Brazil abolishes slavery with the Golden Law (Lei Áurea)
- Date
- 13 May 1888
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Brazil
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
On 13 May 1888 Princess Isabel, acting as regent for her father Emperor Pedro II, signed the Lei Áurea, or Golden Law, which declared slavery abolished in Brazil with immediate effect and without compensation to slaveholders.
Brazil had imported more enslaved Africans than any other country in the Americas and was the last nation in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery. The Golden Law freed the roughly 700,000 people still held in bondage, the final remnant of a system already eroded by mass escapes, a growing abolitionist movement, the resistance of the enslaved themselves, and earlier gradualist measures: the 1871 Law of Free Birth, which freed children born to enslaved mothers, and the 1885 Sexagenarian Law, which freed those over sixty. Emancipation came with no land, compensation or support for the freed, leaving most former slaves in poverty and exclusion. The abrupt loss of property without indemnity alienated the powerful planter class from the monarchy, contributing to the fall of the empire and the proclamation of a republic the following year. The Golden Law marked the end of legal slavery in the Americas.
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Empires active in 13 May 1888
- German Empire1871 CE – 1918 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- Empire of Japan1868 CE – 1947 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Berlin Conference and the partition of Africa15 November 1884 – 26 February 1885
- New Zealand Becomes First Self-Governing Nation to Grant Women the Vote19 September 1893
- The Meiji Restoration1868 (proclamation 3 January 1868)
- The Xinhai Revolution and the fall of the Qing1911–1912 (Wuchang Uprising 10 October 1911; abdication 12 February 1912)
- Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand and the Kingdom of ItalyMay–September 1860; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 17 March 1861
- Sykes-Picot Agreement partitions the Ottoman Middle East16 May 1916
Further reading
The wider story
A Concise History of Brazil
Clear, accessible survey covering the imperial period.
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