A new look on the economic history of Suriname* · 2011-07-22 · Academic Journal of Suriname 2011, 2, 150 - 167 Social Sciences Full-length paper Acad J Sur 2011 (2) 150 - 167 A

Academic Journal of Suriname 2011, 2, 150 - 167 Social Sciences Full-length paper

Acad J Sur 2011 (2) 150 - 167

A new look on the economic history of Suriname* including a methodology to calculate reparations for damage caused by Dutch colonial rule. Armand Zunder

Abstract Suriname was created by design by merchant bankers and members of the Dutch elite in the Dutch Government, the elite in the City of Amsterdam and the elite of the other major Cities at that time. All services to produce and sell the commodities would be supplied by the merchant bankers. The Dutch elite in the Central Government and City Governments profited indirectly from the Colony by gathering taxes from the merchant bankers. Besides this employment opportunities were created in the harbours and other locations, all related to the original business from Suriname. During the period of the plantation-economy the amount of goods shipped from Suriname amounted to 1.763.442.000 florins, of which around 76% was shipped to the Netherlands (mainly Amsterdam). The remaining 24% was shipped to England and the USA. The net present value of the goods imported in the Netherlands in the period 1683-1939 amounts to €. 126 billion at year end 2006. People were enslaved on the African West coast and shipped to Suriname to work on plantation estates. Meanwhile production took place under circumstances of extreme Human Rights abuses, where Mental Slavery was also systematically practised as a tool of total control towards the enslaved. Following the Durban conference1 I published a book on reparations. In this book a methodology to calculate reparations in the Suriname case was introduced. In this article the focus is on the production, the value of the production and the major beneficiaries in the plantation-economy of Suriname.

Key words: colonialism, slavery, slave trade, merchant bankers, reparations, plantation-economy Correspondence to: Armand Zunder, Economist & Management Consultant, Kersten Mall, Unit nr. 1, Paramaribo, Suriname. Tel 597 - 8654072. E-mail: [email protected] Available on-line: 25 July, 2011

* Picture taken by Armand Zunder of the Scale used to weigh the slaves in the Dutch Colony in the period 1828. A copy of this Scale is in the hall of the Waag building, which is now a restaurant, at de Waterkant in Paramaribo, Suriname. 1 The United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa from August 31th – September 8th 2001

Methodology to calculate reparations for damage caused by Dutch colonial rule

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Introduction

When the Spanish expansionists rediscovered2 Suriname at the end of the 15th Century they encountered the Indigenous people as original inhabitants of Suriname. The Spanish called the Territory ‘The Wild Coast’. At that time the number of the Indigenous people was around 70,000 The Spanish expansionists took the land of the Indigenous people and afterwards enslaved them. After the Spanish expansionists left, because the goldmines that they were looking for were not readily available, they were replaced by French, British and Dutch expansionists. From 1667 Dutch expansionists took over the Colony, at that time called Suriname.

The Netherlands lacked natural resources before they entered their Colonial adventure, but still they were able to become the centre of World trade in the 17th Century, the so called Dutch Golden Age How did they do that? Was it because of their excellence in navigation, manufacturing, financial and other services? Or were there other reasons that are not quite known yet. In this paper I will reveal the Dutch’s Best Kept Secret.

The plantation economy in Suriname was introduced by British expansionists3 who entered Suriname from the Caribbean hub island of Barbados in 1650. They were accompanied by Jewish planters and their slaves. At a later stage the plantation society was strengthened by other mainly Jewish emigrants who entered Suriname after the Dutch expansionists were driven out of North Brazil by Portuguese expansionists.

The plantation economy in Suriname covers the period 1650 till 1940 (start of the Second World War). The core objective of the plantation economy was to produce agricultural crops on plantation estates and other raw materials almost solely for the commodity markets in the Netherlands and especially to the Amsterdam Commodity Bourse.

From 1683 until 1792 the “Geoctroyeerde Societeit van Suriname”, a merger between the West Indian Company, the City of Amsterdam, and the Dutch noble man

2 As a matter of fact Suriname was discovered by the Indigenous people of Suriname some 7,000 years ago. 3 The leading expansionist was Lord Francis Willoughby, Earl of Parham and Governor of Barbados, who arrived from the than British Colony, Barbados with planters and enslaved Africans. Versteegh A., Suriname voor Columbus, Stichting Surinaams Museum, Paramaribo, 2003

Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck4, was the sole owner of the Colony. From 1797-1802 and 1804-1816 Suriname was also temporarily colonized by English expansionists, who returned the Colony to the Dutch in 1816. From that time until 1940 the plantation economy was under sole control of Dutch expansionists.

The massive forced migration of enslaved Africans to Suriname was initiated around 1630 by the West Indian Company and lasted until 1740. It was later continued by private shipping companies. During this period of more than two hundred years the enslaved Africans were cut off from their families, their homeland and their languages. They were furthermore heavily restricted to practice their original African cultures and religions.

Around Emancipation Day, July 1st 1863 merchant bankers and plantation owners received compensations from the Dutch Government for the release of the enslaved persons who were considered their assets. The enslaved people received nothing, not even a penny, or a piece of land, or agricultural tools, or any training to start a living or a business. After Emancipation in 1863 the formerly enslaved people were still not really free. They were obliged to sign a ten year contract to work for a few pennies in the same oppressive plantation system.

Experiments with indentured workers started in 1853 when the first Chinese contract workers arrived in Suriname. In 1873 after an agreement between the Dutch and English expansionists was reached, mass immigration followed from India to Suriname. From 1882 the Dutch Government in cooperation with Dutch merchant bankers also initiated mass immigration of indentured workers from Java. The aim was that these workers would become the major workforce in the plantation economy, replacing the enslaved African-Surinamese. Immigration from Asia lasted until the start of World War II (1939), which also more or less marked the end of the plantation production period in Suriname.

