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44-399: Cassipora is located near a former Jewish settlement established in 1665, which was abandoned twenty years later in favour of neighbouring Jodensavanne . During the 19th century, the wood plantation Salem was located at the site. The village consists of small clusters of houses occupied by one family, which are spaced far apart. Cassipora is connected to the water supply and has been linked to

88-627: A Dutch fleet led by Michiel de Ruyter in April 1665. Three months later Willoughby engaged in another expedition, sailing to the Dutch island of Tobago . Finding a force under the English privateer Robert Searle already looting the settlement there, he put a stop to the destruction and installed a garrison of fifty men to maintain order. His last act on behalf of the English crown came in July 1666 when, having learned of

132-564: A frigate to assault the harbour and capture two merchant vessels on 2 August. This success could not be exploited however as that night most of his force was destroyed by a strong hurricane, including the flagship Hope , from which Willoughby did not emerge. On 16 November 1628 Willoughby married Elizabeth Cecil (1606–1661), the daughter of the soldier Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon and Theodosia Noel. Francis Willoughby and Elizabeth Cecil had four children: Willoughby died on 2 August 1666 (23 July O.S.), at sea on board his ship Hope , in

176-489: A petition was sent to the English Council of State by Benjamin de Caseras, Henry de Caseras, and Jacob Fraso for the permission to live and trade in the territories of Suriname and Barbados, marking a solid date for the origins of a Jewish community being established within the territory. In the year 1652, a new group of approximately twelve hundred that migrated under the leadership of Francis, Lord Willoughby settled in

220-516: A plantation and return to Europe, residents of Jodensavanne did not have anywhere in Europe to return to. This Jewish community developed a sugar-cane plantation economy which used African slaves as labor; according to some accounts newly settled families received 4 or 5 slaves as part of their settlement grant. As the Dutch gained control of Suriname, they preserved the rights granted to this Jewish community and even expanded it in some ways, including

264-628: A project labeled as the 'Interactive Dig Jodensavanne', of which conservation efforts and record-keeping projects have been active since 2014. The Jodensavanne is located near the indigenous village of Redi Doti , in the Carolina resort , and connected to the outside world with the Carolinabrug which leads to the Avobakaweg onto Paramaribo or via the Desiré Delano Bouterse Highway to

308-621: A public recreation area. During the Surinamese Interior War it was the scene of heavy fighting. It has been restored, and regained its status as a recreation area. In 1671, a synagogue was built in Cassipora, however all traces of the building have disappeared, and only the graves remain. Together with Jodensavanne, the cemetery is on the tentative list for the Unesco World Heritage List since 1998. During World War II ,

352-462: Is primarily based on subsistence farming , hunting, and tourism. Since 2002, the village has owned the Blaka Watra resort. Blaka Watra is a creek with very dark, near black water. Former Prime minister Johan Adolf Pengel built his country residence near the creek. Artificial rapids were constructed in the creek to give the impression of a bubble bath . In 1970, after his death, it was turned into

396-618: The Caribbean . Francis Willoughby died without male heirs of his body and the title passed to his younger brother William Willoughby, 6th Lord Willoughby of Parham , the third son of William Willoughby, 3rd Lord Willoughby of Parham . Francis Willoughby was born in perhaps late 1613 (since he was baptised in 1614) to William Willoughby, 3rd Baron Willoughby of Parham and Frances Manners, daughter of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland of Nottingham at Parham in Suffolk . His father died in 1617, and

440-582: The Cassipora Cemetery were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in September 2023 under the name Jodensavanne Archaeological Site: Jodensavanne Settlement and Cassipora Creek Cemetery . In 1639, the English, who controlled Suriname at the time, allowed Sephardi Jews from the Netherlands , Portugal and Italy to settle in the area. They came first to the old capital Torarica . On 8 April 1651,

484-559: The Dutch NSB or the German NSDAP . However, some Indonesian nationalists were also deported to Jodensavanne, most famously Ernest Douwes Dekker . Historian Natalie Zemon Davis is working on a history of 18th century Jodensavanne, focusing on David Cohen Nassy (born 1747), and relations between Black and white people within the Jewish community. An article titled 'Regaining Jerusalem'

