West-Indië

The West Indies (West-Indië) was the Dutch collective name for the colonies in the Caribbean and on the north coast of South America: Suriname, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, and until the early nineteenth century also Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara. Enslaved Africans and their descendants worked on the plantations and in the ports. Slavery there was abolished on 1 July 1863.