The aim of this essay is to see how various texts, both Swedish and foreign, have described the former Swedish colony of St. Bartholomew. The focus has been on the slaves on the colony, and here how they were treated and how the analyzed authors portray the slaves lives. The literature has been divided up into two different categories, based on when they were published. The distinction has been made by dividing them up into a contemporary cluster, that were published before the 1900’s, as opposed to the more recent literature, from after the 1900’s. This division also enables us to see a difference not only between authors, but also between time periods. The research shows a difference within the focus of the contemporary and the recent literature, where the contemporary focused more on the slave trade per se whereas the slaves lives are discussed more in the recent literature. This can be ascribed to the differing discourses, where the actuality of abolishing the slave trade was prominent when the contemporary authors were active. The recent authors have all had access to the same resources in the different archives, but most of them differ in their usage of said resources. By looking at these texts with the theory of historiography in mind we can ascribe these differences to many different reasons, some of being the differing discourses as well as the aim of the text.  Whereas there has been research conducted about St. Bartholomew as a Swedish colony, the subject has not caused a great stir within the academic world of history.

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There are a lot of Swedish people who are aware of former Swedish colonies. St. Barthélemy in the West Indies, has many streets and towns named after Swedish people, exemplified by the capital Gustavia, named after King Gustav III. What many fail to learn about however, is the fact that slavery and slave trade is a relatively large part of Sweden’s cultural heritage. These are events that Sweden doesn’t seem to want to remember.   This study aims to look at Swedish history books to study historical writing about Sweden’s involvement in slavery and slave trade. The study will also analyze the social debate regarding slavery in Swedish newspapers, in an effort to showcase why these historical events have been forgotten and purposely evaded. The study will make use of theoretical standpoints revolving around historiography and use of history.   The results show that social debates in Swedish newspapers is largely in agreement regarding the grim nature of slavery and the shameful historical events that transpire. In addition to this, the papers seem to be in agreement regarding the need to address this part of Sweden’s history in an effort to tackle future conflicts facing multicultural countries such as Sweden. In regard to history books, the result is telling. In essence, history outside of Europe has been neglected, and thus Sweden has been allowed to create their own historical narrative, leaving slave trade beyond the horizon.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka anledningarna till slaveriets avskaffande på den svenska kolonin St. Barthélemy mellan åren 1813–1847. För att undersöka avskaffandeprocessen har en diskursanalys tillämpats för att belysa de idéer, tankar och influenser som kom att påverka avskaffandet. För detta ändamål har riksdagshandlingar, protokoll, brevkorrespondens, dagstidningar och övrigt källmaterial gåtts igenom.Undersökningens resultat visar att diskursen i Sverige rörande varför den svenska statsmakten valde att avskaffa slaveriet och senare avhända St. Barthélemy tillbaka till Frankrike är mångskiftande och nyanserade. Under sent 1700–tal och tidigt 1800–tal hade de ekonomiska aspekterna av St. Barthélemy som svensk koloni diskuterats och ön kom att betraktas som en belastning för den svenska kronan. Vidare fanns det också under denna tid internationella flöden och påtryckningar, primärt från engelskt håll, vad gäller att avskaffa och frigöra slavar. Dessa påtryckningar hade påverkat svenska politiker och intellektuella. Inte minst präglades också riksdagsdebatten om slaveriets avskaffande på ön St. Barthélemy av ekonomiska, humanitära och internationella influenser. Sammantaget mynnade detta ut i att riksdagen bestämde att slavarna skulle friköpas och år 1847 proklamerade Sverige att slaveriet på den svenska kolonin hade avskaffats.