# Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom

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 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.
Although slavery of non-prisoners 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 (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).
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 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.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| Early sixth century BC | Polis of Athens | The Athenian lawgiver Solon abolishes debt slavery of Athenian citizens and frees all Athenian citizens who had formerly been enslaved. Athenian chattel slavery continued to be practiced, and the loss of debt-bondage as a competing source of compulsory labor may even have spurred slavery to become more important in the Athenian economy henceforth. |
| 3rd century BC | Maurya Empire | Indian emperor Ashoka abolishes the slave trade. |
| 326 BC | Roman Republic | Lex Poetelia Papiria abolishes Nexum contracts, a form of pledging the debt bondage of poor Roman citizens to wealthy creditors as security for loans. Chattel slavery was not abolished, and Roman slavery would continue to flourish for centuries. |
| 9–12 AD | Xin dynasty | Wang Mang, first and only emperor of the Xin dynasty, usurped the Chinese throne and instituted a series of sweeping reforms, including the abolition of slavery and radical land reform from 9–12 A.D. However, this and other reforms turned popular and elite sentiment against Wang Mang, and slavery was reinstituted after he was killed by an angry mob in 23 A.D. |

## Medieval times

    N.B.: Many of the listed reforms were reversed over succeeding centuries.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 590–604 | Rome | Pope Gregory I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves. |
| 7th century | Francia | Queen Balthild, a former slave, and the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône (644–655) condemn the enslavement of Christians. Balthild purchases slaves, mostly Saxon, and manumits (frees) them. |
| 741–752 | Rome | Pope Zachary bans the sale of Christian slaves to Muslims, purchases all slaves acquired in the city by Venetian slave traders, and sets them free. |
| 840 | Carolingian Empire Venice | Pactum Lotharii: Venice pledges to neither buy Christian slaves in the Empire, nor sell them to Muslims. Venetian slave traders switch to trading Slavs from the East (Balkan slave trade). |
| 873 | Christendom | Pope John VIII declares the enslavement of fellow Christians a sin and commands their release. |
| ~900 | Byzantine Empire | Emperor Leo VI the Wise prohibits voluntary self-enslavement and commands that such contracts shall be null and void and punishable by flagellation for both parties to the contract. |
| 956 | Goryeo Dynasty (Korea) | Slaves were freed on a large scale in 956 by the Goryeo dynasty. Gwangjong of Goryeo proclaimed the Slave and Land Act (노비안검법, 奴婢按檢法), an act that "deprived nobles of much of their manpower in the form of slaves and purged the old nobility, the meritorious subjects and their offspring and military lineages in great numbers". |
| 960 | Venice | Slave trade banned in the city under the rule of Doge Pietro IV Candiano. |
| 1080 | Norman England | William the Conqueror prohibits the sale of any person to "heathens" (non-Christians) as slaves. |
| 1100 | Normandy | Serfdom no longer present. |
| 1102 | Norman England | The Council of London bans the slave trade: "Let no one dare hereafter to engage in the infamous business, prevalent in England, of selling men like animals." |
| c. 1160 | Norway | The Gulating bans the sale of house slaves out of the country. |
| 1171 | Ireland | All English slaves in the island freed by the Council of Armagh. |
| 1198 | France | Trinitarian Order founded with the purpose of redeeming war captives. |
| 1214 | Korčula | The Statute of the Town abolishes slavery. |
| 1218 | Aragon | Mercedarians founded in Barcelona with the purpose of ransoming poor Christians enslaved by Muslims. |
| ~1220 | Holy Roman Empire | The Sachsenspiegel, the most influential German code of law from the Middle Ages, condemns slavery as a violation of man's likeness to God. |
| 1245 | Aragon | James I bans Jews from owning Christian slaves, but allows them to own Muslims and pagans. |
| 1256 | Bologna | Liber Paradisus promulgated. Slavery and serfdom abolished, all serfs in the commune are released. |
| 1315 | France | Louis X publishes a decree abolishing slavery and proclaiming that "France signifies freedom", that any slave setting foot on French ground should be freed. However some limited cases of slavery continued until the 17th century in some of France's Mediterranean harbours in Provence, as well as until the 18th century in some of France's overseas territories. Most aspects of serfdom are also eliminated de facto between 1315 and 1318. |
| 1318 | France | King Philip V abolishes serfdom in his domain. |
| 1335 | Sweden | Slavery abolished (including Sweden's territory in Finland). However, slaves are not banned entry into the country until 1813. Between 1784 and 1847, slavery was practiced in the Swedish-ruled Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. Sweden never practiced serfdom, except in a few territories it later acquired which were ruled under a local legal code. |
| 1347 | Poland | The Statutes of Casimir the Great issued in Wiślica emancipate all non-free people. |
| 1368 | Ming Dynasty | Emperor Hongwu abolished most forms of slavery, limiting even the highest ranks of household to less than 20 household slaves. Later in the dynasty saw a resurgence of debt servitude, primarily in the south, as a result of population growth against the dearth of arable lands, often taking euphemisms like "adoption" to circumvent its still outlawed status. |
| 1416 | Ragusa | Slavery and slave trade abolished. |
| 1423 | Poland | King orders to free all Christian slaves. |
| 1435 | Canary Islands | Pope Eugene IV's Sicut Dudum bans enslavement of baptised Christians, "or those freely seeking baptism" in the Canary Islands on pain of excommunication. |
| 1477 | Castile | Isabella I bans slavery in newly conquered territories. |
| 1480 | Galicia | Remnant serfdom abolished by the Catholic Monarchs. |
| 1486 | Aragon | Ferdinand II promulgates the Sentence of Guadalupe, abolishing Carolingian-remnant serfdom (remença) in Old Catalonia. |
| 1490 | Castile | After a long court case, the Catholic Monarchs order that all La Gomera natives enslaved in the aftermath of the 1488 rebellion must be freed and returned to the island at Conquistador Pedro de Vera's expense. De Vera is also relieved from his post as Governor of Gran Canaria in 1491. |
| 1493 | Castile | Queen Isabella bans the enslavement of Native Americans unless they are hostile or cannibalistic. Native Americans are ruled to be subjects of the Crown. Columbus is preempted from selling Indian captives in Seville and those already sold are tracked, purchased from their buyers and released. |

