Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands)

Last updated

Suriname
1954–1975
Anthem:  God zij met ons Suriname  (Dutch)
"God be with our Suriname"
Royal anthem: "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe" (Dutch)
"'William of Nassau"
noicon
Suriname (orthographic projection).svg
StatusConstituent country of
the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Capital Paramaribo
Common languages Dutch (official)
Government Unitary parliamentary representative democracy under constitutional monarchy
Monarch  
 19541975
Juliana
Governor General  
 19541956
Jan Klaasesz
 19561963
Jan van Tilburg
 19631964
Archibald Currie
 19681975
Johan Ferrier
Prime Minister  
 19541955
Archibald Currie
 19551958
Johan Ferrier
 19581963
Severinus Desiré Emanuels
 19631969
Johan Adolf Pengel
 19691973
Jules Sedney
 19731975
Henck Arron
LegislatureEstates of Suriname
History 
 Proclamation of Charter
15 December 1954
25 November 1975
Currency
ISO 3166 code SR
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Surinam (Dutch colony)
Suriname Flag of Suriname.svg

Suriname was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1954 and 1975. The country had full autonomy, except in areas of defence and foreign policy, and participated on a basis of equality with the Netherlands Antilles and the Netherlands itself in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country became fully independent as the Republic of Suriname on 25 November 1975.

Contents

History

The origin of the administrative reform of 1954 was the 1941 Atlantic Charter (stating "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live", and the desire for "a permanent system of general security"), which was signed by the Netherlands on 1 January 1942. Changes were proposed in the 7 December 1942 radio speech by Queen Wilhelmina. In this speech, the queen, on behalf of the Dutch government-in-exile in London, expressed a desire to review the relations between the Netherlands and its colonies after the end of the war. After liberation, the government would call a conference to agree on a settlement in which the overseas territories could participate in the administration of the kingdom on a basis of equality. Initially, this speech had propaganda purposes; the Dutch government had the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in mind, and hoped to appease public opinion in the United States, which had become skeptical towards colonialism. [1]

After Indonesia became independent, a federal construction was considered too heavy, as the economies of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles were insignificant compared to that of the Netherlands. In the charter, as enacted in 1954, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles each obtained a Minister Plenipotentiary based in the Netherlands, who had the right to participate in Dutch cabinet meetings when it discussed affairs that applied to the kingdom as a whole, when these affairs pertained directly to Suriname and/or the Netherlands Antilles. Delegates of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles could participate in sessions of the First and Second Chambers of the States-General. An overseas member could be added to the Council of State when appropriate. According to the charter, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles were also allowed to alter their "Basic Laws" (Staatsregeling). The right of the two autonomous countries to leave the kingdom unilaterally, was not recognised; yet it also stipulated that the charter could be dissolved by mutual consultation. [1]

Moving towards independence

In 1954 and during the 1950s, the Dutch government strongly opposed the idea of full independence for its former colony. Suriname had been given far-reaching autonomy in order to keep it within the kingdom. This changed in the 1960s, especially after the Netherlands New Guinea crisis of 1962, and the riots in Curaçao in 1969. In the 1960s virtually all parties in the Dutch parliament began to support the idea of full independence for Suriname as soon as possible. The former colonies in the Caribbean had become a fiscal burden and the Dutch government had lost control over their internal administration. The Dutch Labour Party added to these political and economic reasonings an ideological argument: colonialism was considered wrong and all its remnants, such as the inclusion of Surname and the Netherlands Antilles in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, should be eliminated.

