Subject: [GovGen] Jan Nepveu 1768-1779
Article:


He was a descendent of French Hugenots. He was not a military officer but a civilian bureaucrat. He was a young boy when he came to Suriname. He worked as a secretary for GovGen Mauricius and got promoted to more responsible positions as he became older. Then after living in Suriname for 35 years, he became the GovGen.

He was an expert on Suriname, an owner of plantations and he belonged to the class of the 'sugar barons'. Nepveu was very popular in Suriname and on the day of his inauguration there were many parties until deep in the night.

The economy was on a downward slide and resembled a 'fake' economy if you saw the exhibited wealth and parties compared to real life at the time. The country was slowly going broke due to the expenses of military expeditions against the Maroons. There was even a shortage of currency in Suriname and numerous plantations went bankrupt.

In 1770, the van Sommelsdijck family sold their 1/3 share of their Suriname investment to the city of Amsterdam for fl. 700,000. Thus the city of Amsterdam became a majority owner of Suriname.

In 1772, Jan Nepveu founded the "Black Rangers' and in 1774-1778 he ordered the construction of a military cordon to protect the plantations. Jan Nepveu died in 1779 several months after he attended the opening of the first Moravian Church (EBG).




Met dank aan Albert Buys