Suriname was first colonized by the British, and captured by the Dutch in 1667. .Conditions on the plantations were miserable with overwork, poor living conditions and low wages.
The Mareinburg estate and sugar factory was the biggest business enterprise in Suriname at one time. In 1902, Dutch security forces fired on the protesting workers, killing 24, whose bodies were dumped in unidentified mass graves.
According to local belief in the region, the bodies were transported on the train that brought the sugarcane to the sugar mill and buried in large pit near the rail tracks.
The plans to locate the mass graves at Marienburg have evoked a good deal of interest in Suriname. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1983-84 when drilling was undertaken at one site. In 2006 a monument was unveiled to commemorate the workers uprising.
