Paramaribo, gravenstraat 6. the Nepveu House
Drawing: marion spierings, 1980
This great house, built by governor Jan Nepveu in the year 1774, was bought by the Jewish merchant and planter Samuel de la Parra, who was considered the richest inhabitant of Suriname at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1821 De la Parra owned no less than 12 estates, producing timber, sugar, coffee, and cotton. He lived the house with his family and a household of 50 slaves.But, although there were some very wealthy Jewish inhabitants in the colony, the majority of the Jewish population was poor.
During the economic boom 1730 - 1750 they were not permitted to begin new estates on the fertile grounds at the lower commewijne river. As a consequence, they continued to work their old, already exhausted, lands at the Suriname river. One acre of those old lands produced four times less than one acre of the new commewijne estates, and the harvest was hardly profitable. But in those days money was easy to obtain, and many indebted their estates to be able to continue their lifestyle.
The 1774 financial crisis hit the Jewish community very hard, and most of them lost their estates, and settled - totally impoverished - in Paramaribo, where they tried to make a living as small merchants ("vettewariers"). Many families emigrated to North America, or saved money to send at least one of their sons there.
Gradually, they regained some wealth. They invested in education for their children, and many Jews became excellent doctors and lawyers. Their small shops expanded into large trade firms, some of these exist even today. None of them had enough capital to invest in new sugar estates in Saramacca and Nickerie, but many of them owned quite profitable lumber estates, which required almost no start-up investment.