On November 25, 1975, Suriname, a colony of the great powers for hundreds of years, declared its independence from the Netherlands. It is reasonable to say that a colony has become independent and established a country, which should be a very happy thing, after all, many colonies want to be independent and cannot be independent. However, on the 25th, Suriname did not have the slightest festive atmosphere, but on the contrary, it was full of ghosts crying wolf howling.
There were even several hundred-man marches in the streets calling on then-President John Ferrier to talk to the Netherlands, abolish independence, and return Suriname to its original autonomous status. In order to vent their dissatisfaction, some radical crowds even set fire to Prime Minister Aaron's photo and threatened to put him down in a referendum. In fact, for the colonies, independence is a rare good thing, which means that they can be the masters of their own affairs and are no longer subject to others.
If this is the case, why do the people of Suriname show such incomprehensible complexes and contrasts that are different from ordinary people? It starts with its history! Suriname, formerly known as Dutch Guiana, is located in the north of South America, with an area of 164,000 square kilometers and a population of only 600,000.
Originally belonged to the Indians, since the invasion of the great powers, Europeans, Africans and Asians have lived and multiplied here in various ways. Over time, they became the climate, but the Indians became less and less, from their former masters to a minority. The first to invade here were the Spaniards. In 1499, the Spanish navigator Ochda made his first visit to Suriname.
However, he did not stay here for long, because Suriname at that time was an undeveloped wasteland, in addition to the dense primeval forest, that is, fierce beasts, and some Indians who were like wild people, which meant that everything had to be cut down first. But Ohda came to find gold and silver and slaves, and asked them to cut down trees and plant land, and dreamed.
So when he saw that Suriname was so desolate, he made only a mark on the map (indicating that the land would belong to Spain in the future) and ran away with his crew. In the blink of an eye, decades had passed, and no one had bothered the Indians, who were still living a free savage life in the forest. It wasn't until 1551 that the Dutch set foot on this land for the first time.
Unlike the Spaniards, who were reluctant to work as laborers, the industrious Dutch, seeing that Suriname was an undeveloped and anointed land, cut down trees and weeds, built houses and immigrants, and tried to build the land into their new home. It didn't take long for them to set up their first settlement in Suriname and began to emigrate from within the country. Since then, Suriname has gradually taken on a life, and will no longer be as desolate and uninhabited as before.
The Indians hiding in the forest are watching from a distance and trepidation as the Dutch "aliens" occupy their land and are powerless. Just as the Dutch were enthusiastically building their new homeland, the Spaniard suddenly ran over and said, "This land was discovered by Lao Tzu, it is Lao Tzu's territory, how can you develop it?" "The Dutch don't care about this and continue to work hard.
By 1593, a group of Spanish explorers had come to Suriname to claim that it was the domain of the Kingdom of Spain. The Dutch still ignored this and continued to work hard to build their new home. Seeing this virtue of the Netherlands, thinking that he had just fought several with the British and destroyed the Armada, Spain could only show a mighty style and make a few complaints, and did not dare to go to war against the Netherlands.
After that, Spain went to the west of Suriname to carry out development, which was later Spanish Guiana. In 1602, after more than half a century, the Settlement In Suriname was officially established in the Netherlands, and large-scale emigration from the country began. It didn't take long, however, for Britain, the largest power, to come to South America and occupy Suriname in 1630, taking over part of Spanish Guiana.
After occupying the area, british immigrants from Barbados came here to run tobacco and sugar cane plantations. In 1667, the Dutch Navy recaptured Suriname in the 2nd Anglo-Dutch War. In order to completely cut off Britain's ambitions, the Dutch endured the pain of cutting flesh and ceding their colony of new Netherlands (present-day New York, USA) in North America to Britain, in order to obtain colonial rule over Suriname, which was the Treaty of Breda.
After taking New Netherlands from the Dutch, the British snatched Spanish Guiana from Spain, which became British Guiana, adjacent to Suriname. In order to develop Suriname and make a profit for themselves, Dutch colonists brought in large quantities of black uncles from Africa for sugar cane cultivation. Some blacks, unable to withstand oppression and exploitation, fled into primeval forests and lived with the local natives, and their descendants were called jungle blacks.
Under dutch rule, Suriname grew increasingly prosperous, which in turn attracted the covetousness of the British. During the Napoleonic Wars of 1799-1815, Suriname was again occupied by the British. By 1802, Britain and the Netherlands had signed the Treaty of Amiens, and the British had returned Suriname to the Netherlands as Dutch Guiana. By 1863, all countries in Europe except the Netherlands had abolished black slavery.
Due to the situation, the Netherlands had to announce the abolition of slavery, which caused the Netherlands to lose a large amount of free labor in Suriname. In this case, it is certainly not possible to go to Africa to catch Uncle Black as a slave. But Suriname needs slaves to squeeze, so what to do? However, this point is not difficult for the Dutch at all ~ what is abolished is black slavery, and I will not catch black uncles and black aunts; And to forbid the arrest of people as slaves is to prohibit the right and honest arrest, but I can sneak around and deceive people into being slaves.
After making up their minds, the Dutch colonial authorities tricked a large group of people from India, Southeast Asia and China into coming to Suriname for exploitation and oppression between the 1870s and the 1930s. In fact, the Netherlands not only deceives Asians, but even the poor in Europe and the loser in their own country. Thus, Suriname became a smorgasbord of nationalities, of all races, of all races, of which lived and multiplied, giving birth to mixed-race offspring.