4 Van Sommelsdijck is registered as the 17th richest person of the Dutch Golden Age (The 17th Century). Part of his fortune was accumulated in Suriname. In 1682 he acquired a third part of the Colony Suriname for the amount of 86,667 florins (net purchasing value of € 1,952,842 at year end 2010), while his family sold that investment in 1770 to the WIC for the amount of 700.000 florins (net purchasing value of € 13,665,568 at year end 2010) . Zandvliet K., page 42, De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2006

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So the Surinamese society of the past has been a Dutch creation, but from the perspective of the ancestors of the current Surinamese people, not such a pleasant one. The Surinamese society was created by merchant bankers and their associates in the public sector to benefit to the maximum of what the Colony could produce for exports to the Netherlands. To a certain extent raw materials imported from the Surinamese economy were processed in sugar, coffee and cacao processing industries in the Netherlands and then re-exported to Germany, the East-Sea countries and the Dutch Colonies, by companies where the same merchant bankers were the major investors.

In this paper I will focus on what has been produced, the value of the production and the major beneficiaries in the plantation-economy of Suriname. The other side of the Dutch Colonial success story has to do with human rights abuses during the period of the plantation economy. I.e. how the ancestors of current people of Suriname and these of similar countries in the world produced under conditions of forced labour. The second element in this paper is how the Surinamese people and the Dutch people can proceed towards the future. This approach will bring us to the centre of the debate on the subject matter of Reparations. In the last part of this article I will present a methodology developed to calculate Reparations in the case of Suriname. The preparations by design of the Netherlands to conquer and to enslave Africans

The Netherlands as it is known now has

not always been first in line when it comes to fundamental changes on historical matters. This also goes for the expansionists movements to conquer other territories. Before the launch of the East Indian Company5 (VOC) in 1602, the Netherlands was considered an underdeveloped Nation and the Dutch people were even unaware of goods such as: potatoes, tulips, tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton, rice, citrus fruits, peanuts, tobacco, indigo and other goods that are now considered basic consumer goods.

In 1621 the Dutch Government established its second multinational expansionist

5 This Company was the first Dutch multinational company. Heijer den H., Goud Ivoor en Slaven, page 31, Walburg Press, 1997/ Israel J.I., de Republiek, 1477 – 1806, VOC Kenniscentrum KITLV, Amsterdam, 2004

company, called the West-Indian Company6 (WIC). This Company was licensed to trade, to conduct piracy and set up military posts. The major investors in this Company were located in Amsterdam (40%), while the Government of the Netherlands also had a stake of 7% in the Company. In addition the Government would lend substantial funds to the WIC during the course of its existence.

The territorial scope of the WIC covered the Netherlands, the West Coast of Africa and the North East Coast of the America’s. Private entrepreneurs, merchants and other business service providers, later identified as merchant bankers were allowed to trade under the ‘umbrella’ of the WIC territory. These private entrepreneurs paid a commission, called ‘recognition fee’ to the WIC. This fee was paid for the trading of enslaved people as well as for trading of material goods. In January 1624 the Dutch gathered several fleets near the Cape Verde Islands. Their intention was to implement the so called ‘Great Design’. This was the plan that the Dutch had designed to conquer San Salvador the largest sugar harbour of Brazil and at the same time attack Sao Paolo de Loando, the largest slave depot of the Portuguese expansionists in Africa at that time. With the implementation of this plan the Dutch would have established their two most profitable trading routes in the West. The first route would start from the Netherlands with mostly inferior goods7 and kauri shells that vessels of the VOC brought from the Maldive Islands in the Pacific to Africa, and returning to Holland with gold, ivory and tropical goods. The second shipping route was the so-called Transatlantic Slave Route. This route would mostly start from the cities of Vlissingen, Middelburg or Veere in the Province of Zeeland to a destination on the West African coast. There merchants would trade the inferior goods and kauri shells for enslaved people. These enslaved Africans would then be shipped to the slave markets in the West Indies, South America and the USA. From the territories in the West Indies where plantation economies were created by design, the ships would carry tropical agricultural goods8 to the Netherlands, especially to

6 Shares of this Company were widely spread regionally among investors in the Netherlands. 7 These goods would include clothing, firearms, alcohol and all type of utensils. 8 The goods like sugar, coffee, cotton and cocoa and in some cases tobacco and other tropical goods were in the case of Suriname mostly shipped to Dutch commodity markets.


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Amsterdam, where the world market for these goods was located during those days. In order to effectively and efficiently conduct their trading efforts, the Dutch West Indian Company established a huge commercial network of forts as trading entities in the Netherlands, Africa and on the North East coast of the Americas.

When the WIC was established in 1621

its business activities included piracy. Piracy reached its climax in 1628 when the Dutch Admiral Piet Hein succeeded in conquering a Spanish silver fleet in the Bay of Matanzas in Cuba.

Although some Dutch names appeared in the slave shipping registers as early as 1528 as slave traders, the Dutch were a little bit late on that market. In 1596 the Dutch Province of Zeeland had its first encounter with enslaved African people when a skipper from Rotterdam brought 130 enslaved Africans into the harbour of Middelburg9. Ultimately it was the Dutch Christian Pastor Godfried Cornelis Udemans who supplied the WIC with the business solution by writing the pamplet ’t Geestelijk roer van ‘t Coopmans jacht’. This document opened the way for the WIC to participate with peace of mind in the slave trade. Furthermore the Dutch elite and ship owners also cited the Holy Bible10 in their efforts to justify barbaric acts like trade in human beings followed by lifelong forced labor. The involvement of the WIC in slave trading thus started as early as 1630 and lasted until 1740 (110 years). Figure 1 also gives an overview of the periods when the involvement of the WIC peaked and when it decreased. Figure 2. Forced transport of enslaved Africans by the Dutch West Indian Company 1630-1740

When the Dutch were supplying Brazil

with enslaved persons in the period 1636 to 1648

9 Doeke, R., Zeeuwen en de West-Indische Compagnie, 1662 – 1674, page 85, Van Geyt productions, Hulst, 1992 10 Leviticus 25, 44 - 46.

they were the most prominent in this type of doubtful business. After Dutch merchants had gained the ‘Asiento’ trade in 1662 they also dominated it, especially in the years 1686-1689. As a matter of fact the Dutch claimed to have shipped (only) around 495,730 Africans into a life of slavery on plantations in the West. With this statement11 some Dutch historians want to indicate that the Dutch had a minor position in this horrible type of business. Meanwhile scolars like Joseph Inikori, Ivana Elb, Charles Becker, Joseph Becker and David Richardson have indicated12 13that the Dutch involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade was much larger. Much larger14 than their participation in the transatlantic slave trade however, was their involvement in slavery. For example in Suriname the Dutch practised slavery during the period 1667-1873, excluding the period of 17 years when Suriname was under English rule. During this period of 190 years of oppression and slavery at least nine generations of Africans lived and worked in Suriname. These numbers should also be taken into account, because these people have also been victims of the Dutch involvement in the slave trade.

