Colonization Surinam was a Dutch colony from 26 February 1667, when Dutch forces captured
Francis Willoughby's
English colony during the
Second Anglo-Dutch War, until 15 December 1954, when Surinam became a
constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The status quo of Dutch sovereignty over Surinam, and English sovereignty over
New Netherland, which it had conquered in 1664, was kept in the
Treaty of Breda of 31 July 1667, and again confirmed in the
Treaty of Westminster of 1674. After the
other Dutch colonies in the Guianas, i.e.,
Berbice,
Essequibo,
Demerara, and
Pomeroon, were lost to the British in 1814, the remaining colony of Surinam was often referred to as Dutch Guiana, especially after 1831, when the British merged Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara into
British Guiana. As the term Dutch Guiana was used in the 17th and 18th centuries to refer to all Dutch colonies in the Guianas, this use of the term can be confusing (
see below).
Dutch Guiana Although the colony has always been officially known as Surinam or Suriname, in both Dutch and English, the colony was often unofficially and semi-officially referred to as Dutch Guiana (Dutch:
Nederlands Guiana) in the 19th and 20th century, in an analogy to
British Guiana and
French Guiana. Historically, Suriname was only one of many Dutch colonies in
the Guianas, others being
Berbice,
Essequibo,
Demerara, and
Pomeroon, which after being taken over by the United Kingdom in 1814, were united into British Guiana in 1831. The Dutch also controlled
northern Brazil from 1630 to 1654, including the area that, when governed by Lisbon, was called
Portuguese Guiana. Thus, before 1814, the term
Dutch Guiana described not only Suriname, but all the colonies under Dutch sovereignty in the region taken together: a set of polities, with distinct governments, whose external borders changed much over time.
Slave labor 's illustrations of the work of
John Gabriel Stedman, first published in 1792–1794 The economy of the Colony of Suriname depended upon people enslaved at its plantations. Slave labour was mostly supplied by the
Dutch West India Company from its trading posts in West Africa, to produce their crops.
Sugar,
cotton, and
indigo were the main goods exported from the colony to the
Netherlands until the early 18th century, when
coffee became the single most important export product of Surinam. Planters' treatment of the slaves was notoriously bad. The historian
C.R. Boxer wrote that "man's inhumanity to man just about reached its limits in Surinam", and many slaves escaped the plantations. The
Amsterdam Stock Exchange crashed in 1773, which dealt a severe blow to the plantation economy that was further exacerbated by the British abolition of the slave trade in 1807. This abolition was adopted by
William I of the Netherlands, who signed a royal decree in this regard in June 1814, and who concluded the
Anglo-Dutch Slave Trade Treaty in May 1818. Many plantations went bankrupt as a consequence of the abolition of slave trade. Without supply of slaves, many plantations were merged to increase efficiency.
Abolition of slavery Slavery was eventually abolished on 1 July 1863, a date now celebrated as the public holiday of
Ketikoti, although
slaves were only released after a ten-year transitory period in 1873. This spurred the immigration of
indentured labourers from
British India, after
a treaty to that effect had been signed between the Netherlands and the
United Kingdom in 1870. There were rebellions against the wages and tasks given to indentured labourers, such as by
Janey Tetary in 1884. As well as from immigration from British India,
Javanese workers from the
Dutch East Indies were also contracted to work on plantations in Surinam. At the same time, a largely unsuccessful attempt to colonize Surinam with
impoverished farmers from the Netherlands was started as well.
20th century: natural resources In the 20th century, the natural resources of Surinam, which include
rubber,
gold and
bauxite, were exploited. The
gold rush that followed the discovery of gold on the banks of the
Lawa River spurred the construction of the Lawa Railway in 1902, although construction was halted after gold production proved disappointing. In the 1930s, the grandmother of
Hennah Draaibaar discovered more than 80 kilos of gold, which made her briefly the richest woman in Surinam; the Dutch took most of the gold to the Netherlands. In 1916, the
U.S. aluminium company
Alcoa began mining bauxite on the banks of the
Cottica River, near the village of
Moengo. In 1938, the company built an aluminium
smelter in
Paranam. The 1930s were a difficult time for Suriname. The Great Depression created great unemployment. Surinamese guest workers in Curaçao and other islands of the Netherlands Antilles returned to Suriname because there was no more work, which exacerbated the problem. No more funds came in and more unemployed people were added. To provide work, roads were built to Domburg and Groningen, and the Meursweg was constructed. The Salvation Army set up a soup kitchen to relieve the worst of necessities. However, this was not enough, and there was a great deal of unrest among the population in 1931, leading to demonstrations and street riots with looting. Nationalist
Anton de Kom then came to Suriname to set up a workers' organization there: he established a consultancy firm, but when he organized a demonstration against governor
Johannes Kielstra, he was imprisoned. A rally to get him released led to
Black Tuesday, in which 2 people were shot. De Kom was then put on a boat to the Netherlands. The
Dutch Prime Minister Colijn stated in the Lower House in 1935: Everything that has been tried in Suriname, it all simply failed. Things are not easy. And that is why I wanted someone to get up in the Netherlands who knew what could be done. I will do the possible. However, the situation had improved somewhat on the eve of the Second World War. The Dutch presence in the Caribbean and South America was minimal. The
Netherlands West Indies included the possessions of
Aruba,
Bonaire,
Curaçao,
Saba, and
Sint Eustatius and
Sint Maarten. Just to the south lay Surinam. At the Netherlands' entrance into the war in 1940, the West Indies was only defended by local police and militia. The only Dutch naval vessel stationed there was the
sloop Van Kinsbergen. Surinam was protected by a single 200-strong company of Army infantry, supplemented by a militia rifle company and an old station ship. Surinam was one of the most important
bauxite suppliers. Aluminium was vital to the American airplane industry. In September 1941, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt offered American troops to help protect the colony. In November 1941, the first 1,000 American troops arrived in
Paramaribo. In 1942, protection of Aruba and Curaçao was transferred to the United States. By then a Dutch motor whaleboat patrolled Aruba while Curaçao was defended by several light craft. The latter were detached for use as convoy escorts in July 1942. Partly due to the importance of Surinamese aluminium for the allied war effort, United States troops were stationed in Surinam under an agreement with the
Dutch government in exile on 23 November 1941. Under the provisions of the
Atlantic Charter of August 1941, the Dutch government in exile promised to end the colonial relations between the Netherlands and its overseas possessions, promising them far-reaching autonomy and self-rule. This was eventually accomplished by the proclamation of the
Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 15 December 1954, which constituted a Kingdom in which the Netherlands, the
Netherlands Antilles, and
Suriname participated on a basis of equality. In 1975, Suriname left the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become the independent country of
Suriname. == Administration ==