Descendants of slaves and indigenous communities in Suriname, a former Dutch colony in South America, on Monday accepted King William of Orange’s apology for its slave-owning past. They also forgave him, on a personal basis, as their ancestors profited from the slavery trade, which was legal until 1863, and were never against it. In July 2023, Guillermo officially apologized, in Amsterdam, for that inhumane regime. Suriname became independent in 1975, and the monarch and his wife, Queen Máxima, are currently on the first state visit by a Dutch king in 47 years.
The visit to Suriname continues until next Wednesday, where the king met with descendants of slaves on the first day. He stressed during the conversation: “We are all descendants of those who participated.” He then added: “I realize that pain lasts for generations,” according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS. This moment was key in the agenda of the leaders of the African-Syrian, Surinamese, indigenous and Maroon communities, the last successors of escaped slaves who established free communities in the jungle. King William also said: “I hope to know more about what exactly it means to live as a descendant of slaves.” The last queen to travel to Suriname was her grandmother, the late Queen Juliana, in 1978, three years after independence.
After the meeting with the monarch, Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons indicated that her country would like to begin talks on the so-called reparations program for the past, for which the Netherlands has allocated 66 million euros. He emphasized: “It is not compensation, but it is a gesture, and I think this is what the Dutch government is thinking about as well.”
Slavery was a big trade for Europe, involving the Spanish, English, Portuguese, Danes, as well as the Dutch. Out of a total of 12.5 million people enslaved by European traders, the Netherlands forcibly transported about 600,000 people from Africa to North America, Suriname, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Control was in the hands of the West India Company. In Suriname, men, women and children worked in terrible conditions on coffee, sugar, cocoa or cotton plantations. Although slavery was abolished in 1863, in this colony, those who were enslaved had to continue working the same lands for another 10 years for minimal wages. In this way, the previous owners were able to amortize their loss in the business. The East India Company, its twin, transported between 660,000 and 1.1 million people to present-day Indonesia and South Africa, according to data from research conducted by the Rijksmuseum for an exhibition opening in 2021 on the country’s slave past.
In the past 50 years, more than 250,000 Surinamese have moved to the Netherlands, according to the Central Statistics Office. Today there are about 180,000 people born in Suriname. You can immigrate and obtain Dutch citizenship without major problems for up to five years after independence. Since then, it has become more difficult to establish itself, mainly due to a military coup perpetrated by, among others, Dessie Bouterse, an army sergeant who was president between 2010 and 2020.