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Sugar plantation 1650-1667
In 1650, the Englishman Lord Willoughby of Parham, governor
of Barbados, sent an expedition to Suriname in search
for new areas to establish more sugar plantations. The
oldest European plantations in Suriname are pictured
on an anonymous English map of 1667. At the place now
known as Berg and Dal, the map shows the name Parham
Hill, were Lord Willoughby had established his own sugar
plantation. In 1667, when the Dutchman Abraham Crijnssen
took over the colony, Willoughby ordered his son to
burn the sugar mill, destroy the plantation and to take
away all the slaves to prevent the Dutch to take over
the plantation.
The map of the Dutch cartographer Frederic
de Wit (1688) again shows the name Parham Hill, together
with a Dutch name “Blauwen Berg” (Blue Mountain). Alexander
de Lavaux (1737) uses the name “Parnassus Berg”.
Since about 1800, the names, “Bergendaal”, “Berg
en Daal” and “Berg and Dal” are used
on maps, although local inhabitants speak of “Bergi”.
Military post 1713
In order to protect the plantations in the coastal area
against attacks by “runaway” slaves, in
1713, a “Wachthuis” (Guard House) was erected
at the top of the Parnassus Berg as pictured on the
map of Ottens (1718).
Gold mining (1718-1722)
Already in 1716, Governor de Goyer made an attempt to
find gold in the Parnassusberg at Berg & Dal, then
owned by the “Societeit Suriname”. Since
1717 the German Salomon Sanders was appointed “bergdirecteur” (mountain
director) and he started to dig for gold. However, already
the next governor, Hendrik Temming, stopped the gold
exploration activities because they were not profitable
for the owner of the Society.
Sugar plantation (1722-1835)
Right after mine closure, governor Temming made himself
the owner of the area (650 ha), of the house of the
mine director and all other facilities to start a sugar
plantation. Next to that, he also obtained 860 ha on
the east bank of the river and other adjacent areas.
Already during his governorship (1722-1727) the sugar
plantation measured 2,150 ha, operated by 80 slaves.
When Temming died in 1727, his wife Charlotte Van Lith
inherited the plantation. Her descendent kept the plantation
up to 1870, when the plantation was sold to Kersten.
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