Suriname: slavenregisters

Abstract

The database Suriname: slavenregisters is based on transcriptions of the slave registers of Suriname. From 1826 onwards, the colonial government in Suriname required the registration of all enslaved persons in Suriname and all changes in ownership, such as sale, birth, death and manumission of enslaved persons. The surviving books of the slave registers are kept at the National Archive of Suriname. The books have been digitized in 2017 and trancscribed as part of the citizen science project 'Make the Surinamese slave registers public'. The existing slave registers range from 1830 to 1863 and together they contain 180,000 records, each constisting of the name of the enslaved, the name of the slave owner or plantation, age or date of birth, name of the mother (from 1848 onwards) and information on sale, birth, death, manumission etc. For more information: Van Galen and Hassankhan 2018.