Latest / The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History
Belgium's Colonial Debt: Suriname's Sugar Legacy
This episode explores the deep economic entanglement between Belgium and Suriname, focusing on the Javanese indentured laborers brought to work on sugar plantations. We examine how the Société Générale de Belgique and Union Minière shaped this legacy, moving beyond the Congo narrative to uncover the Poldermodel’s roots in colonial extraction. The conversation details the lives of workers in Nickerie and along the Marowijne river, the transition from plantation economy to bauxite mining, and the complex post-independence relationships under leaders like Johan Ferrier and Henck Arron. Listeners…
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