Batavia on the Coppename River in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

is a former cocoa

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

post and state

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

of the Dutch

colonists A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

. Batavia functioned as a leper colony from 1824 to 1897, after which the location was completely abandoned. Since 2001 it has been redeveloped as a place of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

Overview

In 1790, an area of uncultivated land near the

Saramacca River Saramacca River is a river in Suriname. The Arawaks named this river "Surama", and today's name "Saramacca" is probably derived from it. It originates in the Wilhelmina Mountains and flows northwards and enters the Atlantic Ocean together with t ...

known as Voorzorg, was designated to treat

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

. In due time

s started to sprawl around the place, and in 1824 the lepers were moved to the further afield Coppename location, an abandoned plantation. Batavia was also an important military post that was part of the 'Orange Road', a defensive line to prevent attacks on plantations by groups of former

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

operating from the interior. This military post remained in place. It was not until 1786 that

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

were sent from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to the

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of Suriname, but they were not welcome on the plantations. Protestant

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

were not welcome either, although

protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

was the state religion at the time. After sporadic initial visits by priests to Batavia, the leper colony was allowed to have a permanent Roman Catholic mission post in 1836. It was led by

apostolic prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

Jacobus Grooff, followed by several others, including Peter Donders. In 1865, the Suriname mission was assigned to the (Dutch) redemptorists. One of their rules is "They shall work among the most abandoned." In general the priests showed little respect for African cultural and religious practices, such as '' winti''. This led to major tensions on several occasions. One priest was poisoned in 1849.Stephen Snelders, ''Leprosy and Colonialism: Suriname Under Dutch Rule, 1750-1950'',

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England, and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with t ...

, 2017 Peter Donders joined the redemptorists in 1866 after which he made several missionary journeys to the indigenous and marroon people in the interior. He was called back to the capital by

apostolic vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

Johannes Schaap in 1882. Donders then worked for several years at the

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

plantation Mary's Hope in the Coronie District, but Schaap send him to Batavia again in 1885. Here he contracted a

kidney infection In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and right in the retrop ...

from which he died on 14 january 1887. Peter Donders was

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1982. In 1826, Batavia had about 300 lepers. In 1853 there were 453 of them. At the time of Dutch

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

in 1863 the number of infected was 380, including eleven already freed. The 369 leprosy-infected former enslaved were given (colonial)

surnames In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several giv ...

at that moment. The former owners were not compensated financially by the state. Despite the abolition of slavery, the management at Batavia continued to make distinctions in the

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

of lepers, to be precise between the blacks and the asians ( 'contractwerkers'). The number of lepers on Batavia soon decreased. The government had less control over the population and many infected people hid in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

and surrounding area. In 1875 there were 125 lepers and 45 others. In 1880, only 101 lepers and 76 others. The residents were not afraid of contamination and cared for one another. Relationships existed between the healthy and the infected and children were born.Ellen Klinkers, ''De bannelingen van Batavia. Lepra-bestrijding gedurende de negentiende eeuw in koloniaal Suriname'' (in Dutch), OSO Tijdschrift voor Surinamistiek, May 2003, page 50-61 Batavia was closed in 1897, and the remaining 81 lepers were moved to the former sugar plantation Groot Chatillon on the Suriname River, a new state leper colony near the capital. Batavia was burned to the ground to prevent a future outbreak of leprosy In 2000 plans were made to restore the colony. The reconstruction reopened on 14 January 2017, and Batavia is nowadays a tourist attraction and a

site.

References

External links

Batavia Suriname.com
{{coord, 5, 42, 41, N, 55, 52, 37, W, region:SR_type:city, display=title Populated places in Saramacca District Leper colonies Catholic pilgrimage sites

Overview

See also

References

External links