Afro-Surinamese

Last updated
Afro-Surinamese
Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber H-2492 Diorama van een Afro-Surinaams dansfees.jpg
Regions with significant populations
Suriname (Paramaribo  · Coronie  · Brokopondo  · Marowijne  · Para)
Netherlands
Languages
Dutch, Sranan Tongo, Maroon languages
Religion
Christianity, Winti

Afro-Surinamese are the inhabitants of Suriname of mostly West African and Central African ancestry. They are descended from enslaved Africans brought to work on sugar plantations. Many of them escaped the plantations and formed independent settlements together, becoming known as Maroons and Bushinengue. They maintained vestiges of African culture and language. They are usually split into two ethnic subgroups (Creoles and Maroons).

Contents

Origins

Most of the enslaved people imported to Suriname came from West Central Africa (circa 61,500 slaves, 27% of the total number), Gold Coast (Ghana) (circa 46,000, 21% of the total), Windward Coast (circa 45,000, 20%), and Bight of Benin (more than 32,000, 14% of the total). Thousands of enslaved people also arrived from Bight of Biafra (circa 11,000, 5.0% of the total) and Sierra Leone (circa 3,600, 1.6% of the total). [1] The total number of enslaved people was estimated at 220,000. [2]

The Akans from the central Ghana were, officially, the predominant ethnic group of slaves in Suriname. However, in practice, enslaved people from Loango, [3] purchased in Cabinda, Angola, [4] were the largest group of slaves in Suriname since 1670; they surpassed the number on the Gold Coast in almost all periods. Enslaved people including the Ewe (who live in southern Ghana, Togo and Benin), Igbo (from Nigeria), Yoruba (from Benin [5] ) and Kongo (who live in the Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola), all left their cultural footprints in Suriname.

History

The Dutch were involved in the slave trade during the early colonial years. They sought office space for their plantations. The space they received was when the British in the Treaty of Breda (1667) gave land on the northern coast of South America, ceded to them in exchange for New York. Suriname became a slave colony. Slaves were rapidly shipped from Africa to Suriname to work on coffee, cocoa, and sugar plantations for the Dutch and other Europeans. [6]

Afro-Surinamese scholar Gloria Wekker argues, for example, that working-class Afro-Surinamese women retained pre-colonial African cultural understandings of gender, sexuality, and spirituality. She, and other theorists, argue that African cultural retentions are found most often in Afro-diasporic communities that either had irregular contact with dominant groups of the host community or that shielded their cultural retentions from their colonizers. As Wekker observes, Surinamese slaves socialized, communicated, and communed with little white cultural, social, or linguistic interference. [7]

Maroons

Maroon group in 1930 Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 60006217 Portret van een groep Marrons op het.jpg
Maroon group in 1930

Escaped enslaved people in Suriname and French Guiana, known as Maroons or Bushinengues, fled to the interior and joined with indigenous peoples to create several independent tribes, among them the Saramaka, the Paramaka, the Ndyuka (Aukan), the Kwinti, the Aluku (Boni), the Matawai, [8] and the Brooskampers. [9] By 1740, the maroons had formed clans and felt strong enough to challenge the Dutch colonists, forcing them to sign peace treaties. Because of their long isolation in interior rainforests, they maintained more African culture than did ethnic Africans in the cities.

From 1972 to 1978, two American professors, S. Allen Counter and David L. Evans, made seven voyages upriver into the maroon areas. Both African Americans, they wanted to contact these communities and learn about the peoples, to see what African cultures they followed. [10]

By the 1980s, the maroons in Suriname had begun to fight for their land rights to protect territory which they had long occupied. [11] They won an important case in 2007 at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ruled they had rights to their traditional lands. [11]

Notable Afro-Surinamese people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suriname</span> Country in South America

Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, sometimes considered part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. Situated slightly north of the equator, over 90% of its territory is covered by rainforests, the highest proportion of forest cover in the world. Suriname is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, and Brazil to the south. It is the smallest country in South America by both population and territory, with around 612,985 inhabitants in an area of approximately 163,820 square kilometers. The capital and largest city is Paramaribo, which is home to roughly half the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Suriname</span> Demographics of country

This is a demography of the population of Suriname, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.

The early history of Suriname dates from 3000 BCE when Native Americans first inhabited the area. The Dutch acquired Suriname from the English, and European settlement in any numbers dates from the 17th century, when it was a plantation colony utilizing slavery for sugar cultivation. With abolition in the late 19th century, planters sought labor from China, Madeira, India, and Indonesia, which was also colonized by the Dutch. Dutch is Suriname's official language. Owing to its diverse population, it has also developed a creole language, Sranan Tongo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramaribo</span> Capital and largest city of Suriname

Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people, almost half of Suriname's population. The historic inner city of Paramaribo has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Suriname</span> Overview of music and musical traditions in Suriname

The music of Suriname is known for kaseko music, and for having an Indo-Caribbean tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maroons</span> African refugees who escaped from slavery in the Americas, and their descendants

Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas and Islands of the Indian Ocean who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saramaka</span> Maroon ethnic group of Suriname and French Guiana

The Saramaka, Saamaka or Saramacca are one of six Maroon peoples in the Republic of Suriname and one of the Maroon peoples in French Guiana. In 2007, the Saramaka won a ruling by the Inter-American Court for Human Rights supporting their land rights in Suriname for lands they have historically occupied, over national government claims. It was a landmark decision for indigenous peoples in the world. They have received compensation for damages and control this fund for their own development goals.

