Commewijne · coffee, sugar, citrus, bananas
Alliance: nine plantations merged into one sugar enterprise
Alliance in Commewijne was formed in 1829 when the Scot Adam Cameron merged two worn-out coffee estates and turned to sugar; 502 people were freed here in 1863, and between 1873 and 1929 it employed 2,016 Hindustani and 2,136 Javanese indentured labourers.
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The oldest building blocks of Alliance are Lodewijksburg, laid out around 1744 by Charles Godefroij, and Sporksgift, from 1752, of John MacNeill. Both were coffee estates and both were exhausted by the early nineteenth century. The Scot Adam Cameron bought them and combined them under the name Alliance in 1829. By 1860 there were nine.
Cameron switched to sugar and put steam technology on it. He began with 212 enslaved people. By abolition Alliance had become the largest operation in the district: on 1 July 1863, 502 people were declared free here, under the owner Hugh Wright. That is the highest documented figure of any plantation on this site.
Indenture followed, and on the same scale: between 1873 and 1929 the estate employed 2,016 Hindustani and 2,136 Javanese labourers. It was not peaceful. In 1879 Hindustani indentured workers rose at Alliance and at De Resolutie, the first documented uprisings of Hindustani indentured labourers in Suriname.
By 1894 the enterprise covered 1,860 hectares with 662 workers, producing 760,000 kilos of vacuum sugar and 74,233 litres of rum. The state bought Alliance in 1953 for 200,000 guilders, 5,749 akkers in all; after Mariënburg it was the second to last sugar enterprise in Suriname. From 1973 it continued as the state enterprise Alliance and moved over to citrus and bananas.
Alliance today is not a ruin but a village, with a school, a power station and a ferry. Of the sugar factory only the foundations and one broken steam boiler remain, along with a vaulted brick staircase from the former hospital. The wooden houses are lived in by descendants of Javanese indentured workers. On 18 August 2024 the village flooded after a dam breach.
Frequently asked questions
How many people were freed at Alliance in 1863?
Five hundred and two. Alliance then belonged to Hugh Wright and, with nine merged estates, was the largest operation in the district. Adam Cameron had started it around 1829 with 212 enslaved people.
What happened at Alliance in 1879?
Hindustani indentured labourers rose in revolt at Alliance and at the De Resolutie estate in 1879. These count as the first uprisings of Hindustani indentured workers in Suriname, six years after the first ship arrived in 1873.
Can you visit Alliance?
Yes, by boat. There is a ferry link with Alkmaar on the other side of the Commewijne River, and several operators call there on plantation tours. Alliance is an inhabited village with citrus groves rather than a museum; visitors are usually taken through the orchards by tractor.