Introduction

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, Suriname, like many other Caribbean colonies, was in a gradual and steady state of decline. Established by English planters out of Barbados in 1651, it became Dutch in 1667 when Suriname was traded for Manhattan in the Peace of Breda treaty. Dutch political sovereignty would last for more than 300 years, except for a brief interlude during the Napoleonic Wars, when the British ruled the colony (1802–1816); Suriname became an independent republic in 1975. After flourishing as a typical Caribbean plantation colony, decline set in in the late eighteenth century.