The researchers will use the grant to reconstruct and digitalize the entire population of Curacao between 1839 and 1950. This will create a database that the general public can use for genealogical research. It will also shed new light on the history of the Caribbean, colonial society, and slavery. Unique to Curacao is that the island has the most complete data set of slave registers and civil status records of the Caribbean.
Curacao and Suriname
Project leader Coen van Galen is happy: 'This is an addition to our ongoing research in Suriname. We can now expand our team with a specialised researcher. Together with our large group of volunteers, we will now combine the Curacao Civil Registry with the slave registers of the island and also compare them with the slave registers and Civil Registry of Suriname'.
According to van Galen, the addition of the Curacao civil registry is interesting for the ongoing research on slavery at the Radboud University because it offers an additional perspective on the effects of slavery across generations. In the 19th century, Curacao was a trading island and not a plantation colony like Suriname. That means a different population composition and also a different impact of the period of slavery on the citizens of the island.
Project
The Historical Database Suriname and Curacao is a project to map the entire populations of Suriname and Curacao from 1830 to 1950. The project is an initiative of historians of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname and the Radboud University in cooperation with the National Archives of Suriname, Curacao, and the Netherlands, the University of Curacao, and HSNDB. The project is made possible with the support of PDI SSH, NWA and the Henkel Stiftung.