How Suriname Became Independent from the Dutch

Suriname gained its independence from the Netherlands on November 25, 1975. The process leading to Suriname's independence involved several key events and negotiations. Suriname was a Dutch colony for nearly three centuries, with the Dutch establishing control in the 17th century. By the mid-20th century, there was a growing global movement toward decolonization, and many colonies sought independence from their colonial rulers. In the years leading up to independence, Suriname experienced the emergence of various political parties and movements advocating for self-determination and independence. The key political parties during this period were the National Party of Suriname (Nationale Partij Suriname, or NPS), led by Henck Arron, and the Progressive Reform Party (Progressieve Surinaamse Volkspartij, or PSV), led by Jagernath Lachmon. In 1974, a Round Table Conference was held in The Hague, Netherlands, where representatives from the Dutch government, Surinamese political parties, and other stakeholders discussed the terms of Suriname's independence. This conference played a crucial role in shaping the future of the country.
At the Round Table Conference, an agreement was reached for Suriname to gain independence on November 25, 1975. The agreement stipulated that Suriname would become a sovereign nation while maintaining friendly relations with the Netherlands. Suriname agreed to take responsibility for its own governance, defense, and foreign affairs. In the months leading up to independence, a transitional government was established in Suriname to prepare for the handover of power. The Netherlands provided technical and financial assistance to facilitate the transition. On November 25, 1975, Suriname officially became an independent nation, with Paramaribo as its capital. The country's first president was Johan Ferrier, and Henck Arron became the first Prime Minister.
It's worth noting that while Suriname gained political independence in 1975, it faced numerous challenges in the years that followed, including political instability, economic difficulties, and a military coup in 1980. These challenges have played a significant role in shaping Suriname's history and development since its independence.
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SOURCES
- Geschiedenis van Suriname. Van stam tot staat (Eveline Bakker, Leo Dalhuisen, Maurits Hassankhan, Frans Steegh).
- Suriname in the Long Twentieth Century. Domination, Contestation, Globalization (Rosemarijn Hoefte).
- www.parlement.com/id/vhnnmt7l... (01-09-2023).
- www.volkskrant.nl/uitgelicht/... (01-09-2023).
- npokennis.nl/longread/7695/ja... (01-09-2023).
IMAGES
Images from commons.wikimedia.org.
VIDEO
Video material from:
openbeelden.nl
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[@HistoryHustle]

Suriname during World War II: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6mrpqifmtyAnas&pp=ygUTc3VyaW5hbWUgZHVyaW5nIHd3Mg%3D%3D

[@marcoskehl]

✅ 👍

[@aidankitson7877]

Thanks Stefan for another fascinating piece of scholarly work. Suriname has always intrigued me, a small Dutch speaking country on a mainly Spanish speaking continent

[@HistoryHustle]

Sure is an interesting place. Thanks for watching.

[@Artur_M.]

Suriname is such a unique and interesting place.

[@HistoryHustle]

It is.

[@nickpapagiorgio5056]

I have my coffee and I’m ready for class professor Stefan! Very interesting and informative video as always! I love your segments on Dutch colonial rule there is so much I do not know and I would love to hear a more in depth look at the migration of Surinamese people to the Netherlands in the 70s and how they were acclamated into society and the tensions that grew from it among Dutch civilians witnessing all of these refugees from the former Dutch colony.

[@erikthehalfabee6234]

Coffee as it was introduced to Europe by the Dutch

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks Nick!

[@onnusus]

nice video

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks!

[@majorronaldmandell7835]

I’d like to hear more about the situation in Suriname today, population and possibilities for the future, the state of their military, the economy, Netherlands involvement in the country today aside from economic assistance, and the current situation with Surinamese immigration into Holland.

[@fryfrysk]

Thats not history so in fact non-topic; Google yourself and also check Geschiedenis van de Surinalers in NL as well as Suriname on Wikipedia : it is all there

[@tonnywildweasel8138]

Very interesting and informative again 👍 Greets from Grun' 🇳🇱, Tonny.

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@dancarter6044]

Thanks Dutch dude, I love these stories about small countries.

[@HistoryHustle]

Great!

