Emancipation Day (Grenada)

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

Grenada is an island country in the Caribbean Sea, located at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. People inhabited the islands for thousands of years. Christopher Columbus first arrived in 1498 during his third voyage and claimed the islands for Spain. However, the Spanish did not settle on the islands.

The French started to settle on the islands in 1649 and made it a French colony. The French developed the sugar cane plantations worked by African slaves. In 1763, France ceded the islands to Britain after the Seven Years' War. Although the French captured the islands 6 years after, during the American Revolutionary War, the British restored them in 1783.

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 Grenada on August 1, 1834.

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

Please check more public holidays in Grenada: