![Biard Abolition de l'esclavage 1849](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Biard_Abolition_de_l%27esclavage_1849.jpg)
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
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
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
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
.
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.
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
Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, the pe ...
(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
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
).
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
Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
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.
Medieval times
:''N.B.: Many of the listed reforms were reversed over succeeding centuries.''
1500–1700
1701–1799
1800–1829
1830–1849
1850–1899
1900–1949
1950–1999
2000-Present
Notes
See also
*
Abolitionism
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The Britis ...
*
History of slavery
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of en ...
*
List of abolitionist forerunners
Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846), the pioneering English abolitionist, prepared a "map" of the "streams" of "forerunners and coadjutors" of the abolitionist movement, which he published in his work, ''The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accompl ...
(by Thomas Clarkson)
*
Reparations for slavery
Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take numer ...
*
Slave Trade Act
Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade.
The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the conce ...
s
*
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This include ...
*
Slavery at common law
Slavery at common law in the British Empire developed slowly over centuries, and was characterised by inconsistent decisions and varying rationales for the treatment of slavery, the slave trade, and the rights of slaves and slave owners. Unlike ...
*
Slavery in modern Africa
The continent of Africa is one of the regions most rife with contemporary slavery. Slavery in Africa has a long history, within Africa since before historical records, but intensifying with the trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trade and a ...
*
Slavery in the 21st century
Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...
*
Timeline of the civil rights movement
This is a timeline of the civil rights movement in the United States, a nonviolent mid-20th century freedom movement to gain legal equality and the enforcement of constitutional rights for people of color. The goals of the movement included secu ...
References
Further reading
* Campbell, Gwyn. ''The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia'' (Frank Cass, 2004)
* Davis, David Brion. ''Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World'' (2008) excerpt
* Drescher, Seymour. ''Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery'' (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
* Drescher, Seymour. ''Pathways from slavery: British and colonial mobilizations in global perspective'' (Routledge, 2018).
* Drescher, Seymour. "Civil Society and Paths to Abolition." ''Journal of Global Slavery'' 1.1 (2016): 44–71.
* Finkelman, Paul, and Joseph Miller, eds. ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery'' (2 vol 1998)
* Finkelman, Paul, and
Seymour Drescher
Seymour Drescher (born 1934) is an American historian and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, known for his studies on Alexis de Tocqueville and slavery and his published work ''Econocide''.
Career
Seymour Drescher has been publishin ...
. "The eternal problem of slavery in international law: Killing the vampire of human culture." ''
Michigan State Law Review
The ''Michigan State Law Review'' is a law review published by students at Michigan State University College of Law. It is the flagship journal of the school and it publishes five issues per year. According to the Washington & Lee Law Journal Rank ...
'' (2017): 755
online
* Gordon, M. ''Slavery in the Arab World'' (1989)
* Grindal, Peter. ''Opposing the Slavers; The Royal Navy's Campaign against the Atlantic Slave Trade'' (L.B. Tauris 2016)
* Hinks, Peter, and John McKivigan, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition'' (2 vol. 2007) 795pp;
* Lovejoy, Paul. ''Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa'' (Cambridge UP, 1983)
* Mathews, Nathaniel. "The 'Fused Horizon' of Abolitionism and Islam: Historicism, the Quran and the Global History of Abolition." ''Journal of global slavery'' 4.2 (2019): 226–265.
* Morgan, Kenneth. ''Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America'' (2008)
* Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. ''The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery'' (1997)
* Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. ''Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World'' (2007)
* Sinha, Manisha. "The Problem of Abolition in the Age of Capitalism The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770–1823, by David Brion Davis." ''American Historical Review'' 124.1 (2019): 144–163.
External links
The Royal Naval Museum
The Royal Naval Museum
Slavery and Abolition comprehensive list of abolitionist and anti-slavery activists and organizations in the United States, including US and international anti-slavery timelines.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slavery, Abolition of timeline
Abolitionism
History of slavery
Abolition of slavery and serfdom