Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Suriname | |||||||||
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1954–1975 | |||||||||
Anthem: God zij met ons Suriname (Dutch) "God be with our Suriname" | |||||||||
Status | Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands | ||||||||
Capital | Paramaribo | ||||||||
Common languages | Dutch (official) 11 other languages 8 native languages | ||||||||
Government | Unitary parliamentary representative democracy under constitutional monarchy | ||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||
• 1954–1975 | Juliana | ||||||||
Governor General | |||||||||
• 1954–1956 | Jan Klaasesz | ||||||||
• 1956–1963 | Jan van Tilburg | ||||||||
• 1963–1964 | Archibald Currie | ||||||||
• 1968–1975 | Johan Ferrier | ||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1954–1955 | Archibald Currie | ||||||||
• 1955–1958 | Johan Ferrier | ||||||||
• 1958–1963 | Severinus Desiré Emanuels | ||||||||
• 1963–1969 | Johan Adolf Pengel | ||||||||
• 1969–1973 | Jules Sedney | ||||||||
• 1973–1975 | Henck Arron | ||||||||
Legislature | Estates of Suriname | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Proclamation of Charter | 15 December 1954 | ||||||||
25 November 1975 | |||||||||
Currency |
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ISO 3166 code | SR | ||||||||
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History of Suriname |
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Suriname portal |
Suriname was a
History
The origin of the administrative reform of 1954 was the 1941
After Indonesia became independent, a federal construction was considered too heavy, as the economies of Suriname and the
Moving towards independence
In 1954 and during the 1950s, the Dutch government strongly opposed the idea of full independence for its former colony. Suriname had been given far-reaching autonomy in order to keep it within the Kingdom. This changed in the 1960s, especially after the
The Den Uyl cabinet that took office in May 1973 stated that the Caribbean countries within the Kingdom were to become independent during its term in office. The Netherlands Antilles rejected the idea, but Suriname was willing to talk. The Surinamese government under Jules Sedney argued that the Netherlands was acting in undue haste, and that independence required longer-term planning.[2] The newly elected government of Henck Arron however accepted Den Uyl's invitation that Suriname be independent by the end of 1975. After long negotiations, and with a very substantial severance package amounting to 3.5 billion Dutch guilders of Dutch aid,[3] Suriname became independent on 25 November 1975. On 21 November, the statue of Queen Wilhelmina was removed from Oranjeplein and replaced with the Surinamese flag. Oranjeplein was renamed Independence Square. The Dutch flag was lowered for the last time in the evening of 24 November. A big party started around midnight. The first day of the independent Republic of Suriname was celebrated in the company of Princess Beatrix, Prince Claus and Prime Minister Den Uyl. On 25 November the time had finally come. Former governor Ferrier was sworn in as president, while in The Hague Queen Juliana signed the treaty of sovereignty.
Dutch Guiana
The term Dutch Guiana (Dutch: Nederlands Guiana) is often unofficially used for Suriname, in an analogy to British Guiana and French Guiana. Officially, the name has always been Surinam or Suriname, both in Dutch[4] and English,[5] Before 1814, however, there were several Dutch colonies in the Guianas: Suriname, Berbice, Essequibo, Demerara, and Pomeroon. The last four were taken over by the United Kingdom in 1814 and united into British Guiana in 1831. The term Dutch Guiana applied to the period before 1814 does not describe a distinct political entity, but rather a group of colonies under Dutch sovereignty.[6] Therefore, the term "Governor of Dutch Guiana" should not cause confusion if applied to the period after 1814. Before 1814, however, its use is incorrect because the Governor of Suriname did not rule the other Dutch colonies in the Guianas.
Citations
- ^ a b Meel 1999.
- ^ "Suriname was niet voorbereid op onafhankelijkheid". de Telegraaf via Nickerie.net (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ Oostindie & Klinkers 2003, p. 108.
- ^ See for example this royal decree separating Suriname from Curaçao and Dependencies (1845).
- ^ In treaties between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the colony is consistently referred to as the Colony of Surinam, e.g. Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands, relative to the Emigration of Labourers from India to the Dutch Colony of Surinam, the Accession of the Dutch colonies of Curaçao and Surinam to the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property.
- ^ This is e.g. how Jan Jacob Hartsinck uses the term in his Beschryving van Guiana, of de wilde kust in Zuid-America (Hartsinck 1770, pp. 257).
References
- Hartsinck, J.J. (1770), Beschryving van Guiana, of de wilde kust in Zuid-America, Amsterdam: Gerrit Tielenburg
- Meel, P. (1999). Tussen autonomie en onafhankelijkheid. Nederlands-Surinaamse betrekkingen 1954–1961. Leiden: KITLV.
- Oostindie, G.; Klinkers, I. (2003). Decolonising the Caribbean; Dutch policies in a comparative perspective. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9053566546.
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