The Den Uyl cabinet that took office in May 1973 and stated that the Caribbean countries within the kingdom were to become independent during its term in office. The Netherlands Antilles rejected the idea, but Suriname was willing to talk. The Surinamese government under Jules Sedney argued that the Netherlands was acting in undue haste, and that independence required longer-term planning. [2] The newly elected government of Henck Arron however accepted Den Uyl's invitation that Suriname be independent by the end of 1975. After long negotiations, and with a very substantial severance package amounting to 3.5 billion Dutch guilders of Dutch aid, [3] Suriname became independent on 25 November 1975. On 21 November, the statue of Queen Wilhelmina was removed from Oranjeplein and replaced with the Surinamese flag. Oranjeplein was renamed Independence Square. The Dutch flag was lowered for the last time in the evening of 24 November. A big party started around midnight. The first day of the independent Republic of Suriname was celebrated in the company of Princess Beatrix, Prince Claus and Prime Minister Den Uyl. On 25 November former governor Ferrier was sworn in as president, while in The Hague Queen Juliana signed the treaty of sovereignty.

Dutch Guiana

The term Dutch Guiana (Dutch: Nederlands Guiana) is often unofficially used for Suriname, in an analogy to British Guiana and French Guiana. Officially, the name has always been Surinam or Suriname, both in Dutch [4] and English, [5] Before 1814, however, there were several Dutch colonies in the Guianas: Suriname, Berbice, Essequibo, Demerara, and Pomeroon. The last four were taken over by the United Kingdom in 1814 and united into British Guiana in 1831. The term Dutch Guiana applied to the period before 1814 does not describe a distinct political entity, but rather a group of colonies under Dutch sovereignty. [6] Therefore, the term "Governor of Dutch Guiana" should not cause confusion if applied to the period after 1814. Before 1814, however, its use is incorrect because the Governor of Suriname did not rule the other Dutch colonies in the Guianas.

Citations

  1. 1 2 Meel 1999.
  2. "Suriname was niet voorbereid op onafhankelijkheid". de Telegraaf via Nickerie.net (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  3. Oostindie & Klinkers 2003, p. 108.
  4. See for example this royal decree separating Suriname from Curaçao and Dependencies (1845).
  5. In treaties between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the colony is consistently referred to as the Colony of Surinam, e.g. Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands, relative to the Emigration of Labourers from India to the Dutch Colony of Surinam, the Accession of the Dutch colonies of Curaçao and Surinam to the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property.
  6. This is e.g. how Jan Jacob Hartsinck uses the term in his Beschryving van Guiana, of de wilde kust in Zuid-America( Hartsinck 1770 , pp. 257).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands Antilles</span> 1954–2010 Caribbean constituent country of the Netherlands

The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam, although relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Guiana</span> British colony from 1814 to 1966

British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch colonisation of the Guianas</span> 1581–1975 colonisation in South America

The Dutch began their colonisation of the Guianas, the coastal region between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers in South America, in the late 16th century. The Dutch originally claimed all of Guiana but—following attempts to sell it first to Bavaria and then to Hanau and the loss of sections to Portugal, Britain, and France—the section actually settled and controlled by the Netherlands became known as Dutch Guiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SSS islands</span> Group of islands in the Caribbean Sea

The SSS islands, locally also known as the Windward Islands, is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In order of population size, they are: Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. In some contexts, the term is also used to refer to the entire island of Saint Martin, alongside Sint Eustatius and Saba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berbice</span> 1627–1815 Dutch colony in South America

Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the latter year, it was merged with Demerara-Essequibo to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831. It became a county of British Guiana in 1838 till 1958. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana and in 1970 it became a republic as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demerara-Essequibo</span> Former British colony in South America

The Colony of Demerara-Essequibo was created on 28 April 1812, when the British combined the colonies of Demerara and Essequibo into the colony of Demerara-Essequibo. They were officially ceded to Britain on 13 August 1814. On 20 November 1815 the agreement was ratified by the Netherlands. On 21 July 1831 Demerara-Esequibo united with Berbice as British Guiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands</span> Legal document describing the political relationship between the Kingdoms constituent countries

The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a legal instrument that sets out the political relationship among the four countries that constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten in the Caribbean and the Netherlands in Europe. It is the leading legal document of the Kingdom. The Constitution of the Netherlands and the Basic Laws of the three other countries are legally subordinate to the Charter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles</span> 2010 dissolution of the autonomous Caribbean country of the Netherlands

The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of the Netherlands</span> Sovereign state including the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The realm is not a federation; it is a unitary monarchy with its largest subdivision, the eponymous Netherlands, predominantly located in Northwestern Europe and with several smaller island territories located in the Caribbean.

