Databases of slave registers Suriname and Curaçao gain UNESCO World Heritage status

The digital databases of the slave registers of Suriname and Curaçao have been officially recognized as World Heritage Sites and included in the Memory of the World Register (MoW Register) of UNESCO, the UN World Heritage Organization. The MoW Register includes documentary heritage of outstanding value to world history. The databases were created as part of the Historical Database Suriname and Curacao (HDSC) project.

UNESCO World Heritage status has been bestowed on a collection of archives in the Netherlands, Suriname, Curaçao and St. Maarten that together comprise the history of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean colonies in the 19th century. Remarkably, the databases of the slave registers of Suriname and Curaçao are the only databases that have been granted this status. The databases were created with the support of hundreds of volunteers and sponsors.

Radboud University's HDSC project is carried out by Jan Kok, Coen van Galen, Thunnis van Oort, Björn Quanjer and Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge of Radboud University, in cooperation with the National Archives of Suriname, Curaçao and the Netherlands, the Anton de Kom University of Suriname and the University of Curacao.

For more information, see: www.ru.nl/hdsc