The last person burnt to death as a witch was in about 1783 (in Switzerland), around about the time of the French Revolution and American independance.
The youngest girl accused of witchcraft was 5 years old, Sarah Good
In no way is slavery the most important role. It is simply history as is Prohibition or the Salem witch trials.
Witch hunts in European civilization fall into the dates of 1563 to 1693.Witchcraft was illegal in some countries of Europe from ancient times. Interestingly, in some medieval countries, such as the Kingdom of Lombardy and the Carolingian Empire, witchcraft was legally classed as a superstition, so executing a person as a witch was murder; nevertheless, it must have happened, because there was a standard punishment for burning an accused witch - it was a capital offense.The first papal authorization of inquisition for witchcraft appears to have been given in 1320. The witch trials were rather few and far between after that for some time. A papal bull authorizing inquisitors to create a system for the persecution of witches appeared in 1484, and this resulted in the publication of a manual called Malleus Maleficarum, in 1487. This began the great witch persecutions in Europe.The first large scale persecution of witches in Europe, in which which 63 people were burned to death, happened in Wiesensteig in, southwestern Germany, and is recorded in a pamphlet of 1563, called "True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches."Prosecutions of witches ended between about 1690 and 1730 in different parts of Europe. In English areas of Europe and North America, the last actual witch hunt (as opposed to prosecution of an individual) happened with the Salem Witch trials in Massachusetts in 1693. There were trials of individuals for witchcraft in various parts of Europe for nearly another hundred years.It should be noted that the first large scale medieval witch hunt happened over 100 years after the date most historians use for the end of the Middle Ages.Please use the links below for more information.
Modern era
1693
The last of the Salem Witch trials ended in may 1693
The Salem witch trials. Increase Mather was too smart and political knowlegdable to believe that there were witches.
The accused in Salem were not subjected to European-style witch tests. That includes dunking.
The Salem witch trials happened in 1692.
The witch trials were an event. An event does not eat.
Valais witch trials happened in 1428.
Salzburg witch trials happened in 1675.
Trier witch trials happened in 1585.
Vardø witch trials happened in 1662.
Torsåker witch trials happened in 1675.
Werewolf witch trials happened in 1651.