The Cassard expedition was a sea voyage by French Navy captain Jacques Cassard in 1712, during the War of the Spanish Succession. Targeting English, Dutch, and Portuguese possessions, he raided and ransomed the colonies of Cape Verde, Sint Eustatius, and Curaçao—factories, depots, and seasoning camps used in the Atlantic slave trade. He also raided and ransomed Montserrat, Antigua, Surinam, Berbice, and Essequibo—wealthy sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean whose economies were based on the exploitation of slave labor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curaçao and Dependencies</span> 1815–1954 Dutch colony in the Caribbean

The Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies was a Dutch colony in the Caribbean Sea from 1634 until 1828 and from 1845 until 1954. Between 1936 and 1948, the area was officially known as the Territory of Curaçao, and after 1948 as the Netherlands Antilles. With the proclamation of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 15 December 1954, the Netherlands Antilles attained equal status with the Netherlands proper and Suriname in the new Kingdom of the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitution of Suriname</span> National Constitution

The current Constitution of Suriname was adopted on 30 September 1987, following a referendum. It marked the return to democracy after the Bouterse military dictatorship of the 1980s.

Abraham van Peere was a Dutch merchant from Vlissingen in the County of Zeeland. In 1602, a charter was given by the States General of the Dutch Republic to his father Jan van Peere to found a colony on the Berbice River on the coast of Guyana. Abraham van Peere eventually founded the colony of Berbice in 1627.

The Society of Berbice was founded on 24 October 1720 by the owners of the colony of Berbice currently in Guyana. These owners had acquired the colony from the French on 24 October 1714, who in turn had occupied the colony which was previously a hereditary fief in the possession of the Van Peere family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pomeroon (colony)</span> Dutch colony in Guyana

Pomeroon is the name of a former Dutch plantation colony on the Pomeroon River in the Guyana region on the north coast of South America. After early colonization attempts in the late 16th century were attacked by Spaniards and local Indians, the original inhabitants fled the interior of Guyana, founding the colony of Essequibo around Fort Kyk-Over-Al shortly after. A second, and more serious attempt at colonization started in 1650, but was ultimately unsuccessful, as French privateers destroyed the colony in 1689. In the late 18th century, a third attempt of colonization was started, this time under the jurisdiction of the Essequibo colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinam (Dutch colony)</span> Dutch plantation colony in the Guianas

Surinam, also unofficially known as Dutch Guiana, was a Dutch plantation colony in the Guianas, bordered by the equally Dutch colony of Berbice to the west, and the French colony of Cayenne to the east. It later bordered British Guiana from 1831 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 Curaçao uprising</span> Series of riots and protests in Curaçao

The 1969 Curaçao uprising was a series of riots on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, then part of the Netherlands Antilles, a semi-independent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The uprising took place mainly on May 30, but continued into the night of May 31 – June 1, 1969. The riots arose from a strike by workers in the oil industry. A protest rally during the strike turned violent, leading to widespread looting and destruction of buildings and vehicles in the central business district of Curaçao's capital, Willemstad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands–Suriname relations</span> Bilateral relations

Netherlands–Suriname relations refers to the current and historical relations between the Netherlands and Suriname. Both nations share historic ties and a common language (Dutch) and are members of the Dutch Language Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands Armed Forces in Suriname</span> Military force maintained by the Netherlands in its colony of Suriname

The Netherlands Armed Forces in Suriname was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of Suriname, in the area that is now independent Republic of Suriname.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Leito</span> 20th century politician in the Netherlands Antilles

Bernadito M. "Ben" Leito was a Curaçaoan economist, politician and administrator. He served as Governor of the Netherlands Antilles from 1970 until 1983, and the Dutch Council of State from 1987 until 1993.

References

Online