## 1500–1700

| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1503 | Castile | Native Americans allowed to travel to Spain only on their own free will. |
| 1512 | Castile | The Laws of Burgos establish limits to the treatment of natives in the Encomienda system. |
| 1518 | Spain | Decree of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V establishing the importation of African slaves to the Americas, under monopoly of Laurent de Gouvenot, in an attempt to discourage enslavement of Native Americans. |
| 1528 | Spain | Charles V forbids the transportation of Native Americans to Europe, even on their own will, in an effort to curtail their enslavement. Encomiendas are banned from collecting tribute in gold with the reasoning that Natives were selling their children to get it. |
| 1530 | Spain | Outright slavery of Native Americans under any circumstance is banned under the New laws. |
| 1536 | Spain | The Welser family is dispossessed of the Asiento monopoly (granted in 1528) following complaints about their treatment of Native American workers in Venezuela. |
| 1537 | New World | Pope Paul III forbids slavery of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and any other population to be discovered, establishing their right to freedom and property (Sublimis Deus). |
| 1542 | Spain | The New Laws ban slave raiding in the Americas and abolish the slavery of natives, but replace it with other systems of forced labor like the repartimiento. Slavery of Black Africans continues. New limits are imposed to the Encomienda. |
| 1549 | Spain | Encomiendas banned from using forced labor. |
| 1550-1551 | Spain | Valladolid Debate on the innate rights of indigenous peoples of the Americas. |
| 1552 | Spain | Bartolomé de las Casas, "the first to expose the oppression of indigenous peoples by Europeans in the Americas and to call for the abolition of slavery there." |
| 1562 | Mughal Empire | Akbar I restricted enslavement by his soldiery. |
| 1570 | Portugal | King Sebastian of Portugal bans the enslavement of Native Americans under Portuguese rule, allowing only the enslavement of hostile ones. This law was highly influenced by the Society of Jesus, which had missionaries in direct contact with Brazilian tribes. |
| 1574 | England | Last remaining serfs emancipated by Elizabeth I. |
| 1574 | Philippines | Slavery abolished by royal decree. |
| 1588 | Lithuania | The Third Statute of Lithuania abolishes slavery. |
| 1590 | Japan | Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans slavery except as punishment for criminals. |
| 1595 | Portugal | Trade of Chinese slaves banned. |
| 1602 | England | The Clifton Star Chamber Case set a precedent, that impressing / enslaving children to serve as actors was illegal. |
| 1609 | Spain | The Moriscos, many of whom are serfs, are expelled from Peninsular Spain unless they become slaves voluntarily (known as moros cortados, "cut Moors") However, a large proportion avoid expulsion or manage to return. |
| 1624 | Portugal | Enslavement of Chinese banned. |
| 1648 | Cossack Hetmanate | The system of serfdom was partially weakened, a part of serfs were freed. Manors of the Polish szlachta and the Catholic Church were given under the government control. |
| 1649 | Russia | The sale of Russian slaves to Muslims is banned. |
| 1652 | Providence Plantations | Roger Williams and Samuel Gorton work to pass legislation abolishing slavery in Providence Plantations, the first attempt of its kind in North America. It does not go into effect. |
| 1660 | England | Tenures Abolition Act 1660 |
| 1677 | Maratha Empire | Shivaji I banned, freed and stopped import and export of all slaves under his Empire. |
| 1679 | Russia | Feodor III converts all Russian field slaves into serfs. |
| 1683 | Spanish Chile | Slavery of Mapuche prisoners of war abolished. |
| 1687 | Spanish Florida | Fugitive slaves from the Thirteen Colonies granted freedom in return for conversion to Catholicism and four years of military service. |
| 1688 | Pennsylvania | The Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery is the first religious petition against African slavery in what would become the United States. |

