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       #Post#: 4909--------------------------------------------------
       Surinam
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: March 18, 2021, 12:07 am
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       OLD CONTENT
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Suriname#European_colonization
       [quote]Willoughbyland[edit]
       In 1650, Lord Willoughby, the governor of Barbados, furnished
       out a vessel to settle a colony in Suriname. At his own cost he
       equipped a ship of 20 guns, and two smaller vessels with things
       necessary for the support of the plantation.[5] Major Anthony
       Rowse settled there in his name. Two years later, for the better
       settling of the colony, he went in person, fortified and
       furnished it with things requisite for defence and trade.
       'Willoughbyland' consisted of around 30,000 acres (120 km2) and
       a fort. In 1663 most of the work on the 50 or so plantations was
       done by native Indians and 3,000 African slaves.[6] There were
       around 1,000 whites there, joined by Brazilian Jews
       ...
       The settlement was invaded by seven Dutch ships (from the
       Zeeland region), led by Abraham Crijnssen, on February 26, 1667.
       Fort Willoughby was captured the next day after a three-hour
       fight[7] and renamed Fort Zeelandia. On July 31, 1667, the
       English and Dutch signed the Treaty of Breda, in which for the
       time being the status quo was respected: the Dutch could keep
       occupying Suriname and the British the formerly Dutch colony New
       Amsterdam (modern-day New York). Willoughbyland was renamed
       Suriname.[/quote]
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surinam_(Dutch_colony)
       [quote]The colonization of Surinam is marked by slavery.
       Plantations relied on slave labour, mostly supplied by the Dutch
       West India Company from its trading posts in West Africa, to
       produce their crops. ... Planters' treatment of the slaves was
       notoriously bad[2]—historian C.R. Boxer wrote that "man's
       inhumanity to man just about reached its limits in
       Surinam"[3]—and many slaves escaped the plantations.[/quote]
       A useful source of detailed information is John Gabriel Stedman
       (illustrated by William Blake):
       [quote]While the Colony of Surinam however is
       reeking and dyed with the blood of the African
       negroes, truth compels me to observe, that the
       Dutch there are not the only guilty ; but that
       to most other nations, and particularly the Jews,
       is owino' this almost constant and diubulical
       barbarity.[/quote]
       archive.org/details/narrativeoffivey01sted/page/n5
       archive.org/details/narrativeoffivey02sted/page/n3
       [quote]
  HTML https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Blake_after_John_Gabriel_Stedman_Narrative_of_a_Five_Years_copy_2_object_2-detail.jpg/429px-Blake_after_John_Gabriel_Stedman_Narrative_of_a_Five_Years_copy_2_object_2-detail.jpg
       Detail from William Blake's illustration John Gabriel Stedman,
       Narrative, of a Five Years' Expedition, against the Revolted
       Negroes of Surinam, copy 2, object 2 (Bentley 499.2) "A Negro
       hung alive by the Ribs to a Gallows"[/quote]
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gabriel_Stedman
       [quote]It should be noted that Stedman defended slavery,
       chronicling the cruelty towards slaves mainly for historical
       purposes:
       In his Narrative, Stedman writes about the contrast between the
       beauty of the colony and his first taste of the violence and
       cruelty endemic there. One of his first observations involves
       the torture of a nearly naked enslaved woman, chained to an iron
       weight. His narrative describes the woman receiving 200 lashes
       and carrying the weight for a month as a result of her inability
       to fulfill a task to which she was assigned.[11]
       Over the course of his Narrative, Stedman relays several stories
       regarding the wretched state of the slaves and the horrors to
       which they are subjected. In one story detailed in his
       Narrative, involving a group sailing by boat, an enslaved mother
       was ordered by her mistress to hand over her crying baby. The
       mistress then threw the baby into the river, drowning it. The
       mother jumped into the river after her baby, whose body was
       recovered by fellow slaves. The mother later received 200 lashes
       for her defiant behavior. In another story, a small boy shoots
       himself in the head to escape flogging. In yet another, a man is
       completely broken on the rack and left for days to suffer until
       he died.[15]
       ...
       In spite of the abolitionist utility of the text, Stedman
       himself was far from an abolitionist. A defense of slavery runs
       throughout the text, emphasizing problems that would arise from
       sudden emancipation and claiming that Englishmen treated their
       slaves better than other colonizers.[30] In fact, Stedman
       believed that slavery was necessary in some form to continue
       allowing Britain and other European nations to indulge their
       excessive desires for commodities such as tobacco and sugar. A
       seemingly pro-slavery attitude is espoused throughout much of
       his text, reflecting his patriotism as much as his attitude
       toward slaves themselves.[/quote]
       NEVER FORGIVE. NEVER FORGET.
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