Abstract
In this article we study the question why the sex ratio among the enslaved population of plantation workers reversed from a male to a female surplus between 1830 and the abolition of slavery in 1863. We use the Historical Database of Suriname (HDS) to answer this question in three steps. First, we give a broad overview of the changing sex ratios in the various Surinamese regions between 1838 and 1861. Second, we study the age structure on three plantations in the district Coronie in 1830 in detail. Finally, we use muster rolls available for the Catharina Sophia plantation in the period 1848–1849 to analyse the gendered division of labour. Our results indicate that both the male surpluses during the 1830s and the subsequent skew of the sex ratios towards females were the effects of a gendered division of labour, in which plantation managers preferred male labourers for heavy and unhealthy work in the construction and upkeep of plantation polders. This led to an excess mortality of enslaved men.
Highlights
Until recently, large historical databases such as the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) were limited to populations in temperate regions of Europe
One of these is the question why the sex ratio among the enslaved plantation workers reversed from a male to a female surplus between 1830 and the abolition of slavery in Suriname in 1863
Before the abolition of slavery in 1863. Based on these initial findings, we aim to find answers to the following two research questions: what was the cause of the male surplus of enslaved plantation workers in Suriname in the 1830s and what caused the heavy male mortality which changed the sex ratio into a women’s surplus within 35 years?
Summary
Large historical databases such as the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) were limited to populations in temperate regions of Europe. Like the HSN, the HDS will make it possible to investigate new and old research questions that are difficult to explore with traditional historical research methods One of these is the question why the sex ratio among the enslaved plantation workers reversed from a male to a female surplus between 1830 and the abolition of slavery in Suriname in 1863. During the whole period more men than women died, which changed the sex ratio among the enslaved plantation workers. This is exemplified by the plantation Mary's Hope. In less than 35 years, the sex ratio had changed from 1.63 to 0.96
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