De nazaten van Plantage Toledo

In January 2025, the project Descendants of Plantation Toledo will begin.

Toledo, formally Plantation La Liberté (also known to as Plantation Bigi Bon), was a former cacao and sugar plantation on the Upper Suriname River. Archaeological and scientific research conducted from an Afro-Surinamese perspective – rather than through the worldview dictated by colonial power – can make a vital contribution to our understanding of the Dutch history of slavery and Suriname’s cultural-historical heritage. Research and excavations at Plantation Toledo can offer a window into life on the plantations and provide broader picture of the lives of enslaved people.

The Broos Toledo research, part of the Archaeological Field Methods course, is designed to support the academic development of Surinamese students while also deepening our understanding of plantation history.

This initial project concerns research only, not archaeological excavation, and will lay the groundwork for long-term research in collaboration with the AdeKUS Faculty of Humanities (FdHum) at Anton de Kom University.

As part of the extended Slavery Past Commemoration Year, this is a crucial project as it goes beyond simply remembering the atrocities of the shared history of the Netherlands and Suriname. It ensures that the stories of enslaved people are given a place in historiography and writes history from an Afro-Surinamese perspective, rather than the traditional (read: white-dominated) perspective that has prevailed until now. The project places emphasis on oral traditions and community narratives, which have often been overlooked in conventional historiography.

Commemoration alone is not enough.