Fire in Paramaribo becomes an act of enslaved resistance

A proclamation issued in Suriname on 12 January 1819 prohibited fitting out slave ships, participating in the trade, and importing enslaved people into American Dutch possessions. It restricted...

A proclamation dated 3 November 1819 established the Anglo-Dutch Mixed Commission Court in Paramaribo to hear slave-trading cases. The court gave the anti-trafficking regime a local institution, yet...

On 23 March 1832 colonial authorities adopted a regulation governing manumission, or an enslaver-authorized release from slavery. Freedom remained dependent on enslaver action and government approval,...

The new manumission rules took effect on 1 April 1832. Freedom was processed through enslavers and the colonial state, not recognized as a right held by enslaved people. The rules formalized a pathway...

On 14 August 1832, the colonial record lists the manumission of Adelaide, recorded with the family name Pompenstein. The entry connects her freedom to a legal proceeding involving an estate and its...

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...

The Suriname manumission index records Betje’s release on 6 November 1832. Her entry names her mother as well as the estate and people who stood surety. The required guarantee of 400 guilders...

Two days before their execution, Gerrit Schouten visited Kodjo, Mentor, and Present in custody and drew ink portraits of them. Historian Natalie Zemon Davis notes the portraits show individual...

Colonial authorities burned Kodjo, Mentor, and Present alive in a public execution on 26 January 1833 after convicting them in connection with the Paramaribo fire. The punishment made state violence a...

On 3 July 1833, Laurentius Haarlo was manumitted. The National Archives identifies him as the son of Fanny Haarlo and records that he later petitioned to change his surname to Thijm. His record...