Saramaccan is a creole language spoken by about 58,000 people of West African descent near the Saramacca and the upper Suriname River, as well as in Paramaribo, capital of Suriname. The language also has 25,000 speakers in French Guiana and 8,000 in the Netherlands. It has three main dialects. The speakers are mostly descendants of fugitive slaves who were native to West and Central Africa; they form a group called Saamacca, also spelled Saramaka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aluku</span> Maroon nation in French Guiana and Suriname

The Aluku are a Bushinengue ethnic group living mainly on the riverbank in Maripasoula in southwest French Guiana. The group are sometimes called Boni, referring to the 18th-century leader, Bokilifu Boni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramaccan people</span> Maroon ethnic group of northeast Suriname

The Paramaccan or Paramaka are a Maroon tribe living in the forested interior of Suriname, mainly in the Paramacca resort, and the western border area of French Guiana. The Paramaccan signed a peace treaty in 1872 granting the tribe autonomy.

The Kwinti are a Maroon people, descendants of runaway African slaves, living in the forested interior of Suriname on the bank of the Coppename River, and the eponymous term for their language, which has fewer than 300 speakers. Their language is an English-based creole with Dutch, Portuguese and other influences. It is similar to the languages spoken by the Aluku and Paramaccan Maroons, and split from Sranan Tongo in the middle 18th century. The Kwinti had a population of about 300 in 2014 and adhere to the Moravian Church.

Richard Price is an American anthropologist and historian, best known for his studies of the Caribbean and his experiments with writing ethnography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ndyuka people</span> Maroon ethnic group of Suriname and French Guiana

The Ndyuka people or Aukan people (Okanisi), are one of six Maroon peoples in the Republic of Suriname and one of the Maroon peoples in French Guiana. The Aukan or Ndyuka speak the Ndyuka language. They are subdivided into the Opu, who live upstream of the Tapanahony River in the Tapanahony resort of southeastern Suriname, and the Bilo, who live downstream of that river in Marowijne District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graman Quassi</span>

Graman Quassi was a Surinamese physician, botanist and planter. Born in the Guinea region of West Africa, Quassi was taken to the Dutch colony of Surinam via the Atlantic slave trade, where he was initially enslaved on a sugar plantation before managing to emancipate himself. Assisting the Dutch colonial authorities in suppressing the activities of local maroons, he managed to rise to the top of the colony's small community of free people of color and eventually became a plantation owner himself. He gave his name to the plant genus Quassia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Suriname</span>

The history of the Jews in Suriname starts in 1639, as the English government allowed Spanish and Portuguese Jews from the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy to settle the region, coming to the old capital Torarica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinamese Maroons</span> Ethnic group of enslaved African origin

Surinamese Maroons are the descendants of enslaved Africans that escaped from the plantations and settled in the inland of Suriname. The Surinamese Maroon culture is one of the best-preserved pieces of cultural heritage outside of Africa. Colonial warfare, land grabs, natural disasters and migration have marked Maroon history. In Suriname six Maroon groups — or tribes — can be distinguished from each other.

Gleofilo Sabrino Rudewald Hasselbaink Vlijter is a Surinamese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Finnish Veikkausliiga side Vaasan Palloseura (VPS) and the Suriname national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matawai people</span>

The Matawai are a tribe of Surinamese Maroons. The Matawai were originally part of the Saramaka, and signed a peace agreement with the Dutch colonists in 1762. The tribe split from the Saramaka, and in 1769, they were recognized as a separate tribe.

The Brooskampers were a Maroon people, descendants of runaway African slaves, living in the forested interior of Suriname. The tribe is related to the Saramaka, and originated from Loango-Angola. The Brooskampers gained autonomy in 1863, but sold their land in 1917.

Ghanaian–Surinamese relations are diplomatic relations between Ghana and Suriname. Both countries established diplomatic relations on 24 November 1975. Both countries are members of OACPS and former Dutch colonies.

References

  1. ↑ Borges 2014, p. 41, : Based on embarkation with 10% undetermined, therefore all figures are at least ±10%
  2. ↑ Borges 2014, p. 41.
  3. ↑ Identidades en juego, identidades en guerra (in Spanish: Identities at stake, identities at war) - Page 49
  4. ↑ "Batey. Revista Cubana de Antropología Sociocultural (ISSN 2225-529X)". www.revista-batey.com. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
  5. ↑ Publico.es: Los genes narran la rebelión de los esclavos Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish: Genes tell the Revolt of the slaves). Posted by Núñez Domínguez.
  6. ↑ "Bittersweet: Sugar, Slavery, and Science in Dutch Suriname".
  7. ↑ Wekker, Gloria. The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora. Columbia University Press, 2006.
  8. ↑ Scholtens 1994, pp. 155–156.
  9. ↑ Scholtens 1994, p. 33.
  10. ↑ Vincent Harding, "A remarkable search for roots;" I Sought My Brother: An Afro-American Reunion, by S. Allen Counter and David L. Evans, Christian Science Monitor, 12 March 1982, accessed 2 October 2013
  11. 1 2 Case of the Saramaka People v. Suriname, Judgment of November 28, 2007, Inter-American Court of Human Rights (La Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos), accessed 21 May 2009

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.