Colonial officials report the Tempati revolt but seek to calm investors

In a letter to the Society of Suriname, Governor Jan Jacob Mauricius Crommelin argued that colonial troops could not defeat Maroon communities and that peace might save the colony. Maroon...

The treaty recognized Mangkubumi as ruler of part of the Mataram realm and formalized a political division shaped by VOC intervention. Javanese rulers pursued their own political strategies, but the...

One month after the Giyanti settlement, Sultan Hamengkubuwono I announced the name Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat for his half of the former Mataram realm. The new court asserted Javanese political...

Enslaved people at the La Paix timber plantation rose against enslavement. The revolt spread through the Tempati region, with hundreds fleeing plantations and joining Maroon communities. This was an...

The agreement formalized a further division of the Mataram political order. VOC officials mediated and secured influence over Javanese succession, while local princes and courts shaped the...

A group of former colonial officials warned the Society of Suriname about the revolt’s scale and the danger to settler property. Their private alarm contrasted with public attempts to reassure...

The Society’s representative Francois Dandiran replied to Boston Band, a leader who advocated negotiation between Ndyuka Maroons and colonial officials. Boston’s literacy, diplomacy, and political...

Crommelin wrote that only peace could prevent the colony’s ruin. His appeal followed decades of failed military campaigns and acknowledged Maroon power. The letter documents the strategic position won...

At a peace negotiation, an unnamed Ndyuka speaker defended Maroon attacks against plantations. The statement reframes the violence as resistance to enslavement and colonial aggression. The surviving...

Boston Band sent a letter to Governor Crommelin about a peace agreement. His role shows Maroon diplomacy, literacy, and leadership in negotiations with the colonial government. The Ndyuka sought...