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528-596: The Jodensavanne internment camp was established to intern political prisoners from the Dutch East Indies . One of the tasks of the prisoners was clearing the forest, and repairing the graves at Cassipora. The cemetery contains several hundred graves, and the oldest dates from 1667. Jodensavanne Jodensavanne ( Dutch , " Jewish Savanna ") was a Jewish plantation community in Suriname , South America , and

572-705: The Netherlands to join the Royalists. Now espousing the Royalist cause, Willoughby was promoted to Vice Admiral under the Duke of York , an appointment that may have been designed to engender sympathy among Scots and Presbyterians. He was also assigned a command in the 1648 invasion of England under the Prince of Wales . He later surrendered his naval command to Prince Rupert of the Rhine . When Parliament confiscated his estates, he travelled to

616-592: The Suriname River in 1750, most of which bearing 'Jewish' names, such as the thousand-acre properties owned by one Solomon Meza. These plantations were marked and identified through an 18th-century map titled, " Algemeene Kaart van de Colonie of Provintie van Surinam ", drawn by engineer Alexander de Lavaux, a Berlin native who served in Prussian forces. There were several cemeteries located within Jodensavanne, of which

660-460: The airport . Jodensavanne's population has not been clearly established. Sources such as the Essai Historique, assert the population to be held at approximately one thousand in 1677; in contrast, historians such as Harry Friedenwald have argued for a lack of strong Jewish presence, an assertion that would imply a less populated Jodensavanne. There were around 70 existing plantations along

704-625: The Americas. The centennial celebration of the Synagogue, celebrated in October 1785, was said to have an attendance of more than 1500 persons, many of whom sailed in from Paramaribo, since by that time only twenty or so Jewish families were still living in Jodensavanne. Efforts were also made in the twentieth century to clear and preserve the synagogue ruins. Jodensavanne declined during the mid-18th century, and most of its population moved to Paramaribo. In

748-569: The Caribbean. He was appointed Governor of Barbados by Charles II. He arrived at Barbados and took up the appointment in May 1650 and attempted to negotiate the strained politics of that island, which also experienced a division between Royalists and Parliamentarians. During this time he also sent a small colonizing party led by Major Anthony Rowse to Suriname , which established a colony there. Fort Willoughby , which had been an abandoned French outpost,

792-493: The Essai Historique, approximately two hundred or so Jewish people had left Suriname, and in 1677, a year before the Carib assault on Jodensavanne, ten Jewish families had left with their slaves. European settlements including those in the Jodensavanne were attacked by Carib ( Kalina people ) in the latter part of 1678 and slaves also revolted. Again in 1690 there was a slave revolt on the plantation of an owner named Immanuel Machado, who

836-547: The Parliamentarians began to fray in 1644. In March he joined with Sir John Meldrum in the assault on Newark , the failure of which has been partially attributed to Willoughby's supposed unwillingness to take orders from Meldrum. Willoughby quarrelled with Manchester and was forced to make an apology to the House of Lords as a result. Furthermore, Cromwell himself saw fit to complain about the conduct of Willoughby's soldiers. In

880-482: The area as well, an indication of the Jewish community structures within the settlement. Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham (baptised 1614; died 23 July 1666 O.S., 2 August 1666 N.S. ) was an English peer of the House of Lords . He succeeded to the title on 14 October 1617 on the death in infancy of his elder brother Henry Willoughby, 4th Lord Willoughby of Parham . Francis Willoughby

924-401: The area now known as Jodensavanne. A third group came 1664, after their expulsion from Brazil and then French Guiana , led by David Cohen Nassy . The British attempted to keep this group from moving again by guaranteeing them privileges including the right to operate their own court and to have freedom of religion. It was at around this time that the community took on the name Savanne after

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968-456: The barony was held by his older brother Henry for one year until he too died barely five years old, at which point Francis inherited the seat in the House of Lords and with it the family title. As tensions between the king and Parliament grew in the 1630s, he found himself opposed to Charles I over the levying of ship money . His loyalty was further strained by the Bishops' Wars , in which he

