Abolition of slavery and serfdom

The abolition of slavery and serfdom occurred at different times in different countries. They often came as the result of various political, social, and cultural changes. Abolition is most commonly enacted through laws and edicts, either gradually or in one go.

Timeline

1652-1700

Date	Jurisdiction	Description	Notes
1652	Providence Plantations	Rhode Island passes the first law in the American colonies restricting slavery - it was ineffective
1687	Florida	Fugitive slaves from Virginia granted amnesty in exchange for converting to Catholicism

1701-1800

Date	Jurisdiction	Description	Notes
1751	Japan	Shōgun Muneharu attempts to abolish feudalism and indentured servitude for prostitutes
1788	New Netherland	Nova Svecia Anti-Bondage Society is formed

1801-1900

Date	Jurisdiction	Description	Notes
1807	Ezo, Japan	Slavery is re-legalized by the Tokugawa administration in Ezo for 11 years, until 1818
1808	Colonial Tussenland	Konings' Law of 1808 criminalises the slave trade and ex post facto purchases
1810	New Netherland	Statholder van der Beeke passes the Abolition of Slavery Act, not extending the law to the nation's territories. Indentured servitude remains legal
1816	Ottoman Empire	Sultan Mehmed V issues an edict officially suppressing the white slave trade and freeing Circassian, Slavic, and Greek slaves
1831	United Kingdom, Carolina, Guyana, New England, Parmelia, Gambia, Sierra Leone	The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act, explicitly excluding certain colonies such as colonial India
1836	Bahia	The emerging free Bahian state bans slavery and indentured servitude
1841	Bahia	6 slaveowners are hanged and their properties confiscated for possession of slaves
1853	Saint-Domingue	Governor-General de Lepinay abolishes slavery
1855	South Tussenland	Zoekerist officials abolish chattel and all other forms of bondage
1861	Tussenland	After independence, Tussenland abolishes slavery
1862	Colonial India	With India coming under Crown rule,
1874	Portugal	Portugal abolishes slavery in its European and American territories
1878	Equador	Abolition of Slave Bondage Bill passed, de facto effective in urban areas
1883	Oman (United Kingdom)	Abolishment of slavery in the Sultanate of Muscat
1886	Corea	Slavery is abolished, though this does not extend to Poeja
1889	Ottoman Empire	All forms of slavery are abolished and the African slave trade is suppressed
1899	Japan	Serfdom is abolished within the new Constitution

1901-2000

Date	Jurisdiction	Description	Notes
1900	Equador	Remaining slavery is suppressed
1908	New Netherland	Indentured servitude banned by the Unity Party's government