201, 202 Slave labour in Suriname

Trans-Atlantic slave trade may have been the best-known form of involuntary migration. A Surinamese sugar plantation such as Wayampibo on the upper Commewijne entirely relied on slave labour. The plantation was founded around 1671 and in the early eighteenth century was owned by Gerard de Vree from Arnhem, who owned Vossenburg as well. In 1927 some of the records were purchased by the NEHA at an auction in Arnhem. The balance sheet for the year revealed unambiguously that slaves were treated as means of production with a finite life cycle.

Verantwoord Reekening van de Plantagien Vossenburg en Waijampibo
Surinam, 1760
Manuscript, 23 x 34
NEHA Bijz. Col. 20, no 20, 1-4

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