban and continues to deal in slaves.
1813 - Sweden bans slave trading
1814 - Netherlands bans slave trading
1817 - France bans slave trading, but ban not effective until 1826
1833 - Britain passes Abolition of Slavery Act, ordering gradual abolition of slavery in all British colonies. Plantation owners in the West Indies receive 20 million pounds in compensation
- Great Britain and Spain sign a treaty prohibiting the slave trade
1819 - Portugal abolishes slave trade north of the equator
- Britain places a naval squadron off the West African coast to enforce the ban on slave trading
1823 - Britain's Anti-Slavery Society formed. Members include William Wilberforce
1846 - Danish governor proclaims emancipation of slaves in Danish West Indies, abolishing slavery
1848 - France abolishes slavery
1851 - Brazil abolishes slave trading
1858 - Portugal abolishes slavery in its colonies, although all slaves are subject to a 20-year apprenticeship
1861 - Netherlands abolishes slavery in Dutch Caribbean colonies
1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaims emancipation of slaves with effect from January 1, 1863; 13th Amendment of U.S. Constitution follows in 1865 banning slavery
1886 - Slavery is abolished in Cuba
1888 - Brazil abolishes slavery
1926 - League of Nations adopts Slavery Convention abolishing slavery
1948 - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including article stating "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."
(Sources: Durham University: here; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: here; Anti-Slavery Society: here)
From: ghulam yusuf <ghulam_yusuf@yahoo.com>
__._,_.___
