Slavery in France

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Slavery in France, and by extension, the French Empire, covers a wide range of disparate topics. Some of the most notable ones include:

Contents

Slavery in Merovingian France

In 486, Clovis I, the son of Childeric, defeated Syagrius, a Roman military leader who competed with the Merovingians for power in northern France. Slavery in Merovingian France included several Frankish queens in the Merovingian dynasty who had formerly been slaves.

Only five slave queens have been identified in Merovingian France, though there may have been more: Ingund, Fredegund, Bilichild, Nanthild, and Balthild. [1] [2] [3] Slavery continued during the Carolingian Empire.

First abolition of slavery and serfdom in France

In 1198, the Trinitarians was founded by John of Matha with the purpose of ransoming war captive Christians by Muslims during the Crusades. King Louis IX installed a house of their order at his château of Fontainebleau. [4] He chose Trinitarians as his chaplains, and was accompanied by them on his crusades.[ citation needed ] The Master of the Trinity was taken captive together with Saint Louis after the Battle of Mansurah. [5] [6]

In 1315, King Louis X passed a decree that abolished slavery and proclaimed that "France signifies freedom". The decree entailed that any slave setting foot on French ground should be freed. [7] However some limited cases of slavery continued until the 17th century in some of France's Mediterranean harbors in Provence, as well as until the 18th century in some of France's overseas territories. Most aspects of serfdom were also eliminated de facto between 1315 and 1318. [8] Louis X died two years after these events. In 1318, King Philip V abolished serfdom in his domain. [9] [10]

Slavery in French colonies

The French colonial empire practiced slavery in its colonies. In the mid-16th century, enslaved people were trafficked from Africa to the Caribbean by European mercantilists. Nor were New France, Louisiana, or French African colonies immune.

The French West India Company developed tobacco plantations in French colonies. The company had a monopoly on the slave trade from Senegal, which since 1658, belonged to the Company of Cape Verde and Senegal. The slave trade continued under the operation of the Compagnie du Sénégal from 1658 to 1709. The company traded slaves with the Hausa Kingdoms, Mali, and the Moors in Mauritania. [11]

As of 1778, the French were trafficking approximately 13,000 African people as slaves to the French West Indies each year. [12] While slavery had been active in French colonies since the early 16th century, it was theoretically not legitimized by the French government until the Revolutionary convention in 1794. [13]

Slavery in New France

Slavery was practiced by French colony of New France, by 1750, two thirds of the enslaved peoples in New France were indigenous, and by 1834, most enslaved people were black. [14] [15]

Slave trade

The city of Nantes played a main role in the slave trade.[ clarification needed ]

Code Noir

In 1685, King Louis XIV passed the decree known as Code Noir (French pronunciation: [kɔdnwaʁ] , Black Code). The code defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. [16]

Second abolition of slavery in France

The Society of the Friends of the Blacks was founded in Paris in 1788, and remained active until 1793, during the midst of the French Revolution. It was led by Jacques Pierre Brissot, who frequently received advice from British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, who led the abolitionist movement in Great Britain. At the beginning of 1789, the Society had 141 members. [17]

The second general abolition of slavery took place on 4 February 1794, when slavery was abolished in all French territories and possessions, during the convention, the first elected Assembly of the First Republic (1792–1804), under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, abolished slavery in law in France and its colonies. Abbé Grégoire and the Society of the Friends of the Blacks were part of the abolitionist movement, which had laid important groundwork in building anti-slavery sentiment in the metropole. The first article of the law stated that "Slavery was abolished" in the French colonies, while the second article stated that "slave-owners would be indemnified" with financial compensation for the value of their slaves. The French constitution passed in 1795 included a declaration of the rights of man, which abolishes slavery.

Re-introduction of slavery in France in 1802

Napoleon re-introduced slavery in sugarcane-growing colonies through the Law of 20 May 1802. Slavery would be legal in French colonies until 1847.

End of slavery in France

In 1815, the Congress of Vienna declared its opposition to the slave trade. In 1818, the slave trade was banned in France. On July 18–19, 1845, the Mackau Laws were passed, which paved the way towards the abolition of slavery in France.

On April 27, 1848, the Proclamation of the Abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies was made. The effective abolition was enacted with the Decree abolishing Slavery of 27 April 1848  [ fr ].

The island of Martinique was the first French overseas colony where the decree actually came into force, on 23 May 1848. [18]

Gabon was founded as a settlement for emancipated slaves. [19]

Modern day

Even when slavery has been prohibited for more than one century, many criminal organizations continue to practice human trafficking and the slave trade. For this reason, on 25 July 2013, France recognized modern-day slavery as a crime punishable by up to 30 years in jail. [20]

Memorial Associations

A permanent structure in June 1999, known as “Le Comité marche ‘98” (The March ’98 Committee) has been created with the objectives to promote processes of recognition and reparation about the past actions of the French government on the issue of slavery in its former colonies. The second aim of the organization is also to preserve the memory of the abolition .

