Timeline of Slave Trade Events

Chronology of Slave Trade

See below the chronology of the transatlantic slave trade.

1502: First Africans arrive in the Americas.
1562—63: Sir John Hawkins embarks on his first English slave trade voyage.
1607: Settlement of Jamestown, Virginia.
1619: First Africans sold in Jamestown, Virginia.
1632: Establishment of Maryland.
1625—55: British settle their Caribbean islands.
1640—80: First large-scale African importations into British sugar islands.
1663: Settlement of Carolina, which splits into two in 1713.

1730—40 Beginnings of Maroon wars (Cudjoe), Jamaica.

1735—36 Tackey’s revolt, Antigua.

1739 Stono’s rebellion, South Carolina.

1760 Tackey’s revolt, Jamaica.

1776 Society of Friends (Quakers) in England and Pennsylvania requires members to free their slaves.

1777 Constitution of Vermont prohibits slavery.

1780 Pennsylvania adopts policy of gradual emancipation.

1784 Rhode Island and Connecticut pass gradual emancipation.

1787 Foundation of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

1789 French Revolution.

1791 Haitian Revolution. Results in foundation of Haitian Republic,1804.

1792—1815 Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Disruption throughout Atlantic empires.

1794 French National Convention emancipates all slaves in French colonies. Repealed by Napoleon in 1804.

1795—96 Second Maroon War, Jamaica.

1795—97 Fedon’s rebellion, Grenada.

1799 New York state passes gradual emancipation.

1800 Gabriel Prosser’s revolt, Virginia.

1800 US citizens banned from exporting slaves. (not from importing!)

1802 Denmark abolishes slave trade

1804 Haitian independence.

1804 New Jersey passes gradual emancipation.

1807 British and Americans outlaw slave trade.

1812 Britain abolishes slave trade

1813 Gradual emancipation adopted in Argentina.

After the lave trade was abolished by Britain, existing and born slaves became more expensive in USA. But only in 1865, slavery was abolished in USA!

1814 Gradual emancipation adopted in Colombia.

1815 Congress of Vienna. British begin diplomatic campaign to outlaw slave trade.

1816 Bussa’s rebellion, Barbados.

1819 British establish Royal Navy anti-slave trade squadron off West Africa.

1822 Denmark Vesey’s revolt, South Carolina.

1823 Slave rebellion, Demerara (Guyana).

1823 Slavery abolished in Chile.

1823 Foundation of Anti-Slavery Committee, London.

1825 Amistad seized off Long Island.

1829 Slavery abolished in Mexico.

1831 Slavery abolished in Bolivia.

1831 Nat Turner’s revolt, Virginia.

1831—32 ‘Baptist War’, Jamaican slave revolt.

1834 Slavery replaced by apprenticeship in British colonies.

1838 Full freedom granted in British colonies.

1841 Quintuple Treaty: Britain, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria agree to suppress slave trade on high seas.

1842 Slavery abolished in Uruguay.

1848—49 Slavery abolished in French and Danish colonies.

1851 Slavery abolished in Ecuador.

1851 Slave trade ended to Brazil.

1854 Slavery abolished in Peru and Venezuela.

1861—65 American Civil War.

1862 Slave trade ended to Cuba.

1863 Slavery abolished in all Dutch colonies.

1865 Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery in USA.

1871 Gradual emancipation begun in Brazil.

1873 Slavery abolished in Puerto Rico.

1886 Slavery abolished in Cuba.

1888 Slavery abolished in Brazil.