Colonial troops capture and destroy Fort Buku

In a letter dated 29 December 1761, Governor Crommelin complained about compliance with the 1760 peace treaty. The complaint shows that treaty relations remained contested and that the colonial...

A colonial archival record dated 5 February 1762 marks a successful phase in a peace mission to the Saamaka. The negotiations followed decades of conflict and an earlier failed attempt at peace....

On 19 September 1762, Saamaka leaders and Dutch colonial authorities signed a peace treaty. The agreement recognized the Saamaka as a distinct free community, establishing a negotiated boundary...

In a report dated 4 May 1772, Captain Oorsinga described how the marsh around Fort Buku made a colonial attack difficult. Buku was an Aluku settlement and defensive base led by Boni and his allies....

An eyewitness account dated 30 June 1772 describes an attack led by Baron’s forces on plantation Poelwijk. The raid formed part of the Aluku struggle against plantation power and the colonial...

A letter dated 22 March 1776 records Colonel Louis Henri Fourgeoud’s assignment to protect the colony against Boni and Baron. Dutch authorities continued costly expeditions after the fall of Buku,...

A colonial meeting record dated 18 January 1786 states that Ndyuka leader Pambu promised not to support the Aluku. The Ndyuka had their own treaty relationship with the Dutch, and colonial officials...

A colonial dispatch dated 3 March 1793 records an expedition in which Boni was killed. The National Archives identifies the report as a record of his death, while another modern account dates the...

The settlement of 13 August 1814 arranged the return of Suriname to the Netherlands. European states negotiated control of territory and slave-trade rules; enslaved people and Indigenous communities...

A contemporary colonial record dates the Dutch takeover to 27 February 1816, following British rule. This transition restored Dutch colonial administration but did not emancipate people held in...