## 1701–1799

| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1706 | England | In Smith v. Browne & Cooper, Sir John Holt, Lord Chief Justice of England, rules that "as soon as a Negro comes into England, he becomes free. One may be a villein in England, but not a slave." |
| 1711–1712 | Imereti | Slave trade banned by Mamia I of Imereti. |
| 1712 | Spain | Moros cortados expelled. |
| 1715 | North Carolina South Carolina | Native American slave trade in the American Southeast reduces with the outbreak of the Yamasee War. |
| 1723 | Russia | Peter the Great converts all house slaves into house serfs, effectively making slavery illegal in Russia. |
| 1723–1730 | Qing Dynasty | The Yongzheng emancipation seeks to free all slaves to strengthen the autocratic ruler through a kind of social leveling that creates an undifferentiated class of free subjects under the throne. Although these new regulations freed the vast majority of slaves, wealthy families continued to use slave labor into the twentieth century. |
| 1732 | Georgia | Province established without African slavery in sharp contrast to neighboring colony of Carolina. In 1738, James Oglethorpe warns against changing that policy, which would "occasion the misery of thousands in Africa." Native American slavery is legal throughout Georgia, however, and African slavery is later introduced in 1749. |
| 1738 | Spanish Florida | Fort Mosé, the first legal settlement of free blacks in what is today the United States, is established. Word of the settlement sparks the Stono Rebellion in Carolina the following year. |
| 1746 | Great Britain | Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 |
| 1746 | Great Britain | Tenures Abolition Act 1746 |
| 1761 | Portugal | The Marquis of Pombal bans the importation of slaves to metropolitan Portugal. encouraging instead the trade of African slaves to Brazil. |
| 1766 | Spain | Muhammad III of Morocco purchases the freedom of all Muslim slaves in Seville, Cádiz, and Barcelona. |
| 1770 | Circassia | The Circassians of the Abdzakh region started a great revolution in Circassian territory in 1770. Classes such as slaves, nobles and princes were completely abolished. The Abdzakh Revolution coincides with the French Revolution. While many French nobles took refuge in Russia, some of the Circassian nobles took the same path and took refuge in Russia. |
| 1771 | Kingdom of Sardinia | Serfdom abolished in the lands ruled by the House of Savoy. |
| 1772 | England | Somersett's case rules that no slave can be forcibly removed from England. This case was generally taken at the time to have decided that the condition of slavery did not exist under English law in England and Wales. |
| 1773 | Portugal | A new decree by the Marquis of Pombal, signed by the king Dom José, emancipates fourth-generation slaves and every child born to an enslaved mother after the decree was published. |
| 1774 | East India Company | Government of Bengal passed regulations 9 and 10 of 1774, prohibiting the trade in slaves without written deed, and the sale of anyone not already enslaved. |
| 1775 | Great Britain | Colliers and Salters (Scotland) Act 1775 |
| 1775 | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Abolition Society formed in Philadelphia, the first abolition society within the territory that is now the United States of America. |
| 1775 | United States | Atlantic slave trade banned or suspended in the United Colonies during the Revolutionary War. This was a continuation of the Thirteen Colonies' non-importation agreements against Britain, as an attempt to cut all economic ties with Britain during the war. |
| 1777 | Madeira | Slavery abolished. |
| 1777 | Vermont | The Constitution of the Vermont Republic partially bans slavery, freeing men over 21 and women older than 18 at the time of its passage. The ban is not strongly enforced. |
| 1778 | Scotland | Joseph Knight successfully argues that Scots law cannot support the status of slavery. |
| 1779 | British America | The Philipsburg Proclamation frees all slaves who desert the American rebels, regardless of their willingness to fight for the Crown. |
| 1780 | Pennsylvania | An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed, freeing future children of slaves. Those born prior to the Act remain enslaved for life. The Act becomes a model for other Northern states. Last slaves freed 1847. |
| 1781 | Archduchy of Austria | Joseph II abolishes personal bondage of serfs and allows their freedom of movement with the Serfdom Patent of 1781. |
| 1783 | Russian Empire | Slavery abolished in the recently annexed Crimean Khanate. |
| 1783 | Massachusetts | Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules slavery unconstitutional, a decision based on the 1780 Massachusetts constitution. All slaves are immediately freed. |
| 1783 | Austrian Empire | Joseph II abolishes slavery in Bukovina. |
| 1783 | New Hampshire | Gradual abolition of slavery begins. |
| 1783 | British America | After being settled into by Quakers, Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick becomes the first settlement in British North America to ban slavery, forbidding slave masters from entering. |
| 1784 | Connecticut | Gradual abolition of slavery, freeing future children of slaves, and later all slaves. |
| 1784 | Rhode Island | Gradual abolition of slavery begins. |
| 1785 | Kingdom of Hungary | In response to the Revolt of Horea, Joseph II abolishes personal bondage and allows freedom of movement for peasants in Hungary with the urbarium of 22 August 1785. |
| 1786 | New South Wales | A policy of completely banning slavery is adopted by governor-designate Arthur Phillip for the soon-to-be established colony. |
| 1787 | United States | The United States in Congress Assembled passes the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, outlawing any new slavery in the Northwest Territories. |
| 1787 | Sierra Leone | Founded by Great Britain as a colony for emancipated slaves. |
| 1787 | Great Britain | Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded in Great Britain. |
| 1788 | Great Britain | Sir William Dolben's Act regulating the conditions on British slave ships enacted. |
| 1788 | France | Abolitionist Society of the Friends of the Blacks founded in Paris. |
| 1788 | Denmark | Limits imposed to serfdom under the Stavnsbånd system. |
| 1789 | France | Last remaining seigneurial privileges over peasants abolished. |
| 1791 | Poland-Lithuania | The Constitution of May 3, 1791 introduced elements of political equality between townspeople and nobility, and placed the peasants under the protection of the government; thus, it mitigated the worst abuses of serfdom. |
| 1791 | France | Emancipation of second-generation slaves in the colonies. |
| 1792 | Denmark-Norway | Transatlantic slave trade declared illegal after 1803, though slavery continues in Danish colonies to 1848. |
| 1792 | Saint Helena | The importation of slaves to the island of Saint Helena was banned in 1792, but the phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves did not take place until 1827, which was still some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in the colonies. |
| 1793 | Saint-Domingue | Commissioner Leger-Felicite Sonthonax abolishes slavery in the northern part of the colony. His colleague Etienne Polverel does the same in the rest of the territory in October. |
| 1793 | Upper Canada | Importation of slaves banned by the Act Against Slavery. |
| 1794 | France | Slavery abolished in all French territories and possessions. |
| 1794 | United States | The Slave Trade Act bans both American ships from participating in the slave trade and the export of slaves in foreign ships. |
| 1794 | Poland-Lithuania | The Proclamation of Połaniec, issued during the Kościuszko Uprising, ultimately abolished serfdom in Poland, and granted substantial civil liberties to all peasants. |
| 1798 | French Malta | Slavery banned in the islands after their capture by French forces under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. |
| 1799 | New York | Gradual emancipation act freeing the future children of slaves, and all slaves in 1827. |
| 1799 | Scotland | The Colliers (Scotland) Act 1799 ends the legal servitude or slavery of coal and salt miners that had been established in 1606. |

