Coffy sends the governor a warning from the insurgents

Colonial authorities and residents in Paramaribo celebrated the treaty with the Ndyuka. The celebration recognized a negotiated end to a costly conflict, though the treaty remained shaped by...

Crommelin complained to Boston Band that too few escaped enslaved people had been returned. This correspondence shows the conflict between the treaty’s recognition of Ndyuka autonomy and the...

A diplomatic mission succeeded in opening negotiations with Saamaka communities. The colonial government sought peace after repeated military failures; Saamaka leaders used the opportunity to...

The agreement formalized peace between the Saamaka and the colonial state. As with the Ndyuka agreement, the treaty followed Maroon resistance and was negotiated by political actors who had secured...

Enslaved people in Berbice began a major uprising for freedom. Within a day, the rebellion had spread across plantations. Led by Coffy and other organizers, the insurgents challenged a colonial system...

The governor reported that the revolt had spread across plantations and forced colonists to flee. His dispatch records the scale of insurgent action from an administrative viewpoint. The rebellion’s...

Van Hoogenheim replied to Coffy’s proposal that the colony be divided between colonists and freedom fighters. The governor did not accept the insurgents’ claim to land and freedom, instead delaying...

Governor Van Hoogenheim chaired a council that decided to keep negotiations open only to delay while reinforcements were expected. This record exposes the colonial government’s bad faith in talks with...

In a letter to the governor, Coffy stated that planters and directors caused the war by beating and mistreating enslaved people. His account makes the rebellion’s cause explicit: the violence of...

A colonial report recorded Coffy’s death amid internal tensions among insurgent leaders and the government’s military campaign. His death weakened the uprising, but the struggle continued into 1764....