George Frits Prix is manumitted through a freedom purchase

The Dutch emancipation law was promulgated on 8 August 1862, setting 1 July 1863 as the date slavery would formally end. In Suriname, the statute compensated enslavers while freed people received no...

A resolution dated 11 September 1862 records the manumission of Harry Joseph (enslaved name Henry, born 1861) and his brother Philip Albert (born 1859). Both were identified as sons of Johanna...

The law was announced in Paramaribo on 3 October 1862, with a governor’s proclamation addressed to enslaved people. A contemporary chronicle records people sharing and reading the announcement in...

Carel Albert Elshot was recorded as manumitted on 31 October 1862, the year of his birth. The archive identifies Charlotte as his mother and notes that he had a brother, Fredericus Wilhelmus. A...

Gustaaf Theodorus Prener, born in 1861, was manumitted on 12 December 1862. The entry records Anna as his mother. This release came only months before general emancipation, but it did not make the...

On 22 May 1863, Jacquelina Henrietta Grave was manumitted from plantation Barbados in Beneden Cottica. Born in 1855, she was eight years old and the daughter of Elisabeth Louisa Grave. J. Bronner...

On 1 July 1863, the Dutch law emancipated enslaved people in Suriname. The National Archives estimates roughly 45,000 people were freed across the Dutch Caribbean that day. In Suriname, adults aged...

On 8 September 1870, the Netherlands and Britain signed an agreement for recruiting workers from British India to Suriname. Its terms described voluntary contracting and return passage after five...

The treaty enabling recruitment of workers from British India was ratified on 10 February 1872, allowing recruitment to proceed. Workers were promised return passage, medical care, and limits on...

On 10 February 1872, the Netherlands ratified its 1870 agreement with Britain governing the emigration of so-called free workers from British India to Suriname. This legal framework made it possible...