## 1800–1829

* Illustration from the book: The Black Man's Lament, Or, How to Make Sugar by Amelia Opie (London, 1826)
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1800 | Joseon | State slavery banned in 1800. Private slavery continued until being banned in 1894. |
| 1800 | Malta | Despite being in rebellion against the French, the National Congress confirms the validity of Napoleon's 1798 abolition of slavery, and Alexander Ball issues a proclamation to this effect. |
| 1800 | United States | American citizens banned from investment and employment in the international slave trade in an additional Slave Trade Act. |
| 1802 | France | Napoleon re-introduces slavery in sugarcane-growing colonies. |
| 1802 | Ohio | State constitution abolishes slavery. |
| 1803 | Denmark-Norway | Abolition of Danish participation in the transatlantic slave trade takes effect on 1 January. |
| 1804 | New Jersey | Slavery abolished. |
| 1804 | Haiti | Haiti declares independence and abolishes slavery. |
| 1805 | United Kingdom | A bill for abolition passes in House of Commons but is rejected in the House of Lords. |
| 1806 | United States | In a message to Congress, Thomas Jefferson calls for criminalizing the international slave trade, asking Congress to "withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights ... which the morality, the reputation, and the best of our country have long been eager to proscribe." |
| 1807 | United States | International slave trade made a felony in Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves; this act takes effect on 1 January 1808, the earliest date permitted under the Constitution. |
| 1807 | United Kingdom | Abolition of the Slave Trade Act abolishes slave trading throughout the British Empire. Captains fined £100 per slave transported. Patrols sent to the African coast to arrest slaving vessels. The West Africa Squadron (Royal Navy) is established to suppress slave trading; by 1865, nearly 150,000 people freed by anti-slavery operations. |
| 1807 | Warsaw | Constitution abolishes serfdom. |
| 1807 | Prussia | The Stein-Hardenberg Reforms abolish serfdom. |
| 1807 | Michigan Territory | Judge Augustus Woodward denies the return of two slaves owned by a man in Windsor, Upper Canada. Woodward declares that any man "coming into this Territory is by law of the land a freeman." |
| 1808 | United States | Importation and exportation of slaves made a crime. |
| 1810 | New Spain | Independence leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed the abolition of slavery three months after the start of the Independence of Mexico from Spain. |
| 1811 | United Kingdom | Slave trading made a felony punishable by transportation for both British subjects and foreigners. |
| 1811 | Spain | The Cortes of Cádiz abolish the last remaining seigneurial rights. |
| 1811 | British East India Company | The Company issued regulations 10 of 1811, prohibiting the transport of slaves into Company territory, adding to the 1774 restrictions. |
| 1811 | Chile | The First National Congress approves a proposal of Manuel de Salas that declares Freedom of Wombs, freeing the children of slaves born in Chilean territory, regardless of their parents' condition. The slave trade is banned and the slaves who stay for more than six months in Chilean territory are automatically declared freedmen. |
| 1812 | Malta Protectorate | British protectorate authorities issue a proclamation declaring that "negroes cannot be considered as objects of trade" in response to reports of African slaves being imported into Malta from North Africa, despite slavery having previously been abolished on Malta in 1798. |
| 1812 | Spain | The Cortes of Cádiz pass the Spanish Constitution of 1812, giving citizenship and equal rights to all residents in Spain and her territories, excluding slaves. During deliberations, Deputies José Miguel Guridi y Alcocer and Agustín Argüelles unsuccessfully argue for the abolition of slavery. |
| 1813 | New Spain | Independence leader José María Morelos y Pavón declares slavery abolished in Mexico in the documents Sentimientos de la Nación. |
| 1813 | United Provinces | Law of Wombs passed by the Assembly of Year XIII. Slaves born after 31 January 1813 will be granted freedom when they are married, or on their 16th birthday for women and 20th for men, and upon their manumission will be given land and tools to work it. |
| 1814 | United Provinces | After the occupation of Montevideo, all slaves born in modern Uruguayan territory are declared free. |
| 1814 | Netherlands | Slave trade abolished. |
| 1815 | France | Napoleon abolishes the slave trade. |
| 1815 | Portugal | Slave trade banned north of the Equator in return for a £750,000 payment by Britain. |
| 1815 | Florida | British withdrawing after the War of 1812 leave a fully armed fort in the hands of maroons, escaped slaves and their descendants, and their Seminole allies. Becomes known as Negro Fort. |
| 1815 | United Kingdom Portugal Sweden-Norway France Austria Russia Spain Prussia | The Congress of Vienna declares its opposition to the slave trade. |
| 1816 | Estonia | Serfdom abolished. |
| 1816 | Florida | Negro Fort destroyed in the Battle of Negro Fort by U.S. forces under the command of General Andrew Jackson. |
| 1816 | Algeria | Algiers bombarded by the British and Dutch navies in an attempt to end North African piracy and slave raiding in the Mediterranean. 3,000 slaves freed. |
| 1817 | Courland | Serfdom abolished. |
| 1817 | United Kingdom Spain | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1817 | Spain | Ferdinand VII signs a cedula banning the importation of slaves in Spanish possessions beginning in 1820, in return for a £400,000 payment from Britain. However, some slaves are still smuggled in after this date. Both slave ownership and internal commerce in slaves remained legal. |
| 1817 | Venezuela | Simon Bolivar calls for the abolition of slavery. |
| 1817 | New York | 4 July 1827 set as date to free all ex-slaves from indenture. |
| 1817 | United Provinces | Constitution supports the abolition of slavery, but does not ban it. |
| 1818 | United Kingdom Portugal | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1818 | France | Slave trade banned. |
| 1818 | United Kingdom Netherlands | Bilateral treaty taking additional measures to enforce the 1814 ban on slave trading. |
| 1819 | Livonia | Serfdom abolished. |
| 1819 | Upper Canada | Attorney-General John Robinson declares all black residents free. |
| 1819 | Hawaii | The ancient Hawaiian kapu system is abolished during the ʻAi Noa, and with it the distinction between the kauwā slave class and the makaʻāinana (commoners). |
| 1820 | United States | The Compromise of 1820 bans slavery north of the 36º 30' line; the Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States and Punish the Crime of Piracy is amended to consider the maritime slave trade as piracy, making it punishable with death. |
| 1820 | Indiana | The supreme court orders almost all slaves in the state to be freed in Polly v. Lasselle. |
| 1820 | Spain | The 1817 abolition of the slave trade takes effect. |
| 1821 | Mexico | The Plan of Iguala frees the slaves born in Mexico. |
| 1821 | United States Spain | In accordance with Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Florida becomes a territory of the United States. A main reason was Spain's inability or unwillingness to capture and return escaped slaves. |
| 1821 | Peru | Abolition of slave trade and implementation of a plan to gradually end slavery. |
| 1821 | Gran Colombia | Emancipation for sons and daughters born to slave mothers, program for compensated emancipation set. |
| 1822 | Haiti | Jean Pierre Boyer annexes Spanish Haiti and abolishes slavery there. |
| 1822 | Liberia | Founded by the American Colonization Society as a colony for emancipated slaves. |
| 1822 | Muscat and Oman United Kingdom | First bilateral treaty limiting the slave trade in Zanzibar (Moresby Treaty). |
| 1823 | Chile | Slavery abolished. |
| 1823 | United Kingdom | The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions (Anti-Slavery Society) is founded. |
| 1823 | Greece | Prohibition of slavery is enshrined in the Greek Constitution of 1823, during the Greek War of Independence. |
| 1824 | United Kingdom | Slave Trade Act 1824 |
| 1824 | Mexico | The new constitution effectively abolishes slavery. |
| 1824 | Central America | Slavery abolished. |
| 1825 | Uruguay | Importation of slaves banned. |
| 1825 | Haiti | France, with warships at the ready, demanded Haiti compensate France for its loss of slaves and its slave colony |
| 1827 | United Kingdom Sweden-Norway | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1827 | New York | Last vestiges of slavery abolished. Children born between 1799 and 1827 are indentured until age 25 (females) or age 28 (males). |
| 1827 | Saint Helena | Phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves, some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in all colonies. |
| 1829 | Mexico | Last slaves freed just as the first president of partial African ancestry (Vicente Guerrero) is elected. |

