(1707?)
Intermittent Settlement The first Europeans who came to Suriname were Spanish explorers and Dutch traders who visited the area along with other parts of
South America's 'Wild Coast.' In 1613, a Dutch trading post near the village "Parmurbo" was in existence on the Suriname River, while in the same year the Spanish took over another Dutch trading post on the Corantijn River. The first significant attempt to settle the area by Europeans was in 1630, when
English settlers led by Captain Marshall attempted to found a colony. They cultivated crops of
tobacco, but the venture failed financially. In 1640, perhaps while the English were still at Marshall's Creek, the French built an outpost near the mouth of the Suriname River.
English Colonisation In 1650,
Lord Willoughby, the governor of
Barbados, furnished out a vessel to settle a colony in Suriname. At his own cost he equipped a ship of 20 guns, and two smaller vessels with things necessary for the support of the plantation. Major
Anthony Rowse settled there in his name. Two years later, for the better settling of the colony, he went in person, fortified and furnished it with things requisite for defence and trade. The settlement consisted of around and "Fort Willoughby" near the mouth of the Suriname River, expanded from the abandoned French outpost. In 1663 most of the work on the 50 or so plantations was done by native Indians and 3,000 African slaves. There were around 1,000 whites there, joined by Brazilian Jews, attracted by religious freedom which was granted to all the settlers by the English.
Dutch colonisation The settlement was invaded by seven
Dutch ships (from the
Zeeland region), led by
Abraham Crijnssen on 26 February 1667. Fort Willoughby was captured the next day after a three-hour fight and renamed
Fort Zeelandia. On 31 July 1667, the English and Dutch signed the
Treaty of Breda, in which for the time being the status quo was respected: the Dutch could keep occupying
Suriname and the English the formerly Dutch colony
New Netherland (modern-day east coast of North America, with
New Amsterdam as modern-day
New York). This arrangement was made official in the
Treaty of Westminster of 1674, after the English had regained and again lost Suriname in 1667. In 1683 the
Society of Suriname was set up, modelled on the ideas of
Jean-Baptiste Colbert to profit from the management and defence of the
Dutch Republic's colony. It had three participants, with equal shares in the society's responsibilities and profits—the city of
Amsterdam, the family
Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck, and the
Dutch West India Company (WIC). The Van Aerssen family only managed to sell its share in 1770. The Society came to an end in 1795 when this kind of trade and business was no longer seen as acceptable.
Slavery and emancipation 's illustrations of the work of
John Gabriel Stedman, published in 1792–1794. and Dutch ethnographer
Johannes Snelleman. , 1955 In South America, slavery was the norm. The native people proved to be in limited supply and consequently the
Atlantic slave trade supplied the workforce for the plantations. The plantations were producing
sugar,
coffee,
cocoa, and
cotton which were exported for the Amsterdam market. In 1713, for instance, most of the work on the 200 plantations was done by 13,000
African slaves. Their treatment was horrific, and slaves periodically escaped to the jungle from the start. These
Maroons (also known as "Djukas" or "Bakabusi Nengre") attacked the plantations in order to acquire goods that were in short supply and to free enslaved women. Notable leaders of the Surinam Maroons were
Johannes Alabi,
Boni, Joli-coeur, and
Kapitein Broos (Captain Broos). In the 18th century, three of the Maroon people signed a peace treaty, similar to the peace treaty ending the
First Maroon War in Jamaica, whereby they were recognised as free people and received a yearly tribute that provided them with the goods they used to "liberate" from the plantations. Suriname was occupied by the British in 1799, after the Netherlands were incorporated by France, and was returned to the Dutch in 1816, after the defeat of
Napoleon. In 1861–63, President
Abraham Lincoln of the United States and his administration looked abroad for places to relocate freed slaves who wanted to leave the United States. It opened negotiations with the Dutch government regarding African-American emigration to and colonisation of the Dutch colony of Suriname in South America. Nothing came of it and after 1864, the proposal was dropped. The Dutch abolished slavery in their colonies only in 1863, although the British had already abolished it during their short rule. The freed slaves were, however, still required to continue their plantation work on a contract basis and were not released until 1873; up to that date they conducted obligatory but paid work at the plantations. Slaves were required to work on plantations for 10 transition years for minimal pay, which was considered as partial compensation for their masters. Besides that, the Dutch government in 1863 also compensated each slave-owner for the loss of the working force of each slave 300
Dutch guilders (equivalent to approx. €3,500 in 2021). After 1873, most freedmen largely abandoned the plantations where they had worked for several generations in favour of the capital city,
Paramaribo. In the meantime, many more workers had been imported from the
Dutch East Indies, mostly Chinese inhabitants of that colony, creating a
Chinese Surinamese population. From 1873 to 1916, many labourers were imported from India, creating the
Indo-Surinamese. After 1916, many labourers were again imported from the Dutch East Indies (now
Indonesia), especially
Java, creating the
Javanese Surinamese. These Asian workers were historically known as "
coolies", which is nowadays generally considered a
racial slur.
Twentieth century In the 20th century, the natural resources of Suriname,
rubber,
gold and
bauxite, were exploited. The US company
Alcoa had a claim on a large area in Suriname where bauxite, from which aluminium can be made, was found. Given that the peace treaties with the Maroon people granted them title to the lands, there have been international court cases that negated the right of the Surinam government to grant these claims (meaning the right to take the land for themselves and ignoring autonomy). On 23 November 1941, under an agreement with the
Dutch government-in-exile, the United States stationed troops in Suriname to protect the bauxite mines. == Decolonisation ==