HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 HISTORY of SURINAME

Alonso de Ojeda discovered the northern coast of South America in 1549. In 1651 England established the first permanent settlement in Suriname. Under the terms of the Treaty of Breda in 1667, the Netherlands acquired Suriname in exchange for Nieuw Amsterdam, nowadays Manhattan, New York..

After the arrival of the Dutch in Suriname the number of plantations grew from about 25 to 400 a century later. Tropical products such as sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton were cultivated on these plantations. The owners of these plantations came from different countries, such as The Netherlands, France, Germany, England, but there were also Jewish refugees from several places. Slaves were brought from Africa to do the work on the plantations. Quite a few slaves escaped from the hard plantation life and fled into the interior. These so-called Maroons regularly attacked the plantations and thus created a constant threat to colonial security. They could not be beaten, so the authorities were forced to sign peace treaties with them in the second half of the 18^th century. However, the Surinamese plantations were becoming less prosperous after 1770 and hence their number went down. Coffee production declined, whereas sugar production remained strong. After the abolition of the slave trade in 1808, the treatment of slaves improved. The planters had an interest in reducing the number of deaths among the slaves, by providing better nourishment and medical care.

Slavery was abolished in Suriname in 1863. This caused a serious shortage of plantation labour. Indentured labourers from several countries were brought to Suriname to solve this problem. Even before the abolition of slavery labourers had arrived in Suriname, for example the Chinese, who were the first in 1853. Later on Indians (Hindustani) from India came to Suriname(1873) and Indonesians (mainly from the island of Java) from the Dutch colony Dutch East India (present day Indonesia) also came to work as plantation labourers (1890).

After the end of their contracts the indentured labourers were encouraged to stay in Suriname. From the Indian and Indonesians immigrants two third chose to stay in Suriname. Eventually they became peasant farmers, and particularly the Indians were able to prosper. Rice became staple food, and later on, improved technology made it possible to export this product.

At the turn of the century attempts were made to diversify the economy. Rubber tapping – or balata bleeding as it was called – was an important economic activity. The demand for rubber in Europe was quite high. Gold mining also prospered for a while, but the most important new industry after World War I became the mining of bauxite. Rich deposits of this raw material for aluminum were discovered and the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) was willing to invest in Suriname starting in 1916.

After World War II the situation in Suriname changed drastically. The American influence was visible both economically and culturally. Political parties were established, mostly on the basis of ethnic solidarity. The first elections based on universal suffrage were held in 1949. In 1954 Suriname became an internally self-governing member of the Kingdom of The Netherlands along with the Netherlands Antilles.

On November 25, 1975 Suriname became an independent republic. On February 25, 1980, the democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup.

In 1982 resistance against the military regime grew. A series of rallies and marches took place. On December 8, 1982, 15 prominent leaders of the redemocratization movement were executed. Dutch aid was suspended and slowly a severe economic crisis set in. The military regime lasted till November 1987, when a civilian government was installed on the basis of a new constitution for the Republic of Suriname. This government was again overthrown in December 1990. However, in May 1991 free and fair general elections were held, bringing back to power a democratically elected government.