50 000 Gulden 125 years of Hindu Immigration

In 1873, the first ship carrying indentured laborers from British India arrived in Suriname, a direct consequence of the abolition of slavery in 1863 and the subsequent labor vacuum on Dutch colonial plantations. The Dutch government negotiated the arrangement with British India through a formal treaty, and over the following decades more than 34,000 Indians made the crossing. Many contracts offered return passage to India after ten years — a promise most ultimately declined.

This 1998 commemorative marks the 125th anniversary of that first arrival. The .917 gold specification aligns with the traditional 22-karat standard used across much of the Commonwealth world, a likely deliberate nod.