The International Refugee Colonization Society was founded in the Hague to finance the wholesale emigration of Jews and other refugees and to ascertain which countries would offer the best opportunities for settlement. From the first the organization was interested in Surinam in spite of its bad repute and the numerous failures at European colonization. Most of the work of the commission sent to Surinam was interrupted by the war, but the sanitary phases are preserved in this report.
The main portion of the report is divided into five sections as follows: general information, which includes a brief account of the climate, soil, population and governmental districts; sanitary conditions in Surinam, which summarizes and discusses the significance of the vital statistics of the area; sanitary history of the white settlement in Surinam; malaria in rural Surinam, and the prevention of diseases in a future settlement.
Professor Swellengrebel's scholarly and critical examination