More than 300 years of human rights violations

Dutch traders arrived in Suriname

looking for trading opportunities as early as the first decade of the seventeenth century. They then traded with the Indigenous people, who were the sole inhabitants of Suriname at that time. It would not take long however, that because of greed, the Dutch expansionists robbed the Indigenous people of their land. After that the expansionists forced Indigenous people into slavery on the land that had belonged to them for more than 7.000 years. The Indigenous people started a guerrilla war against their oppressors, but were not successful against the superior weapons of the Dutch expansionists. During the first Dutch occupation of the Land of the Indigenous people the human rights of these people were heavily violated. One could say that the ‘Red’ genocide took place in Suriname, because when the first expansionists (the

11 The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave trade, 1600 - 1815, Johannes Menne Postma, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1990. And De Nederlandse slavenhandel, 1500 - 1850, P.C. Emmer, Hilversum, 2003. 12 The Black Holocaust, S. E. Anderson, Writers and Readers Publishers Inc., New York, 1995. 13 Lorrendrayen op Africa, Ruud Paesie, Unknown Publisher, 2008. 14 Dutch smugglers, the so-called ‘Lorrendraaiers’ have not been included in those numbers.

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Spanish) arrived in Suriname in 1492, the population of Indigenous people amounted to 70,00015 while at the census of 1920 only 1,400 Indigenous people were counted

When it was clear to the expansionists

that the Indigenous people were not strong enough to do the hard labour on the plantations, they operated with consent of their religious leaders as the new expansionists by challenging the Spanish and Portuguese who were the first expansionist after the Treaties16 of Tordesillas (1494) and Zaragoza (1529) that were signed with consent of the Roman Catholic Pope Alexander VI. Figure 3. First page of the treaty of Tordesilla

Source: National Library of Portugal

15 Galibi, Peter Kloos, Bureau volkslektuur, Paramaribo, 1975. 16 The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the non European world between Spain and Portugal, these countries being the organizers of the first discovery voyages. Pope Alexander VI decided that after the discovery of the America all the Land at the Wet side of the line, 480 kilometers of the archipelago of the Cape Verde Islands belonged to Spain and all the Land located at the Eastern side of the line belonged to Portugal. In the Treaty of Tordesillas Spain agreed that this line was shifted to the left (1,770 kilometers from Cape Verde Islands. For this reason Brasil that was discovered later became a Portuguese Colony. In 1529 the Treaty of Zaragoza was enacted. At this Treaty the line was shifted again. Now till the Pacific Ocean. The consequence of this demarcation line was that also the seas were divided between the Portuguese and the Spaniards. The original Treaties are kept at the Archives in Spain (Archivo General de Indias) and the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Portugal.

The new expansionistic Nations like France, England and the Netherlands did not respect this Treaty and decided to stimulate piracy against the Spanish and Portuguese assets. The old as well as the new expansionists Nations had in common that they all eventually turned to Africa for labour to sustain their plantation economies. Table 1 shows the number of enslaved Africans that were transported from Africa by different expansionist’s nations, according to Philip Curtin (1969).

Table 1. Forced migration from Africa by Nations/ Regions of Departure 1519 - 1867 Nations/Regions Number of Africans that

were shipped to the ‘New World’

Senegal/Gambia 498.500 Sierra Leone 412.700 Windward Coast 182.000 Gold Coast 1.043.200 Bay of Benin 2.043.200 Bay of Biafra 1.517.900 West-Central Africa 4.887.500 South East-Africa 484.500 Total 11.069.500 Source: The Atlantic Slave Trade: A .Curtin, 1969

Progressive African, African-Guyanese and African-American scholars like Joseph Inikori, Ivana Elb, Charles Becker, David Richard, the late Walther Rodney, but also the British historian Basil Davidson doubted these numbers and are supporters of W.E.B. Du Bois17 whose estimates reached the figure of around 100 million. The aforementioned scholars have examined in great detail the log books of slave ship captains and doctors, along with diaries. The scholars have concluded18 among others that: • The French slave trade was underestimated

by a full 50%; • The early Portuguese (1450-1521) slave

trade was actually double Curtain’s estimate for the same period;

• The volume of the 18th century British slave trade was at least ¼ to 1/3 larger than Curtain’s estimate.

The cross over the Atlantic Ocean,

depending on the winds at sea could lasted six

17 Herstelbetalingen, De Wiedergutmachung voor de scgade die Suriname en haar bevolking hebben geleden onder het Nederlands kolonialisme, Armand Zunder, 2000. 18 The Black Holocaust for Beginners, S.E. Anderson, page 157, Writers and Publishers Inc. New York, 1995.


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weeks to three months. The trips to the ‘New World’ were absolutely no picnic or tea party as a matter of fact they were huge abuses against human rights as shown in the figure below.

Table 2 shows the destinations where the enslaved Africans were shipped to during the period 1519-1867 to work on different types of plantation estates. Table 2. Enslaved Africans shipped to the ‘New World’, 1519 - 1867

Destination Estimates North-America 361.100 British Leeward islands 304.900 British Windward Islands + Trinidad

362.000

Jamaica 1.077.100 Barbados 494.200 Guyana’s 403.700 French Windward Islands 305.200 Haiti + Dominican Republic 787.400 Spanish North and South American Colonies

430.300

Spanish Caribbean Colonies 791.900 Dutch Caribbean Colonies 129.700 North-East Brazil 876.100 Bahia in Brazil 1.008.000 South-East Brazil 2.017.900 The rest of the Western Hemisphere

118.700

Inter-African migration 130.800 Total 9.599.000 Source: The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census. Philip D. Curtin, 1969.

This mass migration of Africans from

their home territories to the ‘New World’ raises at least the following four questions:

What contribution did the labour efforts of the Africans had on the accumulation of Wealth of the expansionist Nations like The Netherlands, France, England, Germany, the USA, Denmark and others?; 1. What was the influence of this huge

migration on the development of the different countries on the African continent and on Pan-Africanism?;

2. What was the intermediary role that African Kings, Chiefs and other influential Africans played in the Transatlantic slave trade?;

3. What are the reasons that core institutions like strong Governments, Exchange Offices, Insurance Exchanges, a local banking system, Central Banks etc were not created by the African elite that participated as Intermediaries in the Slave Trade?

