Governor reports stalled sugar production and flight from plantations

On 15 December, Indigenous fighters attack plantations in several areas. Sugar works and settlers’ property are destroyed, and colonial residents are killed. The attacks show organized resistance to...

Johannes Heijnsius arrives to take up the governorship. He sends patrols to search for the fighters, but they return without finding them. The occupying government tries to regain the initiative,...

Heijnsius reports serious divisions among the European settlers: some oppose him, refuse to pay taxes or consider leaving the colony. The war exposes the fragility of colonial rule; resistance...

The colonial militia begins building a fort at Graskreek on an abandoned plantation. The defensive post is meant to protect plantations along the Commewijne. Its construction shows how the occupiers...

Indigenous fighters set fire again to John Browningh’s partly rebuilt plantation. According to the colonial report, they shout that the Europeans who came by ship should leave by ship. The call...

Eight canoes carrying about 250 Arawaks under the leadership of Warray arrive from Berbice. The Dutch government wants to deploy them against Carib fighters. Hira shows that the Arawaks did not simply...

The Arawaks return without carrying out the attack on the Caribs that the Dutch wanted. Colonial accounts call this unwillingness; the events also point to independent diplomacy and a relationship...

Heijnsius writes that Indigenous attacks are increasing and that many Africans are fleeing plantations. Together, Indigenous military pressure and African marronage weaken the plantation colony’s...

Colonial documents report that hundreds of Indigenous people are on the occupier’s side or are being recruited. Hira describes cooperation, rivalry and constrained choices as part of a complex war....

A journal reports that Gaminet, a Maroon, is travelling with Indigenous fighters. This points to contact and possible solidarity between communities resisting colonial rule. The archive describes...