Commewijne · coffee, cotton, cacao, bananas
Reynsdorp, now Bakkie: where only five people were freed
Reynsdorp on the Warappa creek, better known since the early twentieth century as the village of Bakkie, was a coffee estate holding around a hundred enslaved people; by the emancipation of 1863 production had stopped and only five people were declared free there.
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Nicolaas Reijnsdorp, who reached Suriname around 1730 and already owned the neighbouring Fortuin estate, was granted the land in 1744. It became coffee, with cotton added by 1793, across a thousand akkers. On average about a hundred enslaved people worked there; around 1830 the figure was 112.
The emancipation of 1863 produced an unusual outcome here. Reynsdorp filed no borderel because the estate held no enslaved people in its own name: the people living there belonged administratively to the ’t Fortuin estate. Only five people were declared free at Reynsdorp, taking the surnames Delaan, Direcks, Latour, Meerwijk and Reynsdorp. Anyone carrying one of those rare names has a very short list to work through.
The estate was auctioned in 1886 and production restarted; in 1903 a Cultuuronderneming Reynsdorp was formed. Around the turn of the century the government divided the land into smallholdings for Hindustani and Javanese workers who had served out their indentures. That is how the village of Bakkie began. Sources give either 1902 or 1912 for the government purchase; by 1913 more than 900 people lived there.
Bakkie today is a village of about 450 people: the 2012 census counted 447, of whom 216 Hindustani and 200 Javanese. Old sluices and plantation buildings survive, and there is Museum Bakkie, a private plantation museum with prints, maps and objects including a branding iron and a shackle. It is run by Bas Spek and Marsha Mormon, herself a descendant of the estate.
Frequently asked questions
Are Reynsdorp and Bakkie the same place?
Yes. Reynsdorp is the plantation name, granted in 1744 to Nicolaas Reijnsdorp; Bakkie is the name of the village that grew up there in the early twentieth century when the government divided the land into smallholdings for former indentured labourers.
Why were only five people freed at Reynsdorp in 1863?
Because Reynsdorp filed no borderel: the estate held no enslaved people in its own name. The people living there belonged administratively to the ’t Fortuin estate. The five freed here took the names Delaan, Direcks, Latour, Meerwijk and Reynsdorp.
Can you visit Bakkie?
Yes, but only over water. From Paramaribo you take a bus of about an hour to Mon Trésor and then a five minute boat crossing, or sail 75 minutes from Leonsberg. Museum Bakkie charges from 10 euro for a tour and runs a day trip a few times a week.