Commewijne · coffee, sugar
Zoelen: the 1884 revolt and the road to Mariënburg
Zoelen on the Commewijne River was founded in 1749 by Constantinus Gerardus Nobel and baron Willem Hendrik Pieck of Zoelen; 115 people were registered as freed here in 1863, and in September 1884 a revolt of indentured labourers was put down by the army.
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The estate was laid out in 1749 by the Amsterdam merchant Constantinus Gerardus Nobel together with Willem Hendrik Pieck, baron of Brakel and Zoelen, after whom it is named. It was initially twice the size of most neighbouring estates, 1,116 akkers in 1795. Its owners included governor Jean Nepveu, who bought it in 1778. Coffee was grown first; around 1817 the estate turned to sugarcane because the soil was exhausted for coffee. Note that there is also a Zoelen on the Saramacca River, abandoned in 1828. This is the Commewijne one.
On 1 July 1863, 115 enslaved people were registered here in the names of Gijsbert Christiaan Bosch Reitz and Geertruida Elisabeth Kuvèl, of whom 105 were compensated for. The couple had bought the estate in 1850 for 18,000 guilders, plus a further sum for the people on it. The gap between 115 registered and 105 compensated appears on other estates too, and is exactly the kind of detail the borderellen can be checked against.
After the ten years of State Supervision the first British Indian workers arrived in 1873. Zoelen then became, along with Mariënburg, the estate where the greater part of arriving Javanese indentured labourers was placed. That the name Zoelen resembles Solo in Central Java was noticed by the newcomers themselves.
In the sugar crisis of 1884 wages were cut and the work made heavier, and the indentured labourers stopped work en masse. The district commissioner for the lower Commewijne, Jessurun, sided with the director and was beaten with sticks. A military detachment then occupied Zoelen and carried off the leaders; one source says nineteen labourers were arrested, under a man named Mathura. Sources give either 2 or 5 September 1884 as the date.
Zoelen ceased to exist as a separate estate in 1889: the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij took over the shares and merged it into Mariënburg, where its cane had been going since 1882. What still stands on the parcel itself we have not been able to establish; the ruins visitors see belong to Mariënburg.
Frequently asked questions
How many people were freed at Zoelen in 1863?
One hundred and fifteen people were registered at Zoelen on 1 July 1863, in the names of Gijsbert Christiaan Bosch Reitz and Geertruida Elisabeth Kuvèl; compensation was paid for 105 of them. The couple had bought the estate in 1850 for 18,000 guilders.
What happened at Zoelen in 1884?
During the world sugar crisis of 1884 wages were cut and the indentured labourers stopped work. District commissioner Jessurun was beaten with sticks, after which the army occupied the estate and carried off the leaders. Sources give either 2 or 5 September 1884 as the date.
Does the Zoelen estate still exist?
Not as a separate plantation. In 1889 the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij took over the shares and folded Zoelen into Mariënburg, where its cane had been going since 1882. The ruins you see in the area are those of the Mariënburg sugar factory.