This association was initially chaired by Serge Romana, a geneticist and leading activist for the recognition of the history of Guadeloupean slavery. A first step in the achievement of the committee’s objectives came with the Taubira Law of 10 May 2001. This law recognizes slavery as a crime against humanity. A second crucial step was taken with the adoption of the Overseas Real Equality Act of 14 February 2017, which established 23 May as the commemorative date for the victims of colonial slavery. The association continues to promote annual commemorations known as “Feasts of Brotherhood and Reconciliation” or “Limié Ba Yo” (which translates as “Let’s put them in the spotlight”) every year on 23 May. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the colonial history of the United States</span> Slavery in colonies that became the United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slave Trade Act 1807</span> Act of the UK Parliament

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the British and French Caribbean</span> Slavery in British and French possessions in the Caribbean

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Somerset v Stewart (1772) 98 ER 499 is a judgment of the English Court of King's Bench in 1772, relating to the right of an enslaved person on English soil not to be forcibly removed from the country and sent to Jamaica for sale. According to one reported version of the case, Lord Mansfield decided that:

The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from the decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged.

<i>Code Noir</i> 1685 law on slavery in the French colonial empire

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The planter class was a racial and socioeconomic caste which emerged in the Americas during European colonization in the early modern period. Members of the caste, most of whom were settlers of European descent, consisted of individuals who owned or were financially connected to plantations, large-scale farms devoted to the production of cash crops in high demand across Euro-American markets. These plantations were operated by the forced labour of slaves and indentured servants and typically existed in tropical climates, where the soil was fertile enough to handle the intensity of plantation agriculture. Cash crops produced on plantations owned by the planter class included tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, indigo, coffee, tea, cocoa, sisal, oil seeds, oil palms, hemp, rubber trees, and fruits. In North America, the planter class formed part of the American gentry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of 4 February 1794</span> French law abolishing slavery in all French colonies

The Law of 4 February 1794 was a decree of the French National Convention which abolished slavery in all French colonies.

The origins of slavery in France can be traced back to the Merovingian dynasty in the 4th century. At least five Frankish queens during that period were former slaves: Ingund, Fredegund, Bilichild, Nanthild, and Balthild. Slavery continued under the Carolingian Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Algeria</span>

Slavery is noted in the area later known as Algeria since antiquity. Algeria was a center of the Trans-Saharan slave trade route of enslaved Black Africans from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as a center of the slave trade of Barbary slave trade of Europeans captured by the barbary pirates.

References

  1. ↑ Jo Ann McNamara, John E. Halborg, and E. Gordon Whatley, eds., Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1992), p.264
  2. ↑ E. T. Dailey, Queens, Consorts, Concubines: Gregory of Tours and Women of the Merovingian Elite, (Brill, 2015), p.116
  3. ↑ Copied from the article Slavery in Merovingian France
  4. ↑ Saint Louis et l'Abbaye des Trinitaires, Institut nationale des recherches archeologiques préventives, Republic of France
  5. ↑ Jean de Joinville Memoirs of Louis IX
  6. ↑ Copied from the article Trinitarians
  7. ↑ Miller, Christopher L. (11 January 2008). The French Atlantic triangle: literature and culture of the slave trade. p. 20. ISBN   978-0822341512 . Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  8. ↑ "Disappearance of Serfdom. France. England. Italy. Germany. Spain". www.1902encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  9. ↑ PITTORESQUE, LA FRANCE (2018-01-23). "23 janvier 1318 : le roi Philippe V affranchit les serfs de ses domaines". La France pittoresque. Histoire de France, Patrimoine, Tourisme, Gastronomie (in French). Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  10. ↑ Copied from the article End of slavery in France
  11. ↑ Copied from the article Compagnie du Sénégal
  12. ↑ Kitchin, Thomas (1778). The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe. London: R. Baldwin. p. 21.
  13. ↑ Copied from the article Slavery in the British and French Caribbean
  14. ↑ Bonita, Lawrence. "Enslavement of Indigenous People in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  15. ↑ Copied from the article Slavery in New France
  16. ↑ Copied from the article Code Noir
  17. ↑ Copied from the article Society of the Friends of the Blacks
  18. ↑ Project Manifest EU website: https://www.projectmanifest.eu/the-march-of-23-may-1998-paris-france-en-fr/
  19. ↑ Copied from the article Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom
  20. ↑ "France recognizes modern slavery as crime". July 25, 2013.
  21. ↑ Project Manifest EU:https://www.projectmanifest.eu/the-march-of-23-may-1998-paris-france-en-fr/
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