Suriname GENEALOGY

In Suriname a Civil Registry was introduced in 1828 according to the Dutch model. Unlike in the Netherlands, the Civil Registry did not immediately apply to the entire population. Two groups of people were missing. People in slavery were excluded, who were noted in the separate slave register. They only entered the Civil Registry after the abolition of slavery on July 1, 1863. Most of the inhabitants of the interior were also missing until after the Second World War. For a long time, the civil servants only worked in the old colonial area: Paramaribo and the current districts of Wanica, Para, Commewijne, Saramacca, Coronie and Nickerie. Maroons and indigenous people were only registered if they had a child or died in those districts, or if they married someone who was already registered.

The FamilySearch Research Wiki is a free, online genealogical guide created and maintained by FamilySearch, a non-profit organization. It contains links to genealogy databases, websites, other resources, research strategies, and genealogical guidance to assist in the search for your ancestors. Articles included are locality pages for countries around the world and topic pages that include pertinent genealogy record types explaining how to use the record, what it contains, and how to find it.

Search the genealogical data of Dutch and Belgian archives and societies and automatically find linked records and additional information about people and context.

ShipIndex.org simplifies vessel research. Whether you’re a genealogist, a maritime historian, a researcher, or just curious, we can help you learn more about the ships that interest you. We tell you which maritime resources, such as books, journals, magazines, newspapers, CD-ROMs, websites, and online databases mention the ships that interest you. We enhance these references by noting which ones include illustrations or crew and passenger lists, and where you can find or purchase the resource.

The SlaveVoyages website is a collaborative digital initiative that compiles and makes publicly accessible records of the largest slave trades in history. Search these records to learn about the broad origins and forced relocations of more than 12 million African people who were sent across the Atlantic in slave ships, and hundreds of thousands more who were trafficked within the Americas. Explore where they were taken, the numerous rebellions that occurred, the horrific loss of life during the voyages, the identities and nationalities of the perpetrators, and much more.

Index of enslaved people in Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles who were emancipated in 1863.

In the Surinamese slave registers, enslaved people were registered on the page, the 'folio', of their owner. This could be a plantation or a private owner. The slave registers start in 1830 and continue until the abolition of slavery in Suriname on July 1, 1863.

In the slave registers you will find a person's name, gender, age or year of birth, mother's name (mainly in registers from 1848), the owner and a link to the scan of the folio. You will also find the date on which a 'mutation' was recorded, the type of mutation (birth, death, registration, deregistration and registration) and sometimes additional information.

CBG | Center for Family History in The Hague is the owner of WieWasWie.nl. CBG is the national center for knowledge, documentation and publicity for genealogy and heraldry in the Netherlands.

Welkom op AlleSurinamers.org, de bronnenwebsite van de Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie (SSG). De stichting heeft deze site opgezet om alle belangrijke bronnen voor Surinaams familieonderzoek op één plek bij elkaar te brengen, deze van een heldere toelichting te voorzien en up-to-date te houden. De stichting wil hiermee mensen met belangstelling voor Surinaams familieonderzoek de goede richting wijzen en behulpzaam zijn.

Ancestry message boards contain over 25 million posts on more than 198,000 boards.

Ancestry message boards contain over 25 million posts on more than 198,000 boards.

The Digital Library of the Caribbean is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean & circum-Caribbean.

The Early Caribbean Digital Archive is an open access collection of pre-twentieth-century Caribbean texts, maps, and images. Texts include travel narratives, novels, poetry, natural histories, and diaries that have not been brought together before as a single collection focused on the Caribbean. The materials in the archive are primarily authored and published by Europeans, but the ECDA aims to use digital tools to "remix" the archive and foreground the centrality and creativity of enslaved and free African, Afro-creole, and Indigenous peoples in the Caribbean world.

History Hub is a research support community for everyone, including genealogists, historians, and citizen archivists.

Trouwportretten-Surinaamse Voorouders in Beeld 1868-1950 is een reizende tentoonstelling

Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials or add photos, virtual flowers and a note to a loved one's memorial. Search or browse cemeteries and grave records for every-day and famous people from around the world.

Ben je geïnteresseerd in geschiedenis en cultuur? Wil je meer weten over het verleden van je familie of je woonplaats? Ben je benieuwd wat de kranten schreven over de eerste maanlanding? Of zoek je dat ene artikel over een voetbalwedstrijd van vroeger? In Delpher vind je miljoenen historische kranten, boeken en tijdschriften uit de collecties van bibliotheken, archieven en wetenschappelijke instellingen. Je kunt alle digitaliseerde teksten gratis, woord voor woord doorzoeken, zonder dat je daarvoor een account nodig hebt.

Are you interested in history and culture? Do you want to know more about the past of your family or your hometown? Are you curious about what the newspapers wrote about the first moon landing? Or are you looking for that one article about a football match from the past? In Delpher you will find millions of historical newspapers, books and magazines from the collections of libraries, archives and scientific institutions. You can search all digitized texts for free, word by word, without needing an account.

