Old Map of Suriname

This 1767 map presents Suriname and neighbouring Berbice as a network of rivers, plantations and coastal settlements on the Guiana coast. The Dutch colonies were shaped by waterways: the Suriname, Commewijne, Copename, Saramacca and Berbice rivers provided the principal routes into the plantation districts and connected the inland estates with the Atlantic.

Map Details

Original title: Landkaart van de Volkplantingen Suriname en Berbice Publisher: Reinier and Josua Ottens Publication date: 1767 Publication place: Amsterdam Map type: Hand-coloured copper engraving Area shown: The Dutch colonies of Suriname and Berbice Inset: Plan van de Stad Paramaribo Features shown: Rivers, plantation districts, settlements, coastal features and the streets and public buildings of Paramaribo

The map’s large central panel is dominated by the plantation landscape. Long, narrow holdings extend inland from the rivers, reflecting the way land was surveyed and cultivated under Dutch colonial rule. The orderly appearance of these divisions contrasts with the surrounding forests and less controlled interior, where the map records routes, rivers and settlements beyond the plantation belt.

Paramaribo is shown in a separate inset at the upper right. Its numbered key identifies the town’s principal streets and public buildings, including the government centre, hospital, churches, synagogue and other civic institutions. The town’s position along the River Suriname illustrates its role as the administrative and commercial centre of the colony.

The map also preserves evidence of resistance to plantation authority. Beyond the formally divided estates are references to Indigenous settlements, Maroon communities and villages associated with people who had escaped enslavement or resisted colonial control. These labels are important reminders that the plantation system was contested and that the forested interior was not an empty space beyond European influence.

Suriname’s plantation economy depended heavily on the forced labour of enslaved Africans. Sugar, coffee, cotton and other crops were cultivated along the rivers, while the colonial authorities attempted to maintain control over both the estates and the waterways leading inland. The map’s emphasis on boundaries, rivers and plantation names reflects that system of ownership and administration, but its references to rebel and runaway communities also reveal the limits of colonial control.

Berbice, now part of Guyana, appears to the east of Suriname along the Berbice River. Its inclusion gives the map a broader regional importance, showing how neighbouring Dutch colonies were connected by geography, commerce and shared systems of plantation slavery.