ABSTRACT
It is not surprising to find that the major debates on the dismantling of the Dutch overseas empire have centred on the forced decolonization of the East Indies in the years after the Second World War. Indonesia was by far the richest and most important component of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and its loss came as a huge psychological shock to Dutch national pride. However, this focus on the East Indies has tended to mask the decolonization process in the Netherlands’ West Indian territories. Always the junior elements in the empire, Suriname on the South American mainland and the Caribbean islands collectively known as the Antilles were also gradually detached from the European motherland, with Suriname being granted full independence in 1975.
