Free blacks and coloureds in plantation Suriname

Relative Property

“…When the British Interregnum government (1799)(1800)(1801)(1802)(1804)(1805)(1806)(1807)(1808)(1809)(1810)(1811)(1812)(1813)(1814)(1815)(1816) conducted its census in 1811, that number had increased to 3,075, representing 60 percent of the colony's free population, most of whom resided in Paramaribo.7 Within two decades, the great majority of slaves in the capital city answered to masters of African descent (Hoogbergen & Ten Hove 2001). Free people of African descent plied an evermore diverse array of trades, not only as plantation owners and directors, but also as soldiers, washerwomen, shopkeepers, and artisans (Hoefte 1996;Hoetink 1972:64).…”