Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What was the first established sovereign state to abolish slavery in the Western world?

Previous answer is not technically correct if one considers the entire British Empire. France first abolished slavery in 1794. It was restored in 1802 and then definitively abolished in 1848. England only formally abolished slavery throughout its Empire in 1833 (although it was defunct in the home country in practice by 1772 due to legal proceedings). However, the prize has to go for Sweden 1335 followed by Portugal as a distant second in 1761.

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