LIFE IN THE SHADOWS
THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008
Chapter 4: The plantations and their products.
The layout of the plantations.
The Surinam agricultural system was shaped and dominated by the plantation and, since agriculture was the mainstay of the colony, so were the economical and social structures. One cannot maintain that Surinam was eminently suitable for plantation agriculture, but that was the onlyprofitable activity it was suitable for.
Eric Wolf and Sidney Mintz have sketched the general conditions necessary for plantations to flourish:
(1) a technology adequate for the creation of a surplus, that is to say, the possibility to profit from the economies of scale;
(2) a certain measure of class stratification, to keep the underprivileged from gaining access to production factors and to help diverting the surpluses solely to members of the elite;
(3) the possibility of production for an outside market: since the plantation was specialized in the production of a single commodity, it could not depend on the internal market of the colony, but had to produce firstly for the motherland and secondly for the international market;
(4) the ability to accumulate sufficient capital for the large investments plantation agriculture usually entailed;
(5) a political-legal system that supports the operations of plantations, which had three functions (a) to permit the planters to procure the land and workers they needed; (b) to establish a political and legal setting stimulating for the growth of the plantations; (c) to provide the means for transferring the surpluses.
In Surinam, most of these preconditions were adequately met initially. Because the Dutch had been instrumental in dispersing sugar technology all over the Caribbean, the Surinam plantations certainly met the prevailing standards. Since the colony was conquered territory and opted for slavery, the class stratification was introduced automatically. Holland provided an lucrative market for the products of the plantations and was even able to absorb much more than Surinam could produce (the colony never supplied more than 1/3 of the sugar and 1/2 of the coffee needed). The Dutch merchants were willing to invest the profits of their commercial ventures in colonial enterprises and furthermore, Surinam managed to draw wealthy immigrants who could finance the establishment of plantations with their own means. As property of the Society of Surinam, the whole political-legal system of the colony was geared to plantation agriculture. However, even though the conditions were ideal from this point of view, the expansion of the plantations was handicapped by a chronic lack of workers and a limited amount of fertile grounds (which often needed extensive water works, leading to high production costs). In the late 18th and 19th centuries, moreover, the conditions deteriorated considerably. Surinam lagged behind in technological innovation; capital investments were diverted to other colonies; the Dutch government showed little interest in facilitating plantation agriculture and the scarcity of workers became even more acute. No wonder that Surinam could no longer be a serious competitor in the world market and not even in the Dutch market.
In 1651, the English pioneers started from scratch. Nevertheless, the number of plantations grew fast (to 175) during the few years their hegemony lasted. It dropped dramatically (to 107) after the Zeelanders had taken over, but during the government of Cornelis van Aerssen, the plantations recouped their former territory and until the end of the 18th century, they steadily increased in number, although a good part of the old terrains had already been abandoned. The 19th century saw a process of decline and concentration.
The English did not experiment with small-scale subsistence farms, as they had done in Barbados, but started with laying out full-size plantations at once, although the less affluent pioneers limited themselves to provision grounds and tobacco farms. The Zeelanders inherited a plantation system almost bankrupted by the departure of most of the English planters and slaves and in their desperation to fill this void, they resorted to near anarchy in the distribution of grounds for cultivation. Once the Society of Surinam had taken over the rudder, however, the laying out of the plantations happened systematically and orderly.
Contrary to the situation in other mainland colonies, the way the plantations could expand in Surinam was severely limited by the peculiarities of the landscape. The plantations were depended upon the rivers to provide water power and transportation facilities and the land had to be divided under strict control to make sure everyone would get a fair share of the land along the riverbanks. In this sense, the view of Surinam as a ‘frontier society’ is not entirely accurate. Later arrivals could not get all the land they wanted and existing plantations were unable to expand freely. Nevertheless, a situation of 'open resources' had prevailed during the crucial period of initial colonization, when the economical and social foundations of the colony had been laid.
Plantations seeking additional terrains had to expand their operations further inland and so developed a rectangular shape. Aspiring planters were allowed to stake their claim wherever they found suitable soil. When they went looking for a desirable location, they preferred to go in “the most heavy Rainy Season when one has to wade through the forest with water coming up to the Waist Yes to the Neck because only then one can See which lands Stay above water [and] which Drown”.
The English were forced to limit their plantations to the higher sandy grounds along the upper part of the Suriname and Para rivers, because they did not know how to drain the swampy lowlands. The Dutch, on the contrary, encountered a familiar landscape there, that could be conquered with the proven technique of inpoldering, a craft they had thoroughly mastered in their homeland. This way, the Lower Suriname and Lower Commewijne divisions were added to the plantation area in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the middle of the 18th century, the Cottica and Orelane regions were incorporated, followed in later years by the districts of Matapicca and Warappa, between the Commewijne and the coast. Some planters in the highlands shifted the focus of their operations to the lowlands, but nevertheless retained their former estates, even though they were not productive anymore. These show up on the maps as well, so the number of functioning plantations may ocassionally have been overstated in archival sources.
On the initiative of Governor Friderici (1790-1802), the first grounds along the Saramacca River were given out in the 1790’s, beginning with his own plantations La Prevoyance and Catharina Sophia. However, this part of the colony never boasted the flourishing settlements he had hoped for: barely fifty years later, most of the plantations had been deserted and the projected town of Columbia had never materialized. The first plantations in the Nickerie district were established in 1797. Coronie (then called Upper Nickerie) followed in 1808. Many Scottish and Irish planters settled there and, after the abolition of slavery in the English colonies, planters form Barbados and other islands as well, giving these districts an atmosphere totally different from that of the old plantation area. Quintus Bosz found that a large part of the concessions given out between 1799 and 1802 had already been deserted by 1809, partly because the owners could not get sufficient slaves as a result of the English occupation.
THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008
Chapter 4: The plantations and their products.
The layout of the plantations.
The Surinam agricultural system was shaped and dominated by the plantation and, since agriculture was the mainstay of the colony, so were the economical and social structures. One cannot maintain that Surinam was eminently suitable for plantation agriculture, but that was the onlyprofitable activity it was suitable for.
Eric Wolf and Sidney Mintz have sketched the general conditions necessary for plantations to flourish:
(1) a technology adequate for the creation of a surplus, that is to say, the possibility to profit from the economies of scale;
(2) a certain measure of class stratification, to keep the underprivileged from gaining access to production factors and to help diverting the surpluses solely to members of the elite;
(3) the possibility of production for an outside market: since the plantation was specialized in the production of a single commodity, it could not depend on the internal market of the colony, but had to produce firstly for the motherland and secondly for the international market;
(4) the ability to accumulate sufficient capital for the large investments plantation agriculture usually entailed;
(5) a political-legal system that supports the operations of plantations, which had three functions (a) to permit the planters to procure the land and workers they needed; (b) to establish a political and legal setting stimulating for the growth of the plantations; (c) to provide the means for transferring the surpluses.
In Surinam, most of these preconditions were adequately met initially. Because the Dutch had been instrumental in dispersing sugar technology all over the Caribbean, the Surinam plantations certainly met the prevailing standards. Since the colony was conquered territory and opted for slavery, the class stratification was introduced automatically. Holland provided an lucrative market for the products of the plantations and was even able to absorb much more than Surinam could produce (the colony never supplied more than 1/3 of the sugar and 1/2 of the coffee needed). The Dutch merchants were willing to invest the profits of their commercial ventures in colonial enterprises and furthermore, Surinam managed to draw wealthy immigrants who could finance the establishment of plantations with their own means. As property of the Society of Surinam, the whole political-legal system of the colony was geared to plantation agriculture. However, even though the conditions were ideal from this point of view, the expansion of the plantations was handicapped by a chronic lack of workers and a limited amount of fertile grounds (which often needed extensive water works, leading to high production costs). In the late 18th and 19th centuries, moreover, the conditions deteriorated considerably. Surinam lagged behind in technological innovation; capital investments were diverted to other colonies; the Dutch government showed little interest in facilitating plantation agriculture and the scarcity of workers became even more acute. No wonder that Surinam could no longer be a serious competitor in the world market and not even in the Dutch market.
In 1651, the English pioneers started from scratch. Nevertheless, the number of plantations grew fast (to 175) during the few years their hegemony lasted. It dropped dramatically (to 107) after the Zeelanders had taken over, but during the government of Cornelis van Aerssen, the plantations recouped their former territory and until the end of the 18th century, they steadily increased in number, although a good part of the old terrains had already been abandoned. The 19th century saw a process of decline and concentration.
The English did not experiment with small-scale subsistence farms, as they had done in Barbados, but started with laying out full-size plantations at once, although the less affluent pioneers limited themselves to provision grounds and tobacco farms. The Zeelanders inherited a plantation system almost bankrupted by the departure of most of the English planters and slaves and in their desperation to fill this void, they resorted to near anarchy in the distribution of grounds for cultivation. Once the Society of Surinam had taken over the rudder, however, the laying out of the plantations happened systematically and orderly.
Contrary to the situation in other mainland colonies, the way the plantations could expand in Surinam was severely limited by the peculiarities of the landscape. The plantations were depended upon the rivers to provide water power and transportation facilities and the land had to be divided under strict control to make sure everyone would get a fair share of the land along the riverbanks. In this sense, the view of Surinam as a ‘frontier society’ is not entirely accurate. Later arrivals could not get all the land they wanted and existing plantations were unable to expand freely. Nevertheless, a situation of 'open resources' had prevailed during the crucial period of initial colonization, when the economical and social foundations of the colony had been laid.
Plantations seeking additional terrains had to expand their operations further inland and so developed a rectangular shape. Aspiring planters were allowed to stake their claim wherever they found suitable soil. When they went looking for a desirable location, they preferred to go in “the most heavy Rainy Season when one has to wade through the forest with water coming up to the Waist Yes to the Neck because only then one can See which lands Stay above water [and] which Drown”.
The English were forced to limit their plantations to the higher sandy grounds along the upper part of the Suriname and Para rivers, because they did not know how to drain the swampy lowlands. The Dutch, on the contrary, encountered a familiar landscape there, that could be conquered with the proven technique of inpoldering, a craft they had thoroughly mastered in their homeland. This way, the Lower Suriname and Lower Commewijne divisions were added to the plantation area in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the middle of the 18th century, the Cottica and Orelane regions were incorporated, followed in later years by the districts of Matapicca and Warappa, between the Commewijne and the coast. Some planters in the highlands shifted the focus of their operations to the lowlands, but nevertheless retained their former estates, even though they were not productive anymore. These show up on the maps as well, so the number of functioning plantations may ocassionally have been overstated in archival sources.
On the initiative of Governor Friderici (1790-1802), the first grounds along the Saramacca River were given out in the 1790’s, beginning with his own plantations La Prevoyance and Catharina Sophia. However, this part of the colony never boasted the flourishing settlements he had hoped for: barely fifty years later, most of the plantations had been deserted and the projected town of Columbia had never materialized. The first plantations in the Nickerie district were established in 1797. Coronie (then called Upper Nickerie) followed in 1808. Many Scottish and Irish planters settled there and, after the abolition of slavery in the English colonies, planters form Barbados and other islands as well, giving these districts an atmosphere totally different from that of the old plantation area. Quintus Bosz found that a large part of the concessions given out between 1799 and 1802 had already been deserted by 1809, partly because the owners could not get sufficient slaves as a result of the English occupation.