At the beginning of the 20th century, large bauxite and gold deposits were found in the central region of Suriname, which led American capitalists to rush to build factories here to recruit workers to mine. Due to the scarcity of local labor and the high cost of manpower, American capitalists have offered a lot of salaries, which makes the living standards of the people of Suriname still good. Later, in order to facilitate the transportation of ore, the Dutch colonial government carried out infrastructure construction in Suriname, built bridges, paved roads, built schools, and carried out education.
This makes the literacy rate of Surinamese particularly high, at more than 80 per cent. Of course, the Netherlands is doing these things entirely for its own sake. After all, the Surinamese had the knowledge to master all kinds of machinery and equipment, to increase production, to dig out more ore, and to make more money for the Dutch colonists. During World War I and World War II, although the suzerainty of the Netherlands was bullied to death in Europe, Suriname had a good life because it was protected by the United States.
After World War II, colonies around the world sought independence, as did Suriname. In 1954, Suriname, backed by the United States, signed an autonomy treaty with the Netherlands , the Dutch Charter : Suriname gained autonomy , but defense and foreign affairs remained in the hands of the Dutch government. At this point, Suriname would soon file a request for independence from the Netherlands.
But the Netherlands waited for more than 20 years, but it could not wait for Suriname's request for independence. During this period, the Netherlands also asked many times when Suriname would become independent, and Suriname's reply was only 4 words: later. What's going on? It turned out that Suriname had thought about independence at first, but later when she saw that she was staying with the Netherlands and could enjoy the Dutch wool, she put away the idea of independence very realistically and only wanted autonomy.
So what wool does the Netherlands have to offer? It turned out that the preferential treatment it gave to Suriname was too good: Surinamese were automatically granted Dutch citizenship at birth, and had all the treatment of Dutch citizens, but did not have to pay taxes to the Netherlands; Surinamese can not perform military service or apply for exclusive benefits from the Dutch Central Government. The lack of money is filled by direct central funds.
In a word, the people of Suriname relied on the wool of the Netherlands, and the standard of living was even better than that of the Dutch. In this kind of human treatment, if you were from Suriname, would you choose independence? Definitely not. After all, independence means losing all high welfare. Seeing this, some people will say that it is not simple to get Suriname to become independent, and it is not enough to stop its preferential treatment and drive him out, just like Malaysia did when it drove Singapore.
But you must know that Suriname has a lot of Dutch descendants, and these people have a very close relationship with the Netherlands, whether it is civil or political, there are deep entanglements. As long as they did not approve of independence, the Netherlands could not force them to become independent. After all, according to the relationship between the Netherlands and Suriname, it is difficult to say whether the big head of the Dutch wool is surinamese or the Dutch themselves.
In the 1970s, Suriname's refusal to become independent finally took a turn for the better. The person who broke this situation was Henk Aaron, the head of the National Party. In order to make everyone remember themselves, they changed everyone's tacit attitude of "never independence", shouted the slogan of independence, and said that if they were elected prime minister of the autonomous lands, they must let Suriname become independent from the Netherlands.
Of course, the National Party only calls for independence, but in fact does not want independence, after all, the wool of the Netherlands is too big and too good. It is reasonable to say that a person like Aaron would not have been elected, but I don't know why, he was successfully elected in 1973. In order to fulfill his promise, Aaron continued to shout for the independence of Suriname, no later than 1975. Upon hearing this, the Netherlands was overjoyed and unequivocally supported the independence of Suriname.
Dutch Prime Minister Joop Den Ehir said: "Suriname would better become independent before 1977." After hearing this, Aaron said that he was purely verbal and had no intention of wanting independence. After that, the people of Suriname took to the streets to demonstrate against independence. In this case, the Dutch government decided to quickly cut the chaos, taking advantage of the fact that Aaron had not yet stepped down, officially positioning the date of Suriname's independence in 1975.
In order not to let the people of Suriname continue to pester, the Netherlands spoke: "It is not we who demand your independence, it is your Prime Minister Aaron himself who wants independence." This time, whether you like it or not, you must be independent, and if you have any questions, please find Aaron. Immediately afterward, holland discussed independence with Aaron. In this case, the Surinamese had to take a step back and said: "Holland, if you want me to be independent, you can take 6.5 billion yuan in family fees, otherwise the wool will kill you." ”
6.5 billion, which is equivalent to Suriname's GDP for 8 years. When the Netherlands heard this, it thought that 6.5 billion was a bit much, so it counter-offered 1.5 billion. However, the Surinamese felt that there were too few, and proposed to give more points, and finally after consultation between the two sides, it was agreed: "The Netherlands gives Suriname 3.5 billion yuan in family fees, but Suriname must be independent and can no longer raise Dutch wool." ”
Although the Surinamese were a little dissatisfied with the 3.5 billion, they were afraid that the Dutch would really not give a penny, so they threw themselves out and had to agree to this "humiliating" treaty. On November 25, 1975, Suriname became independent after receiving a family fee of 3.5 billion yuan. On independence day, John Ferrier became president and Aaron became prime minister. On this day, various riots took place in Suriname. In 1980, Aaron was ousted.