Born: Unknown, Unknown
Died: 9 November 1716
Country most active: Curaçao
Also known as: Unknown
Maria was a slave and possibly the leader of a 1716 slave rebellion on Curaçao in the Dutch West Indies in 1716. Maria was a cook at the St. Maria plantation, which was owned by the Dutch West India Company. There, she prepared newly captured Africans to be sold into slavery. On 15 September 1716, plantation’s slaves rebelled and killed some of the white staff before being subdued by the military.
Maria’s lover, a slave named Tromp, stated under torture that Maria had planned the rebellion in revenge on the overseer Muller, who was responsible for the death of her husband. However, as information given under torture is notoriously unreliable, and Maria herself maintained her innocence throughout, it is possible she was wrongly convicted. She was executed by burning on 9 November 1716.