It will be a challenge to the Africans in

Africa and those in the Diaspora to conduct

thorough scientific research on the aforementioned subject matters19.

Suriname the most cruel place to be under Dutch Colonial rule

Slave trade and slavery as conducted by

the Dutch in Suriname had an economic as well as racial background. The racial element comes to the forefront when one notices that the Dutch never considered or took the initiative to massively migrate their own local (white) workforce to Suriname or other parts of the ‘New World’ to do hard labour on plantations estates. The West Indian Company did place applications in the Netherlands, but those applications were directed to persons that could act as entrepreneurs, or directors on plantations. Furthermore headhunting practices took place by representatives of merchant bankers with regard to technicians such as carpenters and bricklayers. The labour contracts were enacted by Notaries and in those contracts it was specifically mentioned that the white labour force would work and live among the white people in the colony. So the Dutch, instead of subjecting their own people to slave trade and slavery, started with the Indigenous people in Suriname and continued with Africans. While later indentured workers were introduced in the plantation-economy.

It would not take long before consensus was reached between the Dutch Government and the West-Indian Company because of the close business entanglement. The Board of Directors of this second Dutch multinational company consisted of business people as well as top public sector officials, who also has business interests. Because of these ramifications The West Indian Company could easily attain monopolistic rights in 1630 to supply plantation economies with enslaved people from Africa. And when, due to mismanagement of the WIC they could not meet demands, the Government declared the market open for other (private) slave shipping companies that were mostly located in and around the cities of Middelburg, Vlissingen and Veere in the Provence of Zeeland.

In 1730 the Government lifted the monopolistic position of the WIC, since this Company was unable to withstand the pressure of merchants who wanted to enter the very profitable slave trade business.

19 These subject matters are no part of this paper.

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Production and exports in the plantation economy

In May 1697, 30 years after Dutch expansionists had seized Suriname from the British expansionists, they exposed their production plans for the newly acquired colony. Governor Johan Scharpenhuyzen was the one to announce the plans. The intention was to establish at least 1,000 sugar plantations exporting annually 120 million kilogram of sugar mainly to the Amsterdam Commodity Bourse. The expected returns amounted to annual revenues of 67 million florins in prices20 of those days. In reality the Dutch managed to produce not more than around 10 percent of the forecast. The main reason was that the estimated production level was based on the average availability of at least 250,000 enslaved Africans. In reality there were never more than 60,000 enslaved Africans at one single time in Suriname. Profits were however high enough for the City of Amsterdam to try to keep these profits secret21 from the other Provinces in the Netherlands at that time.

The infrastructure in Suriname during

the period of the plantation economy consisted mainly of waterways. The central warehouse was the so-called Waaggebouw22, that was located in the harbor of the capital city, Paramaribo.

According to Van Lier23 300,000 to

350,000 Africans were enslaved and shipped to Suriname between 1667 and 1830. For calculation purposes the average number of 325,000 enslaved persons has been used in this article. The forced mass migration voyages continued for centuries, until due to different external and internal circumstances slave-trading was finally abolished in 1814 by the Dutch in their Colonies. At the date of the Abolition the number of enslaved persons in Suriname was (only) 32,911. This implies that theoretically24

20 Discounted at 3% the purchasing power at the end of 2008 was € 543.590.000. 21 G.W. van der Meiden. Betwist Bestuur, een eeuw strijd om de macht in Suriname 1651 - 1753, de Bataafse Leeuw, Amsterdam,1987 22 Translated into English Waaggebouw means the building were goods were weighted before export to the Netherlands. 23 Rudolph van Lier, a Surinamese scholar wrote: Samenleving in een grensgebied, Amsterdam, 1977. 24 Although the number of 292.089 is mentioned here we know for sure that this number is not correct, since at least nine generations of enslaved Africans that arrived in Suriname lived there and had children and those children also had children and so on.

292.089 Afro-Surinamese did not survive this ‘Black Holocaust’.

One of the conditions for the Abolition set by the Dutch Parliament at that time was that Reparations should be paid to the Slaveholders by the Dutch Government for their “Human Stock”. It was agreed upon between the Dutch Government and the slaveholders/plantation entrepreneurs that they would receive an average compensation of 300 florins25per enslaved person. At that time approximately 80% of the plantation owners were merchant bankers who resided in the City of Amsterdam, or elsewhere in the Netherlands, the so-called absentee owners. The total settlement amounted to somewhat like 9 million florins in 1863. Discounted at 3 percent the purchasing power of the total amount was € 694 million, of which € 556 million was paid in Holland to merchant bankers. Besides these amounts were not taken from the Dutch budget, but came from transfers from Colonial Indonesia where the Dutch expansionists were heavily involved in profitable business activities.

Even before the abolition of slavery in Suriname, the Dutch expansionists introduced Indentured workers from China (1853) and later on Indentured workers from India (1873) and from Indonesia (1890). These people worked under the same slavery conditions, but they had a contract, although their contractual rights were frequently violated.

During the period 1683 to 1940 (257 years), with an exception of 17 years, Dutch expansionists exploited the Surinamese economy to the benefit of the merchant-bankers and the Dutch government elites. The registered imports, mainly to the Dutch Commodity Bourse, located in the City of Amsterdam amounted to more than 1.3 billion florins of that time. Products from Suriname were traded from two fixed seats on that market (see figure 3) and were also registered on the then international market price list. At that time these price lists were known all over Europe as the “Amsterdam Price Lists”.

25 In the case of enslaved persons on the Islands of the Netherlands Antilles the amount per enslaved person was less than in the case of Suriname. The purchasing value of the amount of 300 florins/enslaved person was € 2,832.75 at year end 2008.


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Figure 4. Floor Plan of the Amsterdam Commodity Bourse/Amsterdam Staple Market. In the 17th Century this Market was considered the World Market for all Types of Goods and Services.

The net present value of the amounts

imported from Suriname into the Netherlands, during the time span of the plantation economy, if discounted at 3% is €. 125 billion as per 31st of December 2006.

