ABSTRACT
Suriname on the South American mainland was a classic Caribbean plantation society. In the 1650s English colonists and Sephardi Jewish refugees from Brazil (arriving in two groups in 1652 and 1666) introduced the cultivation of sugar. When the Dutch took over from the British in 1667 some fifty sugar plantations already operated. Following an initial decrease in the number of estates, Suriname soon developed into a rather prosperous colony producing sugar and later coffee, cacao, and cotton as well. By 1745 there were 154 sugar and 140 coffee plantations. In the second half of the century, Suriname experienced its halcyon years. By 1770, some 400 plantations exported coffee and sugar, while the export value of the tropical products was highest between 1770 and 1789. In the nineteenth century this value dropped sharply: coffee and cotton in particular did badly, while the value of sugar exports was more stable despite the decline in the number of plantations. 1
