Mariënburg workers stop work over wages and labor conditions

On 26 September 1884, colonial forces fired on resisting workers at Zorg en Hoop. Janey Tetary, a Hindostani woman who helped mobilize other women in the resistance, was shot and killed along with six...

On 9 August 1890, the first recorded Javanese contract workers arrived in Paramaribo aboard the Prins Alexander and Prins Willem II. The experiment placed them at Mariënburg, where they joined an...

The steamship Voorwaarts arrived on 16 June 1894 with the second major recorded Javanese cohort in the National Archives ship chronology. Recruitment from Java was still experimental, but it became...

On 28 June 1902, 137 workers at plantation Alliance—100 Hindostani and 37 Javanese—stopped work and went to Frederiksdorp to present grievances. They objected to excessive tasks, low wages, and the...

On 29 June 1902, officials arrested Jumpa Raygaroo after workers had returned to Alliance from their protest. Fellow workers demanded his release, and a confrontation escalated around the official...

On 27 July 1902, a group of reed cutters refused a work task paid at 15 cents per bed. Management proposed a higher rate for the longest beds, but workers considered the offer inadequate. Their...

On 29 July 1902, Mariënburg director James Mavor was killed during the escalating labor conflict. The uprising followed months of wage reductions, heavy work, and disputes over task rates. Mavor’s...

On 30 July 1902, after arrests following Mavor’s death, workers moved toward the plantation office. Colonial troops opened fire. Seventeen people died immediately and seven more later died of their...

The Dewa arrived on 24 May 1916 with the final recorded group of Hindostani contract workers from British India. More than 34,000 people had arrived under the recruitment system since 1873. The...

On 10 January 1917, the Javanese ship Rotti arrived in Suriname with a new cohort of contract workers. The date came months after the final Hindostani ship, showing that the colonial labor system...