| Abstract: | In several studies it has been argued that with the abolition of slavery it is impossible to calculate fertility and mortality rates of former slaves and their descendants. The freedmen left the plantations and disappeared from quantitative history. Contrary to this widely held opinion this article aims to expand our knowledge about events of life and death of (former) slaves and their direct descendants around 1863 in Suriname. Birth and death rates of sugar slaves in the last decade before the emancipation (1851–1863) are calculated and compared with the period of indentured labour (1864–1873). Mortality rates among freedmen of the sugar estates Breukelerwaard, Fairfield, Cannewapibo and La Jalousie went up after 1863. It is also demonstrated that child mortality was increasing after the abolition of slavery, indicating deteriorated conditions of daily life. There is also broad evidence of higher fertility rates among former female sugar slaves. |