The collection that Stadsmuseum Tilburg manages is divided into the Stadscollectie Tilburg, the photos Caribbean Heritage and the Zwijsen collection.

Earl Leaf was a well-established photojournalist who settled in LA in the 1940s.

Granger Academic provides access to Granger's vast and vibrant archive of historical pictures. Many of these images are not available anywhere else, and for the first time we have made our collection available free of charge to teachers, librarians and students.

HaChayim HaYehudim Jewish Photo Library is an archive of images from the Jewish world. Jewish communities in the Caribbean featured include Aruba, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Eustatius, St. Thomas, and Trinidad.

We are a team of dedicated film archivists who aim to help you produce the best archive content for your project.

Our collections are vast and varied - the sum of over fifty years of service to production and to film archiving. Our footage starts around 1895 and we cover the places and people of the 20th century comprehensively and globally. Our holdings are mostly documentary with the addition of behind the scenes Hollywood, Bollywood and a special collection of pioneer film makers. It is with great pride that our source material is still on celluloid for quality and that filmic texture. Our films are housed in purpose built film vaults and our staff expert in their field.

Mary Evans Picture Library licenses images for use in books, newspapers, exhibitions, websites and all manner of other media. Our images cover a broad range of topics, with the overarching themes of history and film. Our range, however, extends far beyond most people's perception of historical pictures, to include areas such as fashion, design, society and, uniquely, the paranormal.

The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs is a singular collection of more than 3,500 historical images from 34 countries including Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. This visual record contains studio portraits, landscapes and tourist views and brings to life the changing economies, environments and communities that emerged post-emancipation. The Collection includes nearly every photographic format available during the years 1840 to 1940, including prints, postcards, daguerreotypes, lantern slides, albums, and stereographs.

M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark tells the story of Denmark as one of the world's leading maritime nations in an evocative and dramatic way.

You can visit the digital image archive here where more than 60.000 photos are digitalized (in Danish).

The National Archives manages 15 million photos. You can view more than one million photos online. The photo collection provides an overview of events from the period between 1865 and 1990.

This digital compilation was developed in support of the NYPL website, "The African American Migration Experience," a sweeping 500-year historical narrative from the transatlantic slave trade to the Western migration, the colonization movement, the Great Migration, and the contemporary immigration of Caribbeans, Haitians, and sub-Saharan Africans.

The KITLV image collection holds photographs, prints and drawings that were acquired by The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). Housed at Leiden University Libraries since 2014, as part of the KITLV library collection.

The biggest part of the image collection consists of photographs. Around 1890 the KITLV started collecting photographs for the purpose of documenting the image of the Dutch East and West Indies in all their facets, such as landscapes, town views, architecture, and life under indigenous and Dutch rule and so forth.

The Travel Film Archive is a collection of travelogues and educational and industrial films - many of them in color - that show the world the way it was between 1900 and 1970. All of our footage was shot on film (much of it on 35mm), so if you need HD transfers, we have film backing - in many cases the camera originals.

Footage from The Travel Film Archive is available for licensing from Getty Images and the TFA Network of agents, either directly or through this site. At this time we do not provide footage for personal use.

Easy-to-use software that helps you fix your pics and documents fast! Free to try - no credit card required.

The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 35 years ago and contains more than 200,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 16th through 21st century maps of North and South America, as well as maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, globes, wall maps, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children's, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from around 1550 to the present.

Our mission is to give old maps a new life in the online world via the Old Maps Online search catalog that allows visitors to explore and discover the beauty of historical maps depicting a past geographical place of their interest.

The Association of Saramaka Authorities (VSG) was established in 1996 with the aim to represent the position of traditional Saamaka leaders and their people from 77 villages in relation to increasing human and land rights violations by the Surinamese state.

Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) is a non-profit, independent, educational organization recognized by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. ICC was established in 1999 with its axiom being “Celebrating unity in cultural diversity in the Caribbean.” It is dedicated to publishing two magazines every year – a Divali souvenir magazine, and an Indian Arrival Day commemorative magazine. ICC is primarily committed to the production of information about people, issues and events affecting Hindus and Indians in multi-ethnic Trinidad and the Caribbean.

Within the next few years, the Nationaal Slavernijmuseum, a new national museum of slavery, should open its doors to the public. Documenting the history of transatlantic slavery and slavery in the Dutch colonies in the Indian Ocean will be the museum’s guiding principle. The museum’s content will target a broad audience, with a focus on education, art, information and research. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science supports the initiative.

The Our HERitage project highlights the stories of Caribbean women during the colonial period (including slavery and indentured labor) of the Netherlands. The initiative aims to give more recognition to this often forgotten heritage and to make the diversity within the Caribbean community (including Suriname and Guyanas) visible.