1012-489: The colonies at Saint Kitts , Nevis , Montserrat , and Antigua . In June 1664 he organised an expedition from Barbados against the small French garrison at Saint Lucia , expelling it under the pretext that a half- Carib native had effectively "sold" it to England and establishing a short-lived English colony there. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War , Willoughby organised Barbados' defences and managed to repel

1056-408: The depletion of soils on the oldest plantations both decreased revenues. Security conditions deteriorated as a result of ongoing Maroon Wars , while the growth of Paramaribo as the colony's exclusive trading port, nearer to the coast, acted to pull Jews away from Jodensavanne. By 1790, Jodensavanne's population was approximated to be around twenty-two, excluding slaves. This dropped to less than ten by

1100-448: The early 19th century. The settlement continued in its reduced state until it was destroyed by fire during a slave revolt in 1832. During World War II , an internment camp was built near the location of the former Jewish settlement and named after it, the Jodensavanne internment camp . It was constructed in 1942 to house 146 political prisoners from the Dutch East Indies who were considered hard-core German sympathisers or members of

1144-479: The eighteenth century, Suriname was rocked by a series of crises which hit Jewish plantations, some of which were among the oldest in the colony, particularly hard. Expenses tended to increase as a result of: a hefty tribute levied by the Cassard expedition ; the collapse of a major Amsterdam sugarcane importer in 1773; and the accrual of real estate loans. The introduction of sugar beet cultivation in Europe from 1784 and

1188-431: The electricity grid since 2016. The village also has access to mobile phone services. However, for schooling and healthcare services, it relies on neighbouring Redi Doti , which can be reached by an unpaved road. Unfortunately, there is a conflict with logging companies that also use this road. Since 2011, the village chief of Cassipora has been Muriël Fernandes, who was first elected at the age of 29. The village's economy

1232-401: The fields which surrounded it; the settlement was built on a raised area of ground and was first built with one main road and four side streets. A school was built which taught Spanish and Portuguese in addition to Jewish topics. Part of the reason that these Jewish colonists were preparing for more permanent settlement was that, unlike Christian colonists who often hoped to get rich running

1276-569: The most heavily used, and first existing cemetery is known as the Cassipora Cemetery . Named in due part to the Cassipora Creek that stems from the Surinam river, it is expected to hold approximately two hundred tombstones, the earliest of which being from the early 17th century, and the most recent believed to have been constructed in 1840. The headstones here are primarily inscribed with Hebrew, Portuguese, and Dutch, and there exist several ohelim in

1320-449: The move of the centre of Jewish life in the region from Torarica to Jodensavanne. This first synagogue contained a separate section for women, an archive for the community, and silver detailing on the wooden building. A second, made of imported brick, was constructed in 1685. Before the construction of the Beracha ve Shalom , there had been no synagogue of major architectural significance in

1364-672: The next few years, Willoughby became the leader of the Presbyterian force within Parliament, opposed the formation of the New Model Army and was elected as speaker of the House of Lords in July 1647. However, when the Parliamentary army took London in September, Willoughby was imprisoned along with six other peers and held for four months at which point he was released without charge, fleeing to

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1408-515: The recent French seizure of Saint Kitts , he formed a relief force of two Royal Navy frigates , twelve other large vessels (including commandeered merchant ships), a fire ship , and a ketch , bearing over 1,000 men. He planned to proceed north to Nevis, Montserrat, and Antigua to gather further reinforcements before descending on the French. Leaving Barbados on 28 July (18 July O.S.), his force prowled off Martinique and then Guadeloupe , where he sent

1452-445: The right to carry goods on Sundays and banish people from their community, as well as a 1691 land grant of 100 acres for building a synagogue and burial site. The settlement reached its largest size in around 1700 when it was estimated to have 570 citizens. Jodensavanne's slave-owning citizens also regularly engaged in conflict with neighboring Indigenous populations and with enslaved people in their plantations. In 1670, according to

