It is not surprising to note that even the Swedes attempted to join in on colonialism, nor is it surprising that they also were a part of the slave trade. But it is good to remember even the darker parts of oour history. This is from wikipedia:
In the year 1784, the king Gustav III of Sweden bought the West Indian island of Saint-Barthélemy from the French. The first report concerning the island came from the Swedish general council in the French town of L’Orient, Simon Bérard. He reported that:
It (Saint-Barthélemy) is a very insignificant island, without strategic position. It is very poor and dry, with a very small population. Only salt and cotton is produced there. A large part of the island is made up of sterile rocks. The island has no sweet water; all the wells on the island give only brackish water. Water has to be imported from neighbouring islands. There are no roads anywhere.
In 1786 a privilege letter was made for the West India Company. The Company was granted the right to trade slaves between Africa and the West Indies. Paragraph 14 in the letter states: “The Company is free to operate slave trade on Angola and the African coast, where such is permitted”
People from all over the Caribbean would come to this island to buy slaves. People who came from other islands to buy their slaves on Saint Bartholomew had to pay a small duty when they exported slaves from the island. There was also a difference between a slave who had been taken to the New World on a Swedish ship and a slave who have been transported on a foreign one. The duty to export a Swedish-owned slave was only 50% of that of a “foreign”.