Suriname Slavery Records

Slave Register
Suriname Slave Register Tips for Slave Register

Historische Database Suriname The website ‘Vrij in Suriname’ (Free in Suriname) contains contains personal- and familie information of freed Suriname slaven and free blacks in Suriname. This site functions as a platform for different databases. At this moment there are two:


 * De database Surinaamse manumissies 1832 – 1863
 * De database Surinaamse emancipatie 1863


 * Suriname freed slaves

Background
"In 1826, a Royal Decree stipulated that a slave register would be established in Suriname. This happened to combat the illegal slave trade. The international slave trade from Africa was already prohibited, but the smuggling of people continued. A mandatory registration of all enslaved people by name and age, including birth, death and any change of ownership, was supposed to make it impossible to enslave people illegally and thus permanently stop the illegal trade. As stated in the decree, the owners had to report the people they owned to an official in Paramaribo or Nieuw Rotterdam (for the residents of Nickerie and Coronie). Afterwards, every 'mutation' had to be reported to this official, such as births, deaths, purchases and sales."