William Byam

William Byam (born March 9, 1623 in Luccombe, Somerset , † December 1670 in Antigua ) was governor of Suriname from 1654 to 1667 .

Byam was a royalist and a member of the Barbados Congregation in 1651 , from which he was banished by anti-royalists in 1652. He probably traveled to Suriname shortly after his exile, where he succeeded Anthony Rowse in 1654 .

Willoughby Land

After the reinstatement of Charles II in 1660, the legal system of Suriname became clearer. Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham , and Lawrence Hyde , appointed by Charles II as owners, were allowed to ship as many people as required to the colony, including foreigners. The English did not have the same rights to free trade as the subjects of the English king. Free exercise of belief was also possible. They could legislate and pronounce prison and life sentences through judges appointed by Willoughby and Hyde. It was also stipulated that the owners had to provide for the defense against local and foreign enemies.

There was a strong spirit of individualism in Suriname. When Byam set a levy of half a pound of sugar per acre in 1661, an uprising broke out. The leader of the revolt, William Sandfort , was fined 5000 pounds of sugar and was transported to England in "iron bound". A few others were exiled from Willoughby Land colony .

Conquest by Crijnssen

On February 25, 1667, commander Abraham Crijnssen appeared with a fleet of seven ships on board the frigate Zeelandia in front of Fort Willoughby near Paramaribo . He set out from Zeeland in December 1666 with an order to inflict as much damage as possible on the English in the West Indies - see also Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) . After a short bombardment, the English surrendered and on March 6, 1667, William Byam en Bord der Zeelandia signed the handover document to the province of Zeeland. This ended the governorship of Byam and he settled on Antigua.

See also

• List of governors of Suriname

literature

• GW van der Meiden: Betwist bestuur. Een eeuw strijd om de macht in Suriname 1651-1753 . De Bataafsche Leeuw, Amsterdam 1987, ISBN 90-6707-133-1 .
• Aphra Behn : Oroonoko or, the Royal Slave . London 1688, under the German title: Life and love story of the royal slave Oroonoko in West India . Hamburg 1709.

This novel describes this period of colonization and it is the first romantic story in which Suriname is the setting.