[@dancarter6044]

I mean most Americans don't even know about that country and if they did, what continent it's on. @@HistoryHustle

[@xvsj5833]

Stefan, once again you dominate the deeper knowledge of history ❤Thank you!

[@HistoryHustle]

Great to read. Thank you!

[@bigsarge2085]

Interesting. Thank you, Stefan!

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for watching.

[@edroskott5651]

Weer een heldere uitleg. Dank je Stephan!

[@HistoryHustle]

Bedankt Ed!

[@dansmith4077]

Comment for the algorithm excellent video thanks love your work.

[@HistoryHustle]

👍👍👍

[@JimmyStiffFingers]

Goeie video, dude.

[@HistoryHustle]

Dank!

[@xvsj5833]

Thanks!

[@HistoryHustle]

Many thanks. Have a great weekend.

[@AdventurewithBoyke]

Nice info...thnx bro

[@HistoryHustle]

👍👍👍

[@Thiago.Acquati]

Very nice vídeo, Thanks for sharing

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for replying!

[@stoeremannenpraat]

Interessante video weer dude!

[@HistoryHustle]

Dank!

[@CARL_093]

this is a great question bro and video

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks!

[@justanapple8510]

I see why you chose this date to upload to video, well done

[@HistoryHustle]

👍

[@rjames3981]

Very good 👍

[@HistoryHustle]

👍

[@gibraltersteamboatco888]

Thanks. BZ Topic 46 ✓

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for watching.

[@jankusthegreat9233]

U are awsome

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks!

[@riazedn4728]

Dank je wel voor de video Dutchy, zeer interessant om een Nederlander te horen spreken over mijn landje. Waardeer het 🇸🇷🌹. Echter wil ik wel mededelen dat de landkaart die jij gebruikte in het begin , is niet correct, de Tigri Regio hoort bij ons in het zuidwesten, echter op het plaatje is deze regio hier aangeduid dat het bij Guyana hoort. Dat is een beetje jammer maar voor de rest prima

[@HistoryHustle]

Dank. Ik maal gebruik van rechtenvrije kaarten. Hier moest ik het mee doen.

[@riazedn4728]

@@HistoryHustle hmm niet een correcte rechtsvrije kaart maar goed

[@mammuchan8923]

Just a reminder of how far the Dutch Colonial Empire stretched. Do they still speak quite a bit of Dutch there now?

[@HistoryHustle]

Nope, only in Suriname. And of course Afrikaans in your country.

[@kevinveen1055]

Ik ben opgegroeid in Suriname maar kom uit Goes Zeeland. Wat ik tot de dag van vandaag heel interessant vindt is de geschiedenis die Zeeland als provincie heeft met Suriname. Hier zou ik wel eens een video over willen zien. Ik kreeg hier in Suriname nooit les over op school, want niemand weet er wat over (Behalve dat van Abraham Crijnssen) en in Nederland is het blijkbaar ook moeilijk om informatie over te vinden. Misschien in de Zeeuwse bibliotheek? Heb je tijdens jouw reis naar Suriname ook gezien dat het Zeeuwse wapen in fort Zeelandia hangt in plaats van het Nederlandse? xD

[@HistoryHustle]

Jazeker, ik ben in Fort Zeelandia geweest. Zeker interessant om de Zeeuwse sporen te zien in Paramaribo. Hoe was voor jou opgroeien in Suriname? In welke tijd was dat en wat staat je nog het meeste bij?

[@kevinveen1055]

@@HistoryHustle wij zijn in 2002 naar daar verhuisd en in 2017 ben ik gaan studeren in nl. Wat me het meeste bij is gebleven is het opgroeien tussen de verschillende culturen en natuurlijk het lekker eten 😁. Ik vindt dat ze in Su beter samen leven met verschillende etniciteiten en culturen dan in Nl.

[@michaelhemphill8575]

"Suriname""is actually.. a "beautiful " country..in and of itself.. in spite of the issues.."However" great job "Instructor" with "dissecting" .. the "issues"!!

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for watching.