## 1830–1849

* An anti-slavery map with an unusual perspective centered on West Africa, which is in the light, and contrasting the Americas and Europe in the dark. By Julius Rubens Ames, 1847.
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1830 | Coahuila y Tejas | Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante attempts to implement the abolition of slavery. To circumvent the law, Anglo-Texans declare their slaves "indentured servants for life". |
| 1830 | Ottoman Empire | The Firman of 1830 theoretically emancipates all white slaves in the Ottoman Empire. |
| 1830 | Uruguay | Slavery abolished. |
| 1831 | Bolivia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1831 | Brazil | Law of 7 November 1831, abolishing the maritime slave trade, banning any importation of slaves, and granting freedom to slaves illegally imported into Brazil. The law was seldom enforced prior to 1850, when Brazil, under British pressure, adopted additional legislation to criminalize the importation of slaves. |
| 1832 | Greece | Slavery abolished with independence. |
| 1832 | Coahuila y Tejas | Anahuac Disturbances: Juan Davis Bradburn, American-born Mexican officer at Anahuac,Texas, confronts slave-owning American settlers, enforcing Mexican abolition of slavery and refusing to hand over two escaped slaves. |
| 1834 | United Kingdom | The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire but on a gradual basis over the next six years. Legally frees 700,000 in the West Indies, 20,000 in Mauritius, and 40,000 in South Africa. The exceptions are the territories controlled by the East India Company and Ceylon. |
| 1834 | France | French Society for the Abolition of Slavery founded in Paris. |
| 1835 | Serbia | Freedom granted to all slaves in the moment they step on Serb soil. |
| 1835 | United Kingdom France | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1835 | United Kingdom Denmark | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1835 | Peru | A decree of Felipe Santiago Salaverry re-legalizes the importation of slaves from other Latin American countries. The line "no slave shall enter Peru without becoming free" is taken out of the Constitution in 1839. |
| 1836 | Portugal | Prime Minister Sá da Bandeira bans the transatlantic slave trade and the importation and exportation of slaves to or from the Portuguese colonies south of the equator. |
| 1837 | Spain | Slavery abolished outside of the colonies. |
| 1838 | United Kingdom | Most slaves in the colonies become free after a period of forced apprenticeship following the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions (now London Anti-Slavery Society) winds up. |
| 1839 | United Kingdom | The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (after several changes, now known as Anti-Slavery International) is founded. |
| 1839 | East India Company | The Indian indenture system is abolished in territories controlled by the company, but this is reversed in 1842. |
| 1839 | Catholic Church | Pope Gregory XVI's In supremo apostolatus resoundingly condemns slavery and the slave trade. |
| 1840 | United Kingdom Venezuela | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1840 | United Kingdom | First World Anti-Slavery Convention meets in London. |
| 1840 | New Zealand | Taking slaves banned by Treaty of Waitangi. |
| 1841 | United Kingdom France Russia Prussia Austria | Quintuple Treaty agreeing to suppress the slave trade. |
| 1841 | United States | United States v. The Amistad finds that the slaves of La Amistad were illegally enslaved and were legally allowed, as free men, to fight their captors by any means necessary. |
| 1842 | United Kingdom Portugal | Bilateral treaty extending the enforcement of the slave trade ban to Portuguese ships south of the Equator. |
| 1842 | Paraguay | Law for the gradual abolition of slavery passed. |
| 1843 | United Kingdom | Slave Trade Act 1843 |
| 1843 | East India Company | The Indian Slavery Act, 1843, Act V abolishes slavery in territories controlled by the company. |
| 1843 | United Kingdom Uruguay | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1843 | United Kingdom Mexico | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1843 | United Kingdom Chile | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1843 | United Kingdom Bolivia | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1844 | Moldavia | Mihail Sturdza abolishes slavery in Moldavia. |
| 1844 | Kingdom of Hungary | The serfs were given the Right to Property. But until the April Laws, they were subject to different taxes and legal procedures (jus gladii) than burghers. |
| 1844 | Paraguay | Slave trade abolished. |
| 1844 | Dominican Republic | Dominican Republic declares independence from Haiti; abolition of slavery reinforced. |
| 1845 | United Kingdom | 36 Royal Navy ships assigned to the Anti-Slavery Squadron, making it one of the largest fleets in the world. |
| 1845 | Illinois | In Jarrot v. Jarrot, the Illinois Supreme Court frees the last indentured ex-slaves in the state who were born after the Northwest Ordinance. |
| 1846 | Tunisia | Slavery abolished in Tunisia under Ahmed Bey rule. |
| 1847 | Ottoman Empire | Suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf: slave trade from Africa (via the Persian Gulf route) abolished. |
| 1847 | Saint Barthélemy | Last slaves freed. |
| 1847 | Pennsylvania | The last indentured ex-slaves, born before 1780 (fewer than 100 in the 1840 census) are freed. |
| 1847 | Danish West Indies | Royal edict ruling the freedom of children born from female slaves and the total abolition of slavery after 12 years. Dissatisfaction causes a slave rebellion in Saint Croix the next year. |
| 1848 | Hungary | The April laws completely abolished serfdom in Hungary (excluding Transylvania) and Croatia. |
| 1848 | Austria | Serfdom abolished. |
| 1848 | France | Slavery abolished in the colonies. Gabon is founded as a settlement for emancipated slaves. |
| 1848 | Danish West Indies | Governor Peter von Scholten declares the immediate and total emancipation of all slaves in an attempt to end the slave revolt. For this he is recalled and tried for treason, but the charges are later dropped. |
| 1848 | Denmark | Last remains of the Stavnsbånd effectively abolished. |
| 1848 | United Kingdom Muscat and Oman | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1849 | United Kingdom Trucial States | Bilateral treaties abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1849 | Sierra Leone | The Royal Navy destroys the slave factory of Lomboko. |

