Emancipation Day (Saint Lucia)

Emancipation Day is a public holiday in Saint Lucia on August 1 each year. The holiday commemorates the anniversary of slavery being abolished in Saint Lucia in 1834.

Saint Lucia is an island country in the Caribbean Sea. Christopher Columbus first sighted the island in 1502 on his fourth voyage. The French, English, and Dutch attempted to settle on the island in the following years, but the local Caribs aggressively wiped them out.

The French successfully settled on the island in 1660, and developed sugar cane plantations worked by the African slaves. In the following 150 years, the French and the British were both interested in the island, and it changed hands between the two countries many times until 1814, when the British eventually acquired it.

The Slavery Abolition Act received Royal assent in the British Empire on August 28, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834. As one of the British colonies, slavery was abolished in Saint Lucia on August 1, 1834. However, all former slaves had to work for their former masters for a four-year apprenticeship, and they achieved full freedom on August 1, 1838.

The following is the list of Emancipation Day in Saint Lucia from 2022 to 2026.

Please check more public holidays in Saint Lucia: