Karim2k

On this day in 1846, slavery was abolished in Tunisia by Ahmad I ibn Mustafa, Bey of Tunis, becoming the first Muslim country to abolish slavery. Tunisia was a hub of the Arab slave trade, shipping enslaved people and forcing thousands of slaves to work in domestic service and agriculture. Ahmad I, who was born to a slave mother and royal father, became monarch of Tunisia in 1837, the tenth from the Husainid dynasty. Ahmad had grand plans for Tunisia, intending to expand the army and navy and modernise the country’s education system. In 1841, the monarch was advised to ban the slave trade, and set about abolishing slavery in steps. Abolition began with a ban on exporting slaves in 1841, then closing the slave market in Tunis, and in 1842 declaring that all people born in the country were free. The monarch made the decision palatable by obtaining confirmation from Islamic scholars that slavery was forbidden, thus legitimising abolition in the Arab Muslim world. In a decree of January 23rd 1846, slavery was formally abolished in Tunisia and all remaining slaves were freed. There was some resistance to this measure, resulting in a second decree in 1890 which imposed sanctions on those who engaged in the slave trade. This second decree was issued by the French, who by then had established a colonial protectorate in the country.  Like in other countries which profited from the slave trade, emancipated slaves in Tunisia lacked equal access to social opportunity, leaving many former slaves impoverished and marginalised.