[@ezandman6804]

Ik plaats mijn commentaar ff in t Nederlands om mijn punt van kritiek duidelijker te kunnen maken, ik hoop dat je dit leest: Sinds kort ben ik bekend met Suriname en haar grensconflicten. Aan weerszijde van Suriname is de grens niet duidelijk blijkbaar. Er is dus een grensconflict met Frans Guyana enerzijds en met Guyana anderzijds. Ik merk op dat jij in dit filmpje Suriname afbeeld zonder de betwiste gebieden (bijv 5:20 ) en ze toewijst aan de buurlanden. Echter op het allereerste kaartje van Suriname in deze video ( 0:09 ) staat Suriname afgebeeld MET de betwiste gebieden. Wellicht zou je hier een filmpje over kunnen maken vraag ik gewoon, haha. Ik weet er niet heel veel van. Echter het is duidelijk dat jij in dit filmpje , per ongeluk?, 2 verschillende Surinames laat zien waarbij de grens van het land anders loopt. Best interessant dit. Groetjes :-)

[@HistoryHustle]

Dank voor je bericht. Ik ben op de hoogte van de grensgeschillen. Helaas maak ik niet mijn eigen kaarten, maar moet ik gebruik maken van (rechtenvrij) materiaal. Dus vandaar.

[@ogerpinata-nu2th]

Question is rather why🤷🏻‍♀️ They got the resources and the Dutch money and knowledge. Also, as part of the Netherlands, access to the European market. Like this, more wealth for them. A federation for each.

[@felixmbandandayitabi4536]

Unbeknownst to many, the indépendances of many countries came about because the colonial powers wanted to get rid of them. Especially the little ones like Belgium, Denmark & Netherlands. On the other end, nationalism was mostly performative and tribalistic.

[@kommissarkillemall2848]

@@felixmbandandayitabi4536 not only that, the US pushed decolonisation a lot because they thought it to be " not relevant anymore in this age". ( sidepath : rather hypocritical for a country that still had segregation and never gave Hawai back to it's rightfull rulers from who they literally stole it with military force as they did with almost all the US )

[@kommissarkillemall2848]

While Suriname isn't a complete "failed state" it certainly showed they are unable to be independent in all meanings of the word. The bauxiet mines who were of main importance in WW2 are in shambles, the goldmines are turned into private mines with loads of illegal mining, a big fishery project financed by The Netherlands failed when the crews left the boats to rot as soon as they had money and the locals stripped them of materials untill they were totally wrecked and the factory to can the fish is a bunch of rusted and rotting hall along a riverfront. Yet, still in 2023 they claim "financial development support". The former president is a convicted drugdealer who still can't travel to Europe because of warrents, .. but they are so proud to be a independent state that they refuse to be held accountable for where the financial support goes to.

[@royale7620]

@@kommissarkillemall2848 Good job exposing them

[@erikthehalfabee6234]

The creole elites wanted independence. The average Surinamese knew better

[@jonlenihan4798]

In 1619, the Dutch West Indies Company founded Fort Orange at the navigable limit of the Hudson River. The fort was located at the edge of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Dutch were there to trade manufactured goods for beaver pelts. In 1620, New Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Hudson. Fort Orange today = Albany, New York. New Amsterdam today = New York City. In 1663, an English fleet captured New Amsterdam. Under the treaty that followed, the English kept now New York, and the Dutch obtained Suriname in return.

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for sharing

[@jonlenihan4798]

@@HistoryHustle Dutch independence established Dutch colonies in the New World as a safe haven for Sephardic Jews. The oldest congregation in the US, Congregation Shearith Israel was founded in New Amsterdam in 1654. The oldest existing synagogue building in the Americas is Mikve Israel in Curaco, built in 1729. Suriname had an area of Sephardic settlement, the Jodensavanne, from the 1660s until the mid 1800s.

[@aidankitson7877]

Please please please do a piece about my home, Ireland, once occupied by Dutch king William Of Orange

[@HistoryHustle]

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I won't travel to Ireland anytime soon. Only thing I can offer is a short in the near future. That's how things are. Hope you understand. It is nothing against you or your country. It is the format of my channel and the logistics I am facing. Cheers from Bogotá, Colombia.

[@hunchbackaudio]

I always wondered why Den Uyl had such a hurry to make Suriname independent. But you cleared that up for a large part. Ironically more people migrated right after independence. And I think that turned out in favor of the Netherlands and was a big loss for Suriname, leaving vacuum that made room for some real bad stuff happening after that.

