Ten Years of Guerilla-Warfare and Slave Rebellions in Surinam, 1750–1759

Abstract

The social unrest, characteristic of the history of the West Indian slave colonies, also affected Surinam. While in some territories such as Berbice, Curaçao and Domingue it was expressed incidentally and explosively, in Surinam the slaves’ rebelliousness was chronic from the beginnings of colonization until the nineteenth century. In this article attention will be focused on a number of seemingly specially important years.¹ In 1750 the truce which had been made in the previous year between the colonial government and the Maroons² of Saramacca was broken. It was not until 1759 that a new treaty was made which preceded peace treaties with the Djuka and Saramacca Maroons. During the 1750s the export of the staple product, viz. sugar, had decreased considerably and this may have been due to the slave rebellions and the struggle with the Maroons. In this paper the social and economical situation in these colonies will only be dealt with in so far as it is related to the slave rebellions and the course of the guerilla-warfare.

Shortened version of ‘Tien jaren Surinaamse guerilla en slavenopstanden, 1750–1759’, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, LXXXVI (Groningen, 1973) 21–50.