1496-414: The spread of Parliamentary sympathies by hanging two of the returning militia soldiers and prohibiting the reading of documents from the blockading fleet. The Royalists held out for several more weeks until one of Willoughby's own commanders declared himself for Parliament. A battle was averted by a week of rain, after which Willoughby, perhaps having seen the hopelessness of his cause, sought negotiations. He

1540-624: The town. Facing a counterattack, Willoughby's soldiers fought along with those under Oliver Cromwell to hold off an advancing Royalist force of superior strength. The main body of the Parliamentary army withdrew to Boston with only two dead. That September, Willoughby was a subordinate commander under the Earl of Manchester and Cromwell. He fought at the Battle of Winceby and accepted the surrender of Bolingbroke Castle in November. Willoughby's relations with

1584-497: Was expanded at the present-day site of the city of Paramaribo ). On 25 October 1651, a seven-ship force under Commodore George Ayscue arrived off Barbados, demanding that the island submit "for the use of the Parliament of England". Willoughby's reply (tellingly addressed to "His Majesty's ship Rainbow ") was unyielding, declaring that he knew "no supreme authority over Englishmen but the King". With some 400 horsemen and 6,000 militia, he

1628-549: Was for a time the centre of Jewish life in the colony. It was established in the 1600s by Sephardi Jews and became more developed and wealthy after a group of Jews fleeing persecution in Brazil settled there in the 1660s. It was located in what is now Para District , about 50 km (31 mi) south of the capital Paramaribo , on the Suriname River . Sugarcane plantations were established by forcing Black African people to work as slaves. At its height in around 1700, Jodensavanne

1672-407: Was home to roughly 500 plantation owners and 9000 enslaved people. The colony faced regular attacks from Indigenous people, slave revolts, and even raids from the French navy. The community eventually relocated to the capital of Paramaribo . Clearing of grave sites and maintenance of the synagogue ruins has been attempted at various times from the 1940s to the 21st century. Jodensavanne along with

1716-580: Was killed and whose former slaves fled to a Maroon community . French sailors, aware of the richness of the community, also raided it in 1712. Due to the many attacks, especially by former slaves, the colonists built up a defensive system around the settlement. The congregation Beracha ve Shalom ("Blessings and Peace") was founded, with the first wooden synagogue in the community (the 3rd synagogue in South America ) built between 1665 and 1671 and renovated in 1827. The construction of this synagogue marked

1760-487: Was prepared to resist any attempt at coercion. Over the next month, Barbados was blockaded. In early December, with the Royalist cause defeated in England, Ayscue began a series of raids against fortifications on the island and was reinforced by a group of thirteen ships bound for Virginia. On 17 December a force of more than 1,000 Barbadian militia was defeated by one of Ayscue's detachments. Governor Willoughby attempted to stem

1804-530: Was published in 2016 by Davis, detailing a celebration of Passover within Jodensavanne. As of the current day, all that remains at the site of Jodensavanne are the remnants of the Berache ve Shalom Synagogue, alongside three cemeteries, of which the headstones are primarily inscribed with Hebrew and Portuguese. The Archaeological Institute of the Americas, in partnership with the University of Suriname, engaged in

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1848-467: Was reluctant to fight the Scots . When the king in 1642 issued his Commission of Array to form a loyal army, Willoughby rejected his summons and instead took command of a horse regiment under the Parliamentary commander, the Earl of Essex . By January 1643, he was made commander-in-chief of Lincolnshire . On 16 July of the same year, he led his soldiers in a surprise attack on Gainsborough where he seized

1892-578: Was replaced as governor but Barbados and the Royalists there were not punished. Additionally, Willoughby's properties in England were restored. He returned to them in August 1652. While he was twice imprisoned during The Protectorate for involvement in Royalist intrigues, Willoughby survived the Cromwell years and after the Restoration in 1660 he was again appointed to a governorship in the Caribbean, administering

1936-548: Was the second son of William Willoughby, 3rd Lord Willoughby of Parham The young and unexpected death of his elder brother Henry made Francis successor to the hereditary peerage and seat in the House of Lords , the upper house of Parliament. Francis Willoughby was an early supporter of the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War but later became a Royalist . He twice served as governor of English colonies in

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