Dutch slave trade

Abolition

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom had banned the slave trade. When William I returned from exile, he placated the British by not allowing a continuation of the Dutch slave trade. This made them willing to give back the Dutch colonies that had come under British control during the wars, although the British retained the Cape Colony. Finally, the Dutch slave trade was abolished in June 1814 by Royal Decree from William I. In May 1818, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands concluded an Anglo-Dutch Slave Trade Treaty, which, among other things, provided for the establishment of two Joint Courts of Justice to convict slavers who tried to evade the ban. However, the legal slave trade within the Caribbean continued as usual. The United Kingdom abolished slavery in 1833, resulting in Dutch slaves fleeing from Sint Eustatius to the nearby British colony of Saint Kitts.