colonial government

African-descended cultivators from Barlovento march against the Guipuzcoan Company

Thousands of cultivators and residents, many described by the Venezuelan chronology as being of African origin, entered Caracas with Juan Francisco de León and reached Chacao. They demanded the end of...

Tula leads an uprising against slavery

Tula and fellow enslaved people at Knip refused to work and demanded freedom. The movement spread across Curaçao and became the largest uprising against slavery in the Dutch Atlantic. Tula’s political...

A tribunal ruling imposes collective punishment after the Itapuã revolt

On 13 November 1814 tribunal ruling documented the Haussá-led revolt and imposed harsh punishment on survivors, including whipping, branding, forced sale, and deportation. The ruling is a state record...

The Jamaica slave registry begins collecting returns from enslavers

The registry required enslavers to submit lists of the people they claimed as property. Jamaica's returns recorded names, ages, sex, colour, African or Creole status and, in some cases, mothers' names...

Paramaribo’s great fire spreads through the city

The blaze that began the previous night spread through central Paramaribo and destroyed dozens of properties. Colonial accounts made property loss and public order central, while its association...

Cathalina van Flora Janga appears in the manumission index

Colonial authorities revise the bond and caution rules

A second publication adjusts manumission costs and security

Gerard Abad is manumitted from an estate

Abolition proposal centers immigration and plantation labor

A proposal to abolish slavery in Suriname was presented to the Dutch parliament on 25 October 1858. Its title linked emancipation to ensuring an adequate supply of immigrant contract workers. This...

Legal emancipation takes effect

Oilfield workers strike and revolt in Fyzabad

Oilfield workers assembled at Bhola’s Junction in Fyzabad to hear labour organizer Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler. Police attempted to arrest him; the confrontation widened into strikes and unrest across...

Strikes reach the sugar districts and Port of Spain

The British Secretary of State for the Colonies told Parliament on 28 June that strikes spread northward to the sugar areas and Port of Spain on 22 June 1937, after unrest began in the oilfields....

Strikes and police gunfire shake Kingston

On 23 May 1938, labor disturbances in Kingston included strikes by wharf, transport and public-service workers amid island-wide demands for higher wages. In a statement to Parliament, the Colonial...

Spanish Town protests extend the labor crisis

On 26 May 1938, serious disturbances occurred in Spanish Town during the wider labor uprising. The Colonial Secretary reported eight casualties among police and the crowd, none fatal, and said order...