[@HistoryHustle]

Thanks for your reply.

[@diegomayz8503]

You should talk about the surinamese civil war of the 80s

[@HistoryHustle]

In the future I will.

[@liamtahaney713]

I would quite like to go to suriname at some point.

[@HistoryHustle]

It is an interesting travel destination but very poor and ran down.

[@hendriktonisson2915]

Can You make a video about how the British took over the Dutch Cape Colony in the early 19th century? Was the British takeover of the Cape Colony inevitable?

[@HistoryHustle]

Perhaps one day.

[@gumdeo]

Why wasn't Curaçao given independence?

[@HistoryHustle]

They are now but not fully. Later more on this.

[@stephanottawa7890]

Sounds like staying with Dutch rule was the best choice out of three bad ones. Independence seems to have not worked out. No wonder so many Surinamese left. Or is that a conclusion all too simple? The ABC islands seem to have done better.

[@JimmyStiffFingers]

Same with Indonesia.

[@Crazy_Talk96]

I always thought Surinam was in Asia 😂

[@HistoryHustle]

There are living many Hindustanis and Javanese there though. So lots of Asian influences.

[@davidaeldon1214]

Surinam was originally an island located in the Dutch East Indies. in 1924, a flotilla of 250 tugboats hauled the entire island across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans to its current location off the northern coast of South America. It took two years of continuous pushing by those tugboats to jam Surinam into its current position. Why such a costly project? The Dutch Masters Cigar company ...having failed to get cigar leaf tobacco to grow in the East Indies ....the company simply relocated the island halfway around the world to a more favorable growing climate . The only drawback was the humid climate caused warping of the wooden shoes of the Dutch plantation owners . [ History source: Congressman Hank Johnson ( D-Ga) historical Congressional records. )

[@mirola73]

And to date the Surinam economy is a mess. It's easy, but can't keep endlessly blaming the Dutch for that nearly 5 decades down the line.

[@HistoryHustle]

When I was in Suriname and spoke to people there they don't blame the Dutch but the politicians of the country. Yet, activiste in the Netherlands blame the Dutch.

[@1991jerzy]

.

[@HistoryHustle]

👍

[@casildowerleman4311]

My friend you don't know what you talking about. MR.Desi Bouterse and his party took Suriname by Surprise.

[@HistoryHustle]

In the future I will.

[@erikthehalfabee6234]

The mass migration to the netherlands in the years leading up to independence shows independence was a bad idea? The people knew better

[@HistoryHustle]

Indeed, they knew what was coming and I don't blame them.

[@erikthehalfabee6234]

@@HistoryHustle but those who didn't want independence were not a majority? Or was this independence idea pushed by creole elites ?

[@HistoryHustle]

I believe there was never a referendum so Can't say for certain. We can say thst 1/3 of the population got out, thats says enough. Among those that remained many might not have supported it either but just didn't wanna leave or couldnt. Who knows..

[@julianshepherd2038]

"Hindustani"? No muslims or sikhs or Christian indians?

[@HistoryHustle]

What do you mean?

[@gaudetjaja]

Surinamese of indian descent are called Hindoestanen in Dutch, even when they do not practice hinduism but rather islam. I don't think Sikhism is common in suriname as the indian people there come from different parts of india. There is however a considerable muslim minority.

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

Hindustani means Indian nationality. Don't confuse it for religious term

[@apeman9238]

​@@ShubhamMishrabro there is no hindustani nationality. I think that you meant ethnicity.

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

@@apeman9238 there is. Hindustani and Indian are same words. Both are used for nationality terms

[@kennethkromokario1828]

Again......The WRONG MAP OF MY COUNTRY SURINAME in the beginning! Some tribe people do not learn.

[@HistoryHustle]

I refer to my previous reply.

[@kennethkromokario1828]

Therefor i don'trecommend this channel for anyone. MISLEADING CONTENT.@@HistoryHustle

[@HistoryHustle]

@@kennethkromokario1828 just because I show a map that you don't like...

[@WvhKerkhof]

Trafassi.

[@HistoryHustle]

?