Suriname and the Atlantic World, 1650-1800 Issue Date: 2013-10-01
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Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/21912 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation. Author: Fatah-Black, Karwan Jalal Title: Suriname and the Atlantic World, 1650-1800 Issue Date: 2013-10-01 Suriname and the Atlantic World, 1650-1800 Proefschrift Ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus Prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op dinsdag, 1 oktober 2013 klokke 16.15 door Karwan Jalal Fatah-Black geboren te Amsterdam in 1981 Promotoren Prof. dr. G.J. Oostindie, verbonden aan de Universiteit Leiden en KITLV-KNAW Prof. dr. H.J. Den Heijer, verbonden aan de Universiteit Leiden Promotiecommissie Prof. dr. C.A. Davids, verbonden aan de Vrije Universiteit Prof. dr. A.A. van Stipriaan Luïscius, verbonden aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Prof. em. dr. P.C. Emmer, verbonden aan de Universiteit Leiden Dr. C. Antunes, verbonden aan de Universiteit Leiden Dr. J.V. Roitman, verbonden aan het KITLV-KNAW LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................. III LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................. IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................. V INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 7 PART I: INTEGRATION, 1650-1738 ................................................... 35 1. THE WILD COAST AS MARCHLAND: SURINAME BEFORE 1683 ....... 36 2. CONSOLIDATING CONNECTIONS, 1684-1713 ................................. 55 3. THE ASCENT OF THE SURINAMER, 1713-1738 ............................... 72 PART II: CONNECTIONS .................................................................. 103 4. NODAL POINT AND HINTERLAND ................................................. 104 5. MIGRATION CIRCUITS OF EUROPEAN COLONISTS ........................ 139 6. MIDDLEMEN IN THE SLAVE TRADE .............................................. 158 PART III: DUTCH COLLAPSE AND ATLANTIC SHIFT ............. 190 7. SCATTERED CONNECTIONS, 1780-1795 ....................................... 191 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 223 APPENDICES ....................................................................................... 232 CONSULTED ARCHIVES .................................................................. 243 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................. 244 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................... 259 SAMENVATTING ................................................................................ 261 CURRICULUM VITAE ....................................................................... 263 i ii List of tables TABLE 1 THE DUTCH GUIANAS AND DUTCH CARIBBEAN ISLANDS AS A SHARE OF THE DUTCH SLAVE TRADE ................................................. 23 TABLE 2 SOURCES OF SUGAR ON THE DUTCH MARKET IN POUNDS, 1753- 1790 .................................................................................................. 24 TABLE 3 SHIP MOVEMENTS FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 1680 ............... 53 TABLE 4 ROUTES OF NON-DUTCH SHIPS, 1682-1692 .................................. 59 TABLE 5 SHIPS SAILING TO THE DUTCH REPUBLIC IN BALLAST, 1683-1713 .......................................................................................................... 67 TABLE 6 SHIPPING DATA OF MADEIRA AND THE CORRUPT DATA FROM SURINAME COMPARED, 1735-1740 .................................................... 91 TABLE 7 ANNUAL AVERAGE LETTERHOUT EXPORT TO THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1690-1794 ..................................................................... 108 TABLE 8 ANNUAL AVERAGE OF CIVILIAN PASSENGERS MOVING TO AND FROM PARAMARIBO, 1729-1770S .................................................... 144 TABLE 9 DEVELOPMENT OF SLAVE OWNERSHIP, 1684-1713 .................... 162 TABLE 10 POPULATION FIGURE OF THE COLONY BASED ON THE POLL TAX, 1693-1697 ....................................................................................... 170 TABLE 11 WIC SLAVE TRADE CONTRACTS, 1688-1712 ............................ 174 TABLE 12 CREW OF THE TWO BROTHERS IN HIERARCHICAL ORDER, APRIL 1778 ................................................................................................ 195 TABLE 13 MULES TO PARAMARIBO ON NON-DUTCH VESSELS, 1760-1794 ........................................................................................................ 207 GRAPH 1 NUMBER OF SHIPS PER YEAR IN PARAMARIBO (SLAVERS, FREIGHTERS AND NON-DUTCH), 1683-1795 .................................... 233 GRAPH 2 WAITINGTIMES OF DUTCH FREIGHTERS AND NON-DUTCH SHIPS COMPARED, 1683-1795 ................................................................... 