While the Dutch Government accommodated their merchant bankers to do business in Suriname and to accumulate these fortunes, investments in the Surinamese economy were almost nil. Virtually no funds were (re)invested neither in the human resource force nor in the country. Instead the labour force was exploited to the maximum and deprived of its cultural heritage and human rights by the expansionists. So the fortunes migrated to Amsterdam and some other major Dutch cities, where investments preferably were made in processing industries, warehouses, shipbuilding activities, paintings, jewellery, exports to Germany and the East Sea countries and many luxurious dwellings along the canals of Amsterdam. The consequences of the squeezing social-economic policies on the economy of Suriname around 1940 at the end of the plantation economy can be summarized as follows: the infrastructure, if any, was left in a terrible condition26; the education system was

26 Verschuuren, S., Infrastructuur in deplorabele toestand, page 101 - 103,/ Willemsen, G.W., Koloniale politiek en transformatieprocessen in een plantage

poor and not adequate; the supply of social housing was not adequate; the public budget showed structural deficits and a local business sector almost did not exist. Summarizing one can conclude that the social-economic situation at the end of the plantation economy was extremely bad. One could also conclude that the society was in shambles and almost everything was below reasonable standards. Beneficiaries of the colonization of Suriname

During the time span of the plantation economy in Suriname the major crops produced for export were sugar, coffee, cotton and cocoa.

From the perspective of the beneficiaries of the plantation economy the major beneficiaries of the system can be fitted in the following time categories: A. From 1650 - 1683. During this period the

Indigenous people traded with Europeans, namely Dutch expansionists and were later on enslaved and forced to work on the newly established plantation estates. French, British, Danish, American and Dutch expansionists were the major beneficiaries in this period;

B. From 1683 - 1873. This period marks the

rise and fall of the peak of the plantation economy. In this period of the economy the workers were mainly enslaved Africans. Dutch merchant-bankers and other Dutch business suppliers were the major beneficiaries. British merchant-bankers profited from around 1799 - 1802 and 1804 - 1816 of the Surinamese plantation economy, since the colony was in their hands during that time span.

Plantation owners in Suriname also benefited from Slavery during the captioned period. Table 4 lists the values of the main agricultural crops that were produced in Suriname and imported in the Netherlands.

C. From 1873 - 1939. This period marks the

restart and formal fall of the plantation economy and plantation system. Slavery was abolished and indentured workers with a five year contract continued the existing27

economie Suriname, 1873 – 1940, page 292, Amsterdam, 1980 27 These laborors worked under the same conditions as their African predecessors. Beside this their human rights were also heavily abused by the owners of the modernized plantation-estates.

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production system. At the end of the nineteenth century gold mining and later on wood products like balata and from the second decade of the 20th century, bauxite mining enhanced the export base of the economy.

Table 3. Registered imports in the Netherlands from Suriname, 1683 - 1863

Major crops

In Weight in kilogram

Value in Dutch florins

Sugar 1,513,649,000 750,503,000 Coffee 405,110,000 470,722,000 Cotton 52,437,000 95,921,000 Cocoa 16,653,000 14,831,000 Total 1,987,849,000 1,331,977,000 Source: Herstelbetalingen, Armand Zunder, 2000. D. In this time span the following values of the

main agricultural crops were produced in Suriname and imported in the Netherlands.

Table 4. Registered imports in the Netherlands from Suriname, 1873 - 1939

Major crops

Weight in kilograms


Sugar 677,963,000 172,149,000 Coffee 62,676,000 33,274,000 Cotton - - Cocoa 97,652,000 68,757,000 Total 838,290,000 274,180,000 Source: Herstelbetalingen, Armand Zunder, 2000. In the total time span of the plantation economy the following numbers of the four major crops was produced in Suriname and imported in the Netherlands, England and the USA.

Table 5. Imports in the Netherlands from Suriname, 1863 - 1939

Major crops

Weight in kilograms


Sugar 787,715,000 235,582,000 Coffee 870,000 685,000 Cotton 63,198,000 33,603,000 Cocoa 103,022,000 68,757,000 Total 954,805,000 338,627,000 Source: Herstelbetalingen, Armand Zunder, 2000.

The major beneficiaries in the period of

the plantation economy were companies related to merchant-bankers. These companies were: processing firms of raw agricultural material, importers, insurance brokers, insurance firms, bankers and money lenders. As mentioned before also gold, balata and bauxite have been produced

and exported mainly to the commodity markets in the Netherlands and the USA.

The first serious signs of decomposition

of the plantation-economy in Suriname occurred after the Dutch King William I decided to establish the Dutch Trading Company (Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij) in 1824 (parent company of the now well-known ABN-AMRO-bank) and put all hands on deck towards the exploitation of Indonesia. At the same time the Surinamese plantation economic system was put ‘in the waiting room’. The official ending of the slave-trade by the Dutch expansionists in 1814 also played a pivotal role in the first signs of effective decline of the plantation-economy.

The British abolished the slave trade in 1807. The Dutch followed in 1814. Soon after the abolition of the slave trade one could notice that the plantation economy started a process of decomposition. To a certain extent this process can also be derived from the numbers shown in table 6, where in 1828 more than 20% of the plantation-estates were already abandoned.

The figures in Table 6 show that the

plantation economy was clearly going down. This downward spiral would continue until the end of the plantation economy before the beginning of World War II.

Table 7 illustrates the total value of registered raw materials produced in Suriname during the time span of the plantation economy. Table 7. Migration of Capital from Colonial Suriname, 1683 to 1940 Product Import value

in florins In percentages

Sugar 979,244,000 56 Plus molasses Inclusive - Plus rum Inclusive - Plus dram Inclusive - Coffee 504,237,000 29 Cotton 96,436,000 5 Cocoa 86,810,000 5 Balata 54,651,000 3 Wood products 1,779,000 0 Gold 35,286,000 2 Tobacco Rokou Indigo Raw wax Wood paint 5,000,000 0 Copiague Honey Coconuts Lime Juice Total 1,763,442,000 100 Source: Herstelbetalingen, Armand Zunder, 2000.


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159

Table 6. Plantation enterprises in Suriname in 1827

Source: Surinaamsche Almanak, 1828

Export consisted of seven major

branches, including a branch identified as ‘other branches. The value of the registered exports from the colony Suriname during the time span of the plantation-economy amounted to more than 1.7 billion florins of that time. The majority of this amount was exported to the Netherlands, being 1.329.000.000 florins (75%). The remaining export value was exported to England, during the 17 years of British occupation. The export was to a certain extent also directed to the North East coast of the USA. Molasses and rum were mostly exported to the USA and return shiploads consisted mainly of salted fish, salted meat, mules and horses.

The net present value of the exports, discounted at 3%, amounts to €. 126 billion by December 31st 2006. These cash outflows from Suriname to the Netherlands can be considered The Dutch’s Best kept Secret! The major beneficiaries in the plantation economy did not reside in Suriname, but in the Netherlands and particularly in Amsterdam. The major beneficiaries were merchant bankers, who were the service providers to the plantation entrepreneurs. They rendered their services in almost every field that one could think of, such as shipping services, warehousing services, suppliers of enslaved Africans and indentured workers, bookkeeping and administrative services, banking and especially mortgage services, insurance and brokerage services, importers of all types of consumer goods produced in the Netherlands, notary services and sales since the plantation entrepreneurs had no access to the Bourses in Amsterdam. The Central Government of the Netherlands and the Municipal Governments of Amsterdam,

Middelburg, Veere and Vlissingen also benefited directly from the exports from Suriname because of fiscal benefits and the creation of many jobs. How the merchant-bankers increased their wealth in the period of the plantation economy Schedule with the stages of wealth generation and wealth creation. Stage 1 • Financing of plantation estates • Financing the purchase of enslaved persons • Financing the freight expenses of indentured

workers • Suppliers of all types of services Stage 2 • Importers of staple goods produced in

Suriname • Taking of mortgages with the plantation

estates, including the enslaved Africans as standing security

Stage 3 • Investments in agro-industries in the

Netherlands (not in Suriname) related to sugar, cocoa, coffee and cotton

Stage 4 • Investments in money and capital market

related securities • Moneylenders who entered larger markets

Type of plantation enterprises

Total number of Plantations

Total in production

Total abandoned Plantation enterprises

Total square acres known

Plantation enterprises with unknown square acres

Sugar 141 110 31 157.691,11 29

Coffee 245 205 40 140.125,66 17

Cotton 73 72 1 39.472,50 9 Timber 199 135 64 166.338,50 94

Coffee - and Sugar combined

4 4 0 5.800 0

Coffee - and cacao combined

14 13 1 7.138 4

Coffee - and Cotton combined

31 25 6 16.178 5

Total 707 564 143 532.743,77 158

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160 Armand Zunder

• Marriages among family members based on existing wealth

• Investments in luxurious buildings situated along the canals in Amsterdam or elsewhere

• Investments in expensive paintings of Dutch masters and in jewellery

• Exporters and importers to Germany and East Sea Nations

Source: Compilation by Armand Zunder, 2011.

The stages indicate that merchant bankers who conducted ‘collective business activities’ could create wealth and continuously develop more and more wealth. In the next picture one can admire such a person. Figure 5. Picture of Mrs. Johanna Jacoba Borski, 1764 - 1849

Source: Kees van Zandvliet. De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw, 2006.

Mrs. Johanna Jacoba Borski was considered one of the richest persons at the end of her life. She had also supplied mortgage loans (negotiatie leningen) to plantation entrepreneurs in Suriname. Her fiscal net worth was estimated at 4 million florins. The purchasing value in 2008 was € 26,755,502.17. This implies that her real net worth could easily be over € 100 million.

In figure 6 one will find a graphic

presentation of the way the Surinamese economy was integrated in the economy of the Netherlands

in the period of the plantation economy. This structure was designed for the benefit of the economy of the Netherlands. The consequence for Suriname was that the economy of Suriname was kept in a stranglehold by the economy of the Netherlands and never developed to maturity. The major ultimate beneficiaries were the merchant bankers and public sector elites. The model is identified as a model for underdevelopment by design, whereby Suriname’s position was created by design.

It is estimated that around 57% of the revenues generated from imports from Suriname have been absorbed by merchant bankers for their business services, 16% of the revenues went to the Colonial Authorities in Suriname as fiscal revenues, while only 27% of the net revenues produced in the time span of the plantation economy remained for the producers, who were the plantation entrepreneurs. This last percentage has proven to be sufficient enough to autonomously sustain the plantation economic system. Scientific Colonialists For centuries the history of Suriname has been written by scientists from the Colonial motherland29, the Netherlands. These scientists looked at the history of Suriname from a Eurocentric perspective. Their thinking and analysis were in most cases based on general assumptions and lack30 of quantitative data. They had hardly any interest in the oral history of the Surinamese people. The Scientific Colonialists can be characterized by the following ten points: 1. They concentrate their research mostly on

slavery, and do not take the period of slavery or the genocide on the Indigenous people of Suriname into account;

2. They mostly conclude that slavery was not that bad and that the Dutch participation in the transatlantic slave trade was only limited to around 5%. They thereby do not take into account that nine generations of enslaved people lived and worked in slavery like conditions in Suriname. With these nine generations the number of victims of slavery increases substantially;

29 Among the Scientific Colonialists one will also find scientists of Surinamese origin, who have followed the same line as their colleague from the Netherlands. 30 The Dutch scientist Prof. Postma must be excluded from the list, because he has quantified the export figures from Suriname to the Netherlands. The only remarks that one could make regarding his conclusions are that he is not willing or able to go the extra mile.


Figure 6. The model for underdevelopment was implemented by design during the plantation economy

3. They state with limited scientific p

Suriname was not beneficial at all to the Netherlands, without analyzing the role of the merchant bankers and the cash outflow that they generated. In their analysis they concentrate almost fully on the position of the plantation entrepreneurs;

4. They suggest that the introduction of slavery in Suriname was a process by default and not by design;

5. They do not accept that the society in those days was one of suppression, racism and exploitation;

6. They oppose the Eric Williams thesis: they state that slavery was not abolished for economic reasons, but mainly by ethic reasons of civilized Europeans;

7. They state33 that the enslaved where better off in Suriname than in Africa, so slavery should be considered a blessing, instead of a curse;

8. They do not seem to care that slave trade and slavery have been declared as crimes against humanity in 2001;

9. They prefer not to compare the Black Holocaust with the Jewish Holocaust

10. They deny colonial racism and mental slavery;

33 Prof. Dr. Piet Emmer the front mancolonialists to be specific.


Acad J Sur 2011 (2) 150


They state with limited scientific proof that Suriname was not beneficial at all to the Netherlands, without analyzing the role of the merchant bankers and the cash outflow that they generated. In their analysis they concentrate almost fully on the position of

They suggest that the introduction of slavery in Suriname was a process by default and

They do not accept that the society in those days was one of suppression, racism and

They oppose the Eric Williams thesis: they slavery was not abolished for

economic reasons, but mainly by ethic reasons of civilized Europeans;

that the enslaved where better off in Suriname than in Africa, so slavery should be considered a blessing, instead of a

eem to care that slave trade and slavery have been declared as crimes against

They prefer not to compare the Black Holocaust with the Jewish Holocaust They deny colonial racism and mental

front man of the scientific

11. They prefer34 not to discuss the matter of reparations.

The scientific colonialists have dominated the way Surinamese look at their history for a long time and up until today they have ramifications and support from historians who originate from Suriname. But there is an upcoming trend of scientists who analyze Suriname’s history Surinamese perspective of suppression and exploitation have come to other conclusions. The road map for ‘Wiedergutmachungbetween Suriname and the Netherlands The Dutch Government still has an obligation to the Surinamese people for the historical moral wrongdoings that the forefathers of the Dutch people have committed against the people of Suriname. These historical wrongdoings go back to the times in history when crimes were committed by the forefathers of the Dutch aIndigenous people, against the people enslaved from Africa and against the people from China, India and Java that were used as indentured workers in the plantation economy. And last but

34 Prof. Dr. Piet Emmer is an advocate for the settlement of Reparations for historic wrongdoings. However his worries lie in the field of, to whom Reparations should be paid.

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161


not to discuss the matter of

The scientific colonialists have dominated the way Surinamese look at their history for a long time and up until today they have ramifications and support from historians who originate from Suriname. But there is an upcoming trend of

Suriname’s history from a Surinamese perspective of suppression and exploitation have come to other conclusions.

‘Wiedergutmachung’ between Suriname and the Netherlands

The Dutch Government still has an obligation to e people for the historical moral

wrongdoings that the forefathers of the Dutch people have committed against the people of

These historical wrongdoings go back to the times in history when crimes were committed by the forefathers of the Dutch against the Indigenous people, against the people enslaved from Africa and against the people from China, India and Java that were used as indentured workers in the plantation economy. And last but

Prof. Dr. Piet Emmer is an advocate for the

settlement of Reparations for historic wrongdoings. However his worries lie in the field of, to whom

Acad J Sur 2011 (2) 150 - 167

162 Armand Zunder

not least crimes committed against the Maroons and against the so-called Burus 35 These wrongdoings go far back, but still have a traumatic influence on some descendants of the people that were victimized in the past. The moral wrongdoings include dispossession of the land from the Indigenous people, taking away the original names and cultural heritage from the enslaved Africans that were employed against their will and horribly mistreated in the plantation system. Furthermore there is a causal link between the underdevelopment of the Surinamese plantation economy and the migration of capital from colonial Suriname to the Netherlands, especially to the City of Amsterdam. The other side of the story is, that there is also a causal relationship between the slave trade and slavery and the migration of capital from Colonial Suriname to the Netherlands during the time span of the plantation economy. During the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance in Durban in 2001 a Minister, Rogier van Boxtel, of the Dutch Government stated36 “This World Conference in Durban is in our view a necessary moment to state to all people that racism and discrimination must be eradicated. But we can only be credible if we recognize the great injustices of the past. We express deep remorse about the enslavement and slave trade that took place. But an expression of remorse as such is not enough and cannot be used as an excuse for not taking any action in the present. It is important to take structural measures that have effects for the descendents of former slaves and next generations”. At the same World Conference the Ambassador of Suriname to the Netherlands, Wim Udenhout, stated37 among other things: “My delegation is therefore convinced that reparations and compensatory measures are indispensable for acknowledging past wrongs, for the healing process that will accelerate the process of inclusion of the most marginalized groups. The ways and means of these measures should be negotiable. The basic principle here

35 Buru’s are Dutch farmers who emigrated from the Netherlands in 1845. Many of them died within a couple of years after arrival in Suriname because the Colonial government did not keep their promises towards this group of settlers. 36 Herstelbetalingen, Enclosure of Conference paper, Armand Zunder, 2000. 37 Herstelbetalingen, Enclosure of Conference paper, Armand Zunder, 2000.

should be understood as measures that will strengthen the development capabilities of affected countries and affected groups”. So, representatives of the Dutch Government as well as one of the Surinamese Government have expressed an opinion on repairing the history between the people of both Nations. But no fundamental steps have been taken yet by either side. This article refers to and focuses on the Surinamese side of the story and proposes a structural restitution and compensation Road Map that does not primarily focus on monetary compensation only. Monetary compensations are however part of the healing process. The restitution and compensation Road Map is called “Wiedergutmachung”. The fundamental meaning of the word is that wrongdoings of the past must be cleared and settled. “Wiedergutmachung” in the case of The Netherlands and Suriname will imply, initiating and implementing the following nine proposed components of this Road Map: 1. Establish a Research Institute for the

‘Wiedergutmachung’. This Institute must be staffed by local experts, supported by foreign experts. The Institute has to be at the forefront regarding awareness and research on this matter;

2. Rewrite the curriculum of History for schools and introduce this new curriculum as soon as possible in the schools. The Surinamese economic and social history will have to be rewritten from a Surinamese perspective;

3. Establish two Chairs at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. One for research and teaching on the social history and one for research and teaching on the economic history of Suriname;

4. Start with the formulation of the Terms of Reference of a broad and thorough scientific research project on the social and economic history of Suriname. This project will cover the period of the plantation economy and its effects on the period thereafter;

5. Rename ‘Fort Zeelandia’ in Fort ‘BUKU’38, as a victory of the good historical times over the bad historical times. Establish a mausoleum in this historic fort as a memorial to the thousands of forefathers who were tortured and, or lost their lives in this fort in the time span of the plantation economy. The mausoleum must be guarded

38 Or another historic Surinamese name.


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24/7 by members of the armed forces of Suriname;

6. Develop and implement a program on self reparations. The main objective of this program is to start the long lasting battle on all types of ‘mental slavery’ that have been planted during centuries in the minds of Surinamese people through the education and social system;

7. Establish a centre were descendants of victims from Dutch colonial rule can report to be represented in a collective litigation against the Dutch Government for historical wrongdoings against their forefathers, if this should be necessary;

8. At this moment there is no monument in Suriname that demonstrates the (historic) Unity of the Surinamese people. So there is great need to establish a monument for Unity, Prosperity and Solidarity from the perspective of Nation creation on a central location in the City of Paramaribo;

9. Calculate and file a claim against the Government of the Netherlands, Dutch companies and institutions that benefited directly and indirectly from wrongdoings against the forefathers of the Surinamese people during Colonial times. These claims must be calculated to cover the periods of the enslavement of the Indigenous people, the slave trade and slavery as well as the period of Indentured workers, Maroons and Burus. We are convinced that only by implementing a Road Map of ‘Wiedergutmachung’ between Suriname and the Netherlands the impure pages between both countries in their mutual history can ultimately be considered as a matter of the past. Only than the people of both countries can face a future without mixed feelings originating from the past.

Methodology to calculate Reparations in the case of Suriname

The methodology used to calculate Reparations is divided into two parts. The first part refers to a methodology to calculate restitutions for social- economic neglect and mismanagement. The second part of the methodology is related to Reparations for human suffering of the different ethnic groups under Dutch Colonial rule. Basic components of the methodology are that: • The total amount of imports (in this case into

the Netherlands from Suriname) during the

colonial period of 1683 to 1939 must be quantified first;

• An amount for compensations paid in the past by the expansionist nation for human suffering must be known or chosen;

• The Net Present Value39 must be calculated, while a discount rate must be chosen. The following basic formula is used to

calculate the net present value of the amounts in the past: z P=Y(1+X/100) P stands for the amount of the net present value or the net purchasing value Y stands for the amount in the past X stands for the interest rate per year used to compound the amounts in the past z stands for the number of years. Methodology for calculation of the restitutions

Based on these basic components the methodology can be implemented, starting with the methodology for calculation of restitutions.

At first the vision must be that Suriname should demand restitutions from the Netherlands for the extreme socio-economic neglect and improper management of the Surinamese economy in the period of the plantation economy. This will implies a follow up on the position taken by Suriname in September 2001 in Durban, South Africa..From this perspective Suriname should demand an amount of at least 30 percent of the calculated sum that merchant-bankers and others have extracted from the Surinamese economy, as imports from Suriname into the Netherlands during the period 1683 to 1940. As a matter of fact the proposed percentage of 30 is at the low end, since neither the Indigenous people nor the enslaved people that worked on the plantation estates received any payment for their labour inputs, although their labour in the labour intensive production processes could be considered 60 – 70 percent of the production value. The production value at year end 2006 was calculated at the amount of € 126 billion. Based on the labour intensive forms of production a wage quote of 60 to 70 percent could be considered the amount to be paid to the factor labour. However the conservative figure of 30 percent is chosen.

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164 Armand Zunder

From the calculated amount the Development Aid40 that was transferred to Suriname by the Netherlands in the period 1947 - 2010 is subtracted. The calculated amount for restitutions for social and economic mismanagement of the Surinamese economy during Colonial times is € 36.7 billion. The results of the calculation of restitutions and reparations

When calculating reparations for human suffering one should keep in mind that these figures are always symbolic and sensitive, since human suffering can hardly (and should not) be expressed in monetary terms. This goes especially for forced labour and continuous and extreme suffering as was the case during the period of the plantation economy. Notwithstanding this basic assumption calculations for reparations for human suffering are an integral part of the methodology to calculate reparations as part of the Wiedergutmachung.

The same basic formula to calculate the net present value of amounts in the past will also be used to calculate reparations for human suffering, while the 300 florins that was made available by the Dutch Government to owners of slaves will be used as a standard.

Human suffering under colonial rule started with the forceful dispossession of the land of the Indigenous people of Suriname and their enslavement by European expansionists. During the period 1600 – 1920 approximately 68,600 Indigenous people disappeared. As a reference point for our calculations the amount of 300 florins per person is taken. The amount for the reparations for the suffering of the ancestors of the Indigenous people is equal to €. 16.392,989.000 billion.

Reparations for the African-Surinamese for human suffering, who have been enslaved from around 1650-1863. During this time frame around 292.089 of these enslaved workers disappeared. We multiplied this number by 300 florins, the result is an amount of 88 million florins. An amount of 100 florins per person is added for tools and equipment, necessary to have been able to start a small business after the Abolition of Slavery. The total amount is compounded at 3% per year as per December 31st

40 The proposal to subtract this amount of € 3.3 billion is carried out since we consider Development Aid a gift or grant, while Reparations are considered moral historic rights.

2006. The net present value for the reparations to these ancestors amounts to €. 6.228.336.000 billion.

Calculations for reparations with reference to the disaster that hit the Indentured workers from India and from Indonesia/Java are based on the following assumption. The Surinamese author Oedraydsing Varma41 calculated an amount of 3 billion florins to be paid to the descendants of the Indentured workers from India, as per 1994. The same amount is added for the suffering of the Indentured workers from Indonesia/Java, since the amount of persons that migrated from Java to Suriname were more or less the same. The total amount is compounded at 3% per year as per December 31st 2006. At that date the net present value reaches the level of €. 5.703.044.000 billion for Reparations for the suffering and loss to these ancestors

Reparations have also been calculated for Chinese Indentured labourers, Burus and Maroons. They also suffered under Dutch Colonial rule. In conclusion, the calculations are shown in table 8. Table 8. Minimum amounts of reparations and restitutions as per 31 December 2006

Description Amount in Euros

For Indigenous people

16.392.989.,000

For enslaved Africans who worked on plantation estates

6.228.336.,000

For Maroons

205.515.,000

For the Burus

3.499,000

For Chinese Indentured workers 21.543000 For Indentured workers from India and Java

5.703.044,000

Total amount for Reparations for Human suffering

28.6 billion

Restitutions for economic and social mismanagement of the Colony

36,7 billion

Total compensations and restitutions

65.3 billion

From the perspective of a

‘Wiedergutmachung’ between the Netherlands and Suriname as per year end 2006, compounded at 3% per year, a symbolic amount of over €. 65.3 billion, being the net present value can be

41 De slavernij van Hindustanen in Suriname, F. H. R. Oedayrajsingh Varma, alisa Che Varma, 1993.


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