📅 29 November 1853
The Dutch government appointed a commission to recommend measures concerning enslaved people. The delay that followed reflected plantation influence and state concern with compensation, labor...
📅 1 January 1860
A colonial government regulation formally abolished slavery in areas under direct Dutch administration. Abolition was uneven: bondage persisted in some indirectly governed territories, and coerced...
📅 8 August 1862
The king signed laws abolishing slavery in Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean, effective 1 July 1863. The legislation compensated slaveholders, while people held in slavery received no payment. In...
📅 1 July 1863
About 45,000 people were legally freed. Suriname’s emancipated population remained under state supervision and compulsory labor until 1873. Former owners received compensation; the people whose...
📅 1 January 1866
A new regulation created a small elected assembly in Suriname. Voting was restricted by property and tax qualifications, excluding most people, including the newly emancipated majority. The reform...
📅 8 September 1870
The treaty established a framework for recruiting workers from British India. Though described as voluntary contract labor, the system relied on poverty, limited choices, state supervision, and...
