Slavery Abolition Day is observed by Guadeloupe and Saint Martin annually on May 27.
Slavery Abolition Day was originally observed only in Guadeloupe, but when the overseas collectivity of France Saint Martin separated from Guadeloupe in 2007, the holiday was not canceled.
The Kingdom of France annexed the territory of modern Guadeloupe in 1653.
Until the first abolition of slavery in 1794, the French wiped out a major part of the population of Guadeloupe, and had to bring slaves from Africa to work on sugar plantations.
Slavery was reestablished in the former French colonies in 1802, when the French slave-owners joined the counter-revolution and threatened the state to move the colonies under British control, it still allowed slavery.
Reestablishment of slavery in Guadeloupe sparked a wave of rebellion, but it was repressed.
The second abolition of slavery took place on April 27, 1848.
Slavery was abolished in Guadeloupe on May 28, 1848.