## 1850–1899

* Medical examination photo of Gordon showing his scourged back, widely distributed by Abolitionists to expose the brutality of slavery
| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1850 | United States | The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 requires the return of escaped slaves to their owners regardless of the state they are in. |
| 1850 | Brazil | Eusébio de Queirós Law (Law 581 of 4 September 1850) criminalizing the maritime slave trade as piracy, and imposing other criminal sanctions on the importation of slaves (already banned in 1831). |
| 1851 | Brazil  Uruguay | Bilateral treaty of 12 October, Uruguay accepts returning to Brazil the escaped slaves from that country. Brazilians who owned land in Uruguay were allowed to have slaves in their properties. |
| 1851 | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | Slavery nominally abolished along with opium, gambling, polygamy and foot binding. |
| 1851 | New Granada | Slavery abolished. After years of laws that only purported a partial advancement towards abolition, President José Hilario López pushed Congress to pass total abolition on 21 May. Former owners were compensated with government issued bonds. |
| 1851 | Ecuador | Slavery abolished in the country by José María Urvina. |
| 1851 | Lagos | Reduction of Lagos: The British capture the city of Lagos and replace King Kosoko with Akitoye because of the former's refusal to ban the slave trade. |
| 1852 | Hawaii | 1852 Constitution officially declared slavery illegal. |
| 1852 | United Kingdom Lagos | Bilateral treaty banning the slave trade and human sacrifice. |
| 1853 | Argentina | Slavery abolished with the sanction of a new federal Constitution. |
| 1854 | Peru | Slavery abolished by Ramón Castilla. |
| 1854 | Ottoman Empire | The Firman of 1854 prohibit the Circassian slave trade. |
| 1854 | Venezuela | Slavery abolished. |
| 1855 | Moldavia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1856 | Wallachia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1857 | United States | Dred Scott v. Sandford rules that black slaves and their descendants cannot gain American citizenship and are not entitled to freedom even if they live in a free state for years. |
| 1857 | Egypt | Firman of 1857 banning the trade of Black African (Zanj) slaves. |
| 1857 | Ottoman Empire | The Firman of 1857 prohibit the African slave trade. |
| 1858 | United Kingdom | British government takes direct control of all land owned by the East India Company, making previously East India Company directly managed territory subject to the slavery laws applicable in the rest of the British Empire. |
| 1859 | Atlantic Ocean | Definitive suppression of the transatlantic slave trade. |
| 1859 | United States | The Wyandotte Constitution establishes the future state of Kansas as a free state, after four years of armed conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in the territory. Southern dominance in the U.S. Senate delays the admission of Kansas as a state until 1861. |
| 1859 | Russia | Kazakhs banned from having slaves, although slavery persists in some areas through the rest of the century. |
| 1860 | United States | Last slave ship to unload illegally on U.S. territory, the Clotilda. |
| 1861 | Russia | The Emancipation reform of 1861 abolishes serfdom. |
| 1861 | United States | The election of Abraham Lincoln leads to the attempted secession of eleven slaveholding states and the American Civil War. |
| 1861 | United Kingdom British India | Indian Penal Code explicitly prohibits slavery in British administered territory. |
| 1862 | United States | Congress passes the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, freeing all slaves in the District of Columbia. |
| 1862 | United States United Kingdom | Bilateral treaty abolishing the slave trade (African Slave Trade Treaty Act). |
| 1862 | Spanish Cuba | Slave trade abolished. |
| 1862 | United States | Nathaniel Gordon becomes the only person hanged in U.S. history "for being engaged in the slave trade". |
| 1863 | Netherlands | Slavery abolished in the colonies, emancipating 33,000 slaves in Surinam, 12,000 in Curaçao and Dependencies, and an indeterminate number in the East Indies. |
| 1863 | United States | Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in Confederate-controlled areas. Most slaves in "border states" are freed by state action, and a separate law frees the slaves in Washington, D.C. |
| 1863 | Iceland | Exemptions introduced to serfdom under the Vistarband system. |
| 1863 | Chatham Islands | Slavery abolished. |
| 1864 | Congress Poland | Serfdom abolished. |
| 1865 | United States | Slavery abolished, except as punishment for crime, by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It frees all remaining slaves, about 40,000, in the border slave states that did not secede. Thirty out of thirty-six states vote to ratify it; New Jersey, Delaware, Kentucky, and Mississippi vote against. Mississippi does not officially ratify it until 2013. |
| 1865 | Texas | Juneteenth: U.S. General Gordon Granger proclaims the end of slavery in Galveston. |
| 1865 | Spain | Spanish Abolitionist Society founded in Madrid by Julio Vizcarrondo, José Julián Acosta and Joaquín Sanromá. |
| 1866 | Oklahoma | Slavery abolished. U.S. government treaties with the Five Tribes that governed the Indian Territory, which previously allied with the Confederacy, required them to abolish slavery for renewed U.S. recognition of their continued independence. |
| 1866 | Iowa | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1866 | New Jersey | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1867 | Spain | Law of Repression and Punishment of the Slave Trade. |
| 1867 | United States | Peonage Act of 1867, mostly targeting use of Native American peons in New Mexico Territory. Slavery among native tribes in Alaska was abolished after the purchase from Russia in 1867. |
| 1868 | Spanish Cuba | Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and other independence leaders free their slaves and proclaim the independence of Cuba, starting the Ten Years War. |
| 1869 | Portugal | Louis I abolishes slavery in all Portuguese territories and colonies. |
| 1869 | Paraguay | Slavery abolished. |
| 1870 | Spain | Amidst great opposition from the Cuban and Puerto Rican planters, Segismundo Moret drafts a "Law of Free Wombs" that frees children of slaves, slaves older than 65 years, and slaves serving in the Spanish Army, beginning in 1872. |
| 1870 | Texas | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1871 | Brazil | Rio Branco Law (Law of Free Birth) declares the children born to slave mothers free. |
| 1871 | Japan | Abolition of the han system or Japanese feudalism. |
| 1873 | United Kingdom | Slave Trade Act 1873 |
| 1873 | Puerto Rico | Slavery abolished. |
| 1873 | United Kingdom Zanzibar Madagascar | Triple treaty abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1874 | Gold Coast | Slavery abolished. |
| 1877 | Egypt | The Anglo-Egyptian Slave Trade Convention abolishes the slave trade gradually in 1877–1884. This also gradually abolishes slavery itself over the next decades. |
| 1879 | Bulgaria | Slavery abolished with independence. The Constitution states that any slave that enters Bulgarian territory is immediately freed. |
| 1880 | Ottoman Empire | The Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1880 prohibit the Red Sea slave trade and give the British the right to stop all slave ships in Ottoman waters. |
| 1882 | Ottoman Empire | A firman emancipates all slaves, white and black. |
| 1884 | Cambodia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1885 | Brazil | Saraiva-Cotegipe Law passed, freeing all slaves over the age of 60 and creating other measures for the gradual abolition of slavery, such as a Manumissions Fund administered by the State. |
| 1886 | Spanish Cuba | Slavery abolished. |
| 1888 | Brazil | Slavery abolished. |
| 1889 | Italy | An Italian court finds that Josephine Bakhita was never legally enslaved according to Italian, British, or Egyptian law and is a free woman. |
| 1889 | Ottoman Empire | The Kanunname of 1889 prohibit the African slavery and slave trade in the Ottoman Empire. |
| 1890 | United Kingdom France Germany Portugal Congo Italy Spain Netherlands Belgium Russia Austria-Hungary Sweden-Norway Denmark United States Ottoman Empire Zanzibar Persia | Brussels Conference Act – a collection of anti-slavery measures to put an end to the slave trade on land and sea, especially in the Congo Basin, the Ottoman Empire, and the East African coast. |
| 1894 | Korea | Slavery abolished, but it survives in practice until 1930. |
| 1894 | Iceland | Vistarband effectively abolished (but not de jure). |
| 1895 | Taiwan | Taiwan is annexed by Japan, where slavery has been abolished. |
| 1895 | Egypt | Slavery abolished. |
| 1895 | Italian Somaliland | First slaves freed |
| 1896 | Madagascar | Slavery abolished. |
| 1897 | Zanzibar | Slavery abolished except in the case of concubines (abolished in 1909). |
| 1897 | Siam | Slave trade abolished. |
| 1897 | Bassora | Children of freedmen issued separate certificates of liberation to avoid enslavement and separation from their parents. |
| 1899 | Ndzuwani | Slavery abolished. |

## 1900–1949

| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1900 | Guam | Slavery abolished 22 February 1900, by proclamation of Richard P. Leary. |
| 1901 | Delaware | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1902 | Cameroon | Gradual abolition of slavery. |
| 1903 | French Sudan | "Slave" no longer used as an administrative category. |
| 1904 | United Kingdom Germany Denmark Spain France Italy Netherlands Portugal Russia | International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic signed in Paris. Only France, the Netherlands and Russia extend the treaty to the whole extent of their colonial empires with immediate effect, and Italy extends it to Eritrea but not to Italian Somaliland. |
| 1904 | British East Africa | Slavery abolished. |
| 1905 | French West Africa | Slavery formally abolished. Though up to one million slaves gain their freedom, slavery continues to exist in practice for decades afterward. |
| 1906 | China | Slavery abolished beginning on 31 January 1910. Adult slaves are converted into hired laborers and the minors freed upon reaching age 25. |
| 1906 | Barotseland | Slavery abolished. |
| 1908 | Ottoman Empire | The Young Turk Revolution eradicates the open trade of Zanj and Circassian women from Constantinople. |
| 1908 | Congo Free State | Belgium annexes the Congo Free State, ending the practice of slavery there. |
| 1912 | Siam | Slavery abolished. |
| 1915 | British Malaya | Slavery abolished. |
| 1917 | British Raj | Indian indenture system abolished. |
| 1918 | United States | Supreme Court rules in Arver v. United States that the 13th Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude does not apply to conscription. The government can constitutionally force people to serve in the military against their will. |
| 1919 | Tanganyika | Slavery abolished. |
| 1922 | Morocco | Slave trade abolished, slave holding remained legal. |
| 1923 | Afghanistan | Slavery abolished. |
| 1923 | Florida | Convict lease abolished after the death of Martin Tabert, who was whipped for being too ill to work. |
| 1923 | Hong Kong | Slavery of Mui tsai abolished. |
| 1924 | Iraq | Slavery abolished. |
| 1924 | Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | Slavery abolished |
| 1924 | League of Nations | Temporary Slavery Commission appointed. |
| 1924 | Turkey | Slavery abolished |
| 1926 | Nepal | Slavery abolished. |
| 1926 | League of Nations | Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery. |
| 1926 | British Burma | Slavery abolished. |
| 1926 | United Kingdom | Law of Property Act 1925. |
| 1927 | Spain | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1927 | United Kingdom Nejd Hejaz | Treaty of Jeddah (1927) abolishing the slave trade. |
| 1928 | Sierra Leone | Abolition of domestic slavery practised by local African elites. Although established as a place for freed slaves, a study found practices of domestic slavery still widespread in rural areas in the 1970s. |
| 1928 | Alabama | Convict lease abolished, the last state in the Union to do so. |
| 1929 | Persia | Slavery abolished and criminalized. |
| 1930 | League of Nations | Forced Labour Convention. |
| 1930 | League of Nations | Forced Labour (Indirect Compulsion) Recommendation |
| 1930 | League of Nations | Forced Labour (Regulation) Recommendation |
| 1932 | League of Nations | Committee of Experts on Slavery appointed. |
| 1934 | League of Nations | Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery appointed. |
| 1935 | Ethiopia | The invading Italian General Emilio De Bono claims to have abolished slavery in the Ethiopian Empire. |
| 1936 | League of Nations | Elimination of Recruiting Recommendation |
| 1936 | Northern Nigeria | Slavery abolished. |
| 1936 | Bechuanaland | Slavery abolished. |
| 1937 | Bahrain | Slavery abolished. |
| 1937 | League of Nations | Public Works (International Co-operation) Recommendation |
| 1941 | United States | Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Circular 3591 abolishing all forms of convict leasing. |
| 1945 | Occupied Germany | Millions of forced labourers and slaves are freed after the fall of the Third Reich; see forced labour under German rule during World War II. |
| 1945 | Japanese Empire | Millions of forced labourers and sex slaves are freed after the defeat of the Japanese Empire; see comfort women, rōmusha, East Asia Development Board. |
| 1946 | Occupied Germany | Fritz Sauckel, Nazi official responsible for procuring forced labor in occupied Europe during World War II, is convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged. |
| 1946 | French Sudan | Beginning of large slave defections encouraged by the French Fourth Republic and the Sudanese Union – African Democratic Rally party. |
| 1948 | United Nations | Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares slavery contrary to human rights. |
| 1949 | Kuwait | Slavery abolished. |

## 1950–1999

| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 1950 | United Nations | Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery. |
| 1952 | Qatar | Slavery abolished. |
| 1953 | Australia Canada Liberia New Zealand South Africa Switzerland United Kingdom | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1954 | Afghanistan Austria Cuba Denmark Egypt Finland India Italy Mexico Monaco Sweden Syria | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1955 | Ecuador Greece Iraq Israel Netherlands Pakistan Philippines Republic of China (Taiwan) Turkey | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1956 | United Nations | Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. |
| 1956 | Byelorussia Soviet Union United States South Vietnam | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1957 | United Nations | The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention eliminates some exceptions admitted in the 1930 Forced Labour Convention. |
| 1957 | Albania Libya Burma Norway Romania Sudan | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1958 | Bhutan | Slavery abolished. |
| 1958 | Hungary Ceylon | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1959 | Jordan Morocco Ukraine | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1960 | Niger | Slavery abolished. |
| 1960 | Mali | First president Modibo Keita makes the effective abolition of slavery a prominent goal of the government. However, his efforts are largely abandoned during the dictatorship of Moussa Traoré (1968–1991). |
| 1961 | Nigeria | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1961 | Morocco | Slavery abolished under Moroccan Constitution, although domestic slave practices continued. |
| 1962 | Saudi Arabia | Slavery abolished. |
| 1962 | North Yemen | Slavery abolished. |
| 1962 | Belgium Sierra Leone Tanganyika | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1963 | Algeria France Guinea Kuwait Nepal | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1964 | Trucial States | Slavery abolished. |
| 1964 | Jamaica Madagascar Niger Uganda | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1965 | Malawi | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1966 | Brazil Malta Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1966 | United Nations | International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. |
| 1966 | United Nations | First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. |
| 1967 | South Yemen | Slavery abolished. |
| 1968 | Mongolia | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1969 | Ethiopia Mauritius | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1970 | Oman | Slavery abolished. |
| 1972 | Fiji | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1973 | West Germany Mali Saudi Arabia Zambia | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1974 | Lesotho | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1976 | Bahamas Barbados | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1976 | Kentucky | Thirteenth Amendment ratified. |
| 1981 | Mauritania | Slavery abolished, though the ban was not enforced and many people continued to be held as slaves. |
| 1981 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Solomon Islands | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1982 | Papua New Guinea | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1983 | Bolivia Guatemala | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1984 | Cameroon | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1985 | Bangladesh | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1986 | Cyprus Mauritania Nicaragua | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1987 | North Yemen | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1990 | Bahrain Saint Lucia | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1992 | Croatia | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1993 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1994 | Dominica | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1995 | Chile | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1995 | Mississippi | The Mississippi Legislature unanimously votes to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution after a clerk discovers it never had. It is the last eligible state in the union to do so. However, state officials fail to send the required documentation to the state register. |
| 1996 | Azerbaijan | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1997 | Kyrgyzstan Turkmenistan | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 1998 | Ghana | Forced ritual servitude of girls in Ewe shrines banned. |
| 1998 | United Nations | Rome Statute |

## 2000–present

| Date | Jurisdiction | Description |
| 2001 | Yugoslavia Uruguay | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 2003 | Niger | Slavery criminalized. |
| 2006 | Montenegro | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 2006 | Mali | Temedt, an organization against slavery and the discrimination of former slaves, is founded in Essakane. |
| 2007 | Mauritania | Slavery criminalized. |
| 2007 | Paraguay | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 2008 | Kazakhstan | 1926 Slavery Convention ratified. |
| 2009 | United Kingdom | Section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. |
| 2010 | Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic | Slavery criminalized. |
| 2013 | Mississippi | Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment legally recorded. |
| 2014 | United Nations | Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention |
| 2014 | United Nations | Forced Labour (Supplementary Measures) Recommendation |
| 2015 | United Kingdom | Modern Slavery Act 2015. |
| 2017 | Navajo Nation | Criminalization of human trafficking. |
| 2017 | Chad | Slavery criminalized. |
| 2018 | Colorado | Prison exception removed from Colorado's constitutional ban on slavery. |
| 2019 | Iraq Syria | Defeat and debellatio of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leads to the freeing of thousands of slaves, including Yazidi and Christian sex slaves. |
| 2020 | Utah Nebraska | Prison exception removed from both states' constitutional ban on slavery. |
| 2022 | Alabama Oregon Tennessee Vermont | Prison exception removed from the states' constitutional ban on slavery. |
| Present | Worldwide | Although slavery is now abolished de jure in all countries, de facto practices akin to it continue today in many places throughout the world, almost exclusively in Asia and Africa. |