the Swedish government abandoned the slave trade in the Caribbean, but did not initially outlaw slavery. The West Indian colonies became financial burdens. The island of Guadeloupe was returned to France in 1814, in return for a compensation in the sum of 24 million francs. A Guadeloupe Fund was established in Sweden for the benefit of the Swedish Crown Prince and Regent Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, a French national and former Marshal of France under Napoleon I. He and his heirs were paid 300,000 riksdaler per year up until 1983 in compensation for their loss of prestige in France when Sweden joined Britain against France in the Napoleonic War. In Saint Bartholomew, the Swedish government bought the remaining slaves to give them freedom. According to Herman Lindqvist in Aftonbladet (8 October 2006), 523 slaves were bought free for 80 riksdaler per slave. Exactly how many slaves were brought to the New World on Swedish ships is yet impossible to know, since most of the archives documents have not been investigated seriously in that respect, and many of them are by now not accessible because of their bad preservation and non microfilming. Nevertheless, some data, mostly concerning the former Swedish island Saint-Barthélemy, is now available online. Further reading Göran Skytte Det kungliga svenska slaveriet (The Royal Swedish Slave Trade) Stockholm : Askelin & Hägglund, 1986 157 pp.(Swedish) Jan-Öjvind Swahn, Ola Jennersten Swahn, Saint-Barthélemy: Sveriges sista koloni (Saint-Barthélemy : Sweden's Last Colony) Höganäs : Wiken, 1985 155 pp. (Swedish) Per Tingbrand Vem var vem på Saint-Barthélemy under den svenska tiden? (Who was who in Saint-Barthélemy During the Swedish Epoch?) S:t Barthélemy-sällskapet (pub) (The St. Barthélemy Society (pub). (Swedish) Ben Raffield (2019) "The slave markets of the Viking world: comparative perspectives on an ‘invisible archaeology’." Slavery & Abolition, 40:4, 682-705 Thomas K. Heebøll-Holm (2020) "Piratical slave-raiding – the demise of a Viking practice in high medieval Denmark," Scandinavian Journal of History See also Swedish overseas colonies Saint-Barthélemy Slavery Thrall Triangle trade Slave Trade Act 1807 References External links Mémoire St Barth | History of St Barthélemy (archives & history of slavery, slave trade and their abolition), Comité de Liaison et d'Application des Sources Historiques. McAlinden, Tom (2007). Sweden’s slave trade. Network Europe, Radio Broadcast, 30 March 2007. Former Swedish colonies 18th century in Sweden Economic history of Sweden Political history of Sweden Sweden African slave trade 17th century in