Het project Our HERitage belicht de verhalen van Caribische vrouwen tijdens de koloniale periode (inclusief slavernij en contractarbeid) van Nederland. Het initiatief wil meer erkenning geven aan dit vaak vergeten erfgoed en het wil de diversiteit binnen de Caribische gemeenschap (inclusief Suriname en Guyana’s) zichtbaar maken.

Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie is een ontmoetingsplaats voor mensen met een interesse in Surinaamse familiegeschiedenis, waar zij met elkaar in contact kunnen komen en informatie uitwisselen, – biedt een helpende hand voor zowel beginnende als gevorderde onderzoekers als het gaat om hoe genealogisch onderzoek aan te pakken, welke hulpmiddelen ter beschikking staan en hoe het resultaat van het onderzoek op de meest efficiënte wijze vast te leggen,

In Surinam several architects have joined force to set up a database with historical information and technical drawings of heritage sites. The database is available on Google Docs. It is presented in the Dutch language.

Plantage Matuaribo is een levend symbool van onze gedeelde geschiedenis, verbondenheid en kracht.
Als Vereniging Plantage Matuaribo maken wij het culturele erfgoed van onze voorouders zichtbaar en voelbaar, in zowel Nederland als Suriname.

Wij koesteren de geschiedenis waarin slavernij, strijd en gemeenschapskracht samenkomen, en benadrukken de waarde van de plantage als historisch cultureel erfgoed. 

Dit erfgoed vormt niet alleen een bron van herinnering, maar ook een fundament waarop toekomstige generaties kunnen bouwen.

Met elkaar dragen wij deze levende erfenis verder met respect voor het verleden en hoop voor de toekomst.

CCCADI's programs serve children/youth, families, young professionals, elders, local and international artists, and practitioners of African-based spiritual traditions. Through our work CCCADI offers a collective space where African descendants honor the contributions of the global African Diaspora through exhibitions, performances, conferences, educational programs, and international exchanges.

Inspired by the stories that my Grandmother told me about our ancestors in Trinidad, I started researching my family history in my youth. My research has resulted in me accumulating vast amounts of information not only on my immediate ancestors but also related families (something we refer to as “pumpkin vine family” in Trinidad). I have since found out that my ancestors were not only from Trinidad, but also Barbados and Guyana with other branches moving to Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname and Venezuela. I have realised that although our forebears may have lived on small islands, they were certainly not isolated and often maintained connections with relatives many miles away. Within the Caribbean region we have a shared history and this has encouraged me to utilise this connectivity to create this resource.

Family history of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish diaspora.

The Jewish community of Suriname is one of the oldest in the Americas. During the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain around 1500, many Jews fled to Holland and the Dutch colonies to escape torture and condemnation to the stake. Those who were converted to the Catholic fate were called "Marranos." The stadtholder of the King of Portugal gave those who wanted to depart some time to settle their business and supplied them with 16 ships and safe-conduct to leave for Holland. The most prominent amongst them were Rabbi Izak Aboab and members of the Nassi, the Meza and the Pereira families.

We sit with Indo-Caribbean poet Rajiv Mohabir and discuss the roots and consequences of forced migrations.

Andwele means “God brought & delivered me” in Swahili. He was born November 20, 1977 in the capital of Suriname, Paramaribo. Suriname is a small country on the northern coast of South America where the official language is Dutch. He currently lives on the island of Saint Maarten in the West Indies where he works as a clinical pharmacist. His journey into unearthing his family history started as a child...being fascinated by stories told at family gatherings. Stories that connected him to people long dead before he was born...but whose stories helped to shape his identity...and fed his hunger to fill in the blanks.

​In this episode, Andwele's story begins with a 1926 photograph featuring his great grandmother on the occasion of her 60th birthday. It was his curiosity about the people in that picture that made him always listen to stories from his mother’s siblings and cousins about those memories from their childhood, and bits and pieces of information that they remembered about stories that were told to them.

Have you ever wondered about the beautiful complexity that arises when different cultures blend? The Caribbean term "Dougla" captures exactly that—specifically describing people of mixed African and Indian heritage in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. Today we unpack this fascinating identity that emerged from the region's colonial past of enslavement and indentured servitude. Derived from the Hindi word "Dogala" (meaning "double" or "mix"), the term once carried negative connotations but has been powerfully reclaimed as a symbol of pride. 

Nieuwsgierig naar je Surinaamse voorouders? Hoe pak je het onderzoek naar hen aan?  Loop je vast bij het zoeken naar informatie over hen? Wat is de invloed van je familiegeschiedenis op het heden? Ben je benieuwd naar familieverhalen?

In de SSG-podcast halen we onbekende voorouders en verhalen uit de Schaduw van het verleden.

Tujuan Taki is een initiatief van vier gepassioneerde Javaanse Surinamers. Hun voorouders zijn geboren in Indonesië en vervoerd naar Suriname om als dwangarbeiders op de plantages te werken. Zij hebben elkaar gevonden in Nederland, waar een grote gemeenschap van nazaten van contractarbeiders woont.