234 GRAPH 3 AVERAGE WEIGHT OF TROPICAL PRODUCE ON BOARD SHIPS SAILING TO THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1683-1795 ............................... 235 GRAPH 4 SLAVE SALES IN SURINAME, INCLUDING FROM NON-DUTCH SHIPS, 1683-1795 ....................................................................................... 236 GRAPH 5 SUGAR AND COFFEE SHIPPED FROM SURINAME TO THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1683-1795 ..................................................................... 237 GRAPH 6 VARIOUS PRODUCTS SHIPPED FROM SURINAME TO THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1683-1795 ..................................................................... 238 APPENDIX 1 SHIPPING DATA, 1683-1795 .................................................. 232 APPENDIX 2 AMSTERDAM NOTARIAL CONTRACTS FOR SLAVE SALES ....... 239 APPENDIX 3 BILLS OF EXCHANGE PAYING FOR THE ENSLAVED SOLD BY THE MCC IN 1765 .................................................................................. 240 APPENDIX 4 REQUESTS FOR TAX-EXEMPTION BY SLAVE TRADERS 1783- 1787 ................................................................................................ 242 iii List of illustrations FIGURE 1 MAP OF THE MOUTH OF THE SURINAME RIVER WITH THE LOCATION OF PARAMARIBO, 1713 ......................................................VI FIGURE 2 VIEW OF PARAMARIBO’S WATERFRONT IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ...................................................................... 11 FIGURE 3 VIEW OF PARAMARIBO'S WATERFRONT, 1831............................. 14 FIGURE 4 ENGLISH MANUSCRIPT MAP OF SURINAME, 1667. ....................... 44 FIGURE 5 DETAIL OF THE MAP BY THORNTON SHOWING BOTH THE FORT AND TORARICA, 1667. ............................................................................... 47 FIGURE 6 DETAIL OF A MAP SHOWING PARAMARIBO AND TORARICA, 1713 .......................................................................................................... 77 FIGURE 7 DETAIL OF A MAP SHOWING LAYOUT OF NEW COFFEE PLANTATIONS NEAR PARAMARIBO, 1737 ........................................... 78 FIGURE 8 FIRST PAGE OF THE BOOK THAT INTRODUCED COFFEE GROWING TECHNIQUES TO SURINAME, 1716 ...................................................... 86 FIGURE 9 DETAIL OF A DRAWING OF PLANTATION LEEVERPOEL SHOWING EUROPEAN SAILORS PUNTING A BARGE AND SLAVES ROWING A TH TENTBOAT, 18 CENTURY ............................................................... 123 FIGURE 10 A MAROON DELEGATION VISITING PARAMARIBO, 19TH CENTURY ........................................................................................................ 132 FIGURE 11 DRINKING SCENE OF NORTH AMERICAN CAPTAINS IN PARAMARIBO, 1755 ......................................................................... 194 iv List of abbreviations Abbreviated names of companies and institutions used in the text MCC Middelburg Trading Company, Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie SC Suriname Company, Sociëteit van Suriname VOC Dutch East India Company, Vereenigde Oost- Indische Compagnie WIC Dutch West India Company, West-Indische Compagnie Abbreviated names of archives and datasets used in footnotes HCA Kew, The National Archive, High Court of Admiralty MCC Middelburg, Zeeuws Archief, Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie NL-HaNA Den Haag, Nationaal Archief OAS Den Haag, Nationaal Archief, Oud Archief Suriname OBP Overgekomen brieven en papieren (written material sent to the SC) in the SvS PSDC Postma Suriname Data Collection PSNADC Postma Suriname North America Data Collection SAA Amsterdam, Stadsarchief Amsterdam TASTD Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database TNA Kew, The National Archive ZA Middelburg, Zeeuws Archief SvS Den Haag, Nationaal Archief, Sociëteit van Suriname v Introduction When sailing into the Suriname River from the Atlantic Ocean in the eighteenth century one would see plantations along the river and defence works protecting the river mouth. There were sugar plantations inland, but close to the coast one would find predominantly “coffee plantations, lying on both sides of the river.” After passing the first defences and plantations, the “very advantageous and strong fortress Zeelandia” would come into view “just north of Paramaribo.”1 The city itself was a sight to behold with its white houses and fragrant trees lining the streets. Between 1650 and 1800 present-day Paramaribo was founded on the remnants of an indigenous village and developed into a bustling colonial city. The centre of Paramaribo, as the indigenous village before it, is situated along the Suriname River on shell ridges several kilometres from the Atlantic coast, not far from where the Commewijne and Suriname River merge before they flow into the ocean. Both rivers