On 1 December 1834, the Cape Colony (of which Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Nelson Mandela Bay) was part of, abolished slavery.
Lets have a quick squizz at other countries/regions and the dates on which slavery was abolished:
Shockingly there is one country on this list that only officially abolished slavery in 1981!
The Americas (The Major Slave Societies)
The following dates represent the final, large-scale emancipation or constitutional abolition in these nations.
- Haiti – January 1, 1804 – Abolished slavery immediately upon independence following the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804).
- British Empire – August 1, 1834 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 took effect, freeing approximately 800,000 enslaved people in the Caribbean, South Africa, and Canada (after a period of “apprenticeship” that ended in 1838).
- French Colonies – April 27, 1848 – Final abolition of slavery in all French colonies (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana, Réunion, etc.). (Slavery was first abolished in 1794 but reinstated by Napoleon in 1802).
- United States – December 6, 1865 – The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, abolishing slavery nationwide (after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed slaves only in Confederate states).
- Netherlands Colonies – July 1, 1863 – Abolition in Dutch colonies (Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean).
- Puerto Rico – March 22, 1873 – Slavery abolished in the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico.
- Cuba – October 7, 1886 – Slavery fully abolished in the Spanish colony of Cuba.
- Brazil – May 13, 1888 – Slavery was abolished under the Lei Áurea (Golden Law), making it the last country in the Americas to do so.
Latin America
Many Latin American nations abolished slavery shortly after gaining independence from Spain and Portugal in the 1820s:
- Chile: 1823
- Mexico: 1829
- Uruguay: 1830 (Final)
- Colombia: 1851
- Argentina: 1853
- Venezuela: 1854
- Peru: 1854
Europe and the Ottoman Empire
Slavery within most of mainland Europe had largely disappeared by the Middle Ages, replaced by serfdom. The dates below typically refer to the final abolition of unfree labor or the formal end of the slave trade.
- England & Wales – 1772 – The Somersett Case effectively established that slavery was unsupported by common law in England and Wales, freeing an estimated 10,000–14,000 enslaved people.
- Danish-Norway – 1803 – Became the first European colonial power to ban the transatlantic slave trade (slavery itself continued in its colonies until 1848).
- Russia – March 3, 1861 – Tsar Alexander II emancipated over 23 million serfs (a form of unfree labor, though distinct from chattel slavery). Outright slavery was largely abolished earlier.
- Portugal – 1869 – Slavery abolished throughout all Portuguese colonies.
- Ottoman Empire – 1876 – Formal legal prohibition of the slave trade (though the practice persisted unofficially).
- Turkey (Successor State) – 1924 – Slavery formally abolished under the new Turkish Republic.
Africa and the Middle East
Abolition in Africa was often linked to colonial rule and occurred much later, with some countries abolishing it only well into the 20th century.
- Tunisia – 1846 – Slavery formally abolished by the Bey of Tunis.
- British India – 1843 – The Indian Slavery Act abolished the legal status of slavery in the territories governed by the East India Company.
- Madagascar – 1896 – Abolition decreed following French colonization.
- China – 1910 – Slavery was formally and permanently abolished under the Qing Dynasty, though various forms of servitude persisted.
- Nepal – 1926 – Slavery formally abolished by Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher.
- Iran (Persia) – 1928 – Formal prohibition of slavery.
- Ethiopia – 1942 – Abolition following the restoration of Haile Selassie after Italian occupation.
- Saudi Arabia – November 6, 1962 – Slavery officially abolished by Royal Decree.
- Yemen – 1962 – Slavery abolished in the Saudi-influenced North Yemen.
- Oman – 1970 – Slavery abolished under the new Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
- Mauritania – 1981 – Slavery was legally abolished and criminalized, making it the last country in the world to formally do so (though the practice reportedly persists unofficially).
The dates listed above refer to the legal abolition of chattel slavery (the buying, selling, and owning of humans as property). However, modern forms of unfree labor—including human trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage—are now collectively referred to as modern slavery, which remains illegal in every country but continues to be a global issue.
