Emancipation Day (The Bahamas)

Emancipation Day is a public holiday in the Bahamas, and it is observed on the first Monday in August each year. The holiday commemorates the anniversary when slavery was abolished on this day in 1834.

The Bahamas is a sovereign country in the Atlantic, east of the Florida Keys. People inhabited the islands for centuries before Christopher Columbus first arrived in 1492 and claimed the islands for Spain. The Spanish had little interest in the Bahamas except for the labor sources and abandoned the islands.

The British people arrived on the islands in the late 17th century. However, the islands became the base of the pirates because of the lack of government functioning. In 1718, the British restored the orderly government and made the Bahamas a British crown colony.

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 received Royal assent in the British Empire and took effect in 1834. As one of the British colonies, slavery was abolished in the Bahamas on August 1, 1834.

The following is the list of Independence Day in the Bahamas from 2022 to 2026.

Please check more public holidays in the Bahamas: