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Dear crew members,

After a long journey we finally arrived in the tropical country of Suriname.

But how did we get to this country again?

After the English fleet took over this area with two ships. England wanted to return this after the war, but the Netherlands did not want it and preferred the tropical South American colony of Suriname.

But why and what was so special about this colony?

The colony itself was not special, but the climate was. In this colony it was very easy to grow the white gold of this time.

Sugar.


The price of spices had fallen, so the republic had to look for a well-earned alternative. The alternative was sugar.

But for sugar you need a substantial production. And therefore also need a large group of employees. This is why the Netherlands, like many European countries, started the international slave trade. And brought the desired worker from West Africa.



You can also see this when you look at the population of the country.
Afro-Surinamese 37.4% Most with slavery past
Maroons 21.7% escaped slaves
Creoles 15.7 % Europeans mixed with slaves.
Hindustani 27.4% Come to Suriname as a contract worker from India
Javanese 13.7% Come to Suriname as a contract worker from the Netherlands Indie
Mixed 13.4%
Indigenous people 3.8% Native Surinamese
Chinese 1.5% Come to Suriname as a contract worker from China
Europeans 1%Emigrated from Europe
Other 1.8%

But how long did the Dutch stay there and why did they eventually leave?

After sugar was no longer seen as an important raw material in the world, the colony was of no use in the first instance, this changed when bauxite was found in Suriname. Bauxite is an important material for making aluminum. this keeps the colony important for a long time. This changed after the Second World War where shortly afterwards the Dutch Indies became independent.

The Netherlands then started decolonization of Suriname. However, this was not in the interest for Suriname but entirely in the interest for the Netherlands. In 1958, the Netherlands was the first to begin to see suriname as the Netherlands, but as overseas territory with the same head of state. Then in 1975 the Netherlands gave independence without suriname that really wanted. Was this independence peaceful? Yes at the start, however, after 5 years of the new government, a coup came under desi Bouterse.



After this, Suriname became the country that we now know.

With this we leave Surinam behind us and we go to a colony that not many people know. Dutch Brazil.

Your captain,

Koning Der Zeeuwe