Setting the Scene: The Culture of Late Colonial Capitalism 1900–1940

Abstract

Guarded optimism. Such is the tone of the front-page article of the Surinamese newspaper Onze West on January 3, 1900 reviewing the past year and looking forward to the new.¹ Looking back to 1899, the paper saw no reason for “exuberant joy or great sorrow,” despite economic problems caused by unexpected rain and drought, “everything’s running normally.” The writer thought that progress was slow, as little was done to stimulate economic growth. He held high hopes, however, for the gold industry: “unquestionably there is a bright future” for gold and the exploitation of the hinterland. The year 1900 promised to be better. Unfortunately, for this journalist and Suriname, the gold industry had reached its peak already early in the twentieth century, and the immediate future of the colony was not going to be based on gold.