The end of the slave export

The transatlantic slave trade was the most extensive forced migration of human beings in history. Millions of Africans were carried across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. It has been estimated that during the period 1450-1870, about 13 million enslaved Africans were shipped on European and American vessels. The kingdom of Denmark-Norway was a minor colonial power. Its tropical empire was limited to the West Indian islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St.

In January 1792, the King issued a royal ordinance declaring the end of Danish slave exports as of 1 January 1803. Thus Denmark-Norway was the first European nation to abolish its export slave trade. However, that reputation was tainted by the export of some 30,000 Africans during the last decade of legal commerce in slaves. Moreover, illicit slave trading continued from Danish forts, particularly Fort Fredensborg, until the 1830s and - 1840s.
Slavery in the Danish West Indian colonies was abolished after a rebellion on July 3, 1848. In 1917 the three West Indian islands were sold to USA and renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands.