Guerin Spranger

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Daniel Guerin Spranger, also called Quijrijn Spranger or Gerrit Spranger, was a Dutch Jewish entrepreneur who led the Dutch colony of Cayenne (in what is now French Guiana) from 1656 to 1664. He was born in the Netherlands around 1610 and died sometime after 1676.

Spranger had spent about 16 years in Dutch Brazil, where he helped build trade with Amsterdam. When Brazil was lost to the Portuguese in 1654, he received a grant from the Dutch government to start a colony on Cayenne Island, which the French had abandoned.

On Cayenne, Spranger built good relations with indigenous people, brought in slaves, and set up sugarcane plantations. The colony also produced indigo, annatto for color, and vanilla extract. The Dutch West India Company supported the venture, and the colony attracted other Jewish settlers from Brazil and Amsterdam.

There were tensions with some Protestant colonists and with the colonial governor, but Spranger and later settlers managed to establish a community at Remire (west of the island), where they built a fort and a synagogue. The settlers were allowed to plant crops, keep their goods and slaves, practice their religion, and, if they chose to leave, take their land and belongings with them.

In 1664 the French, led by Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, returned with a large force. Spranger surrendered Cayenne on 15 May 1664 on favorable terms, and the French installed a new governor. The agreement allowed the Dutch to keep their lands and move their people and goods to other places, with freedom of religion.

Some Dutch Jews and Protestants were later moved to Suriname or to other spots, and there is a report that Spranger was taken prisoner and brought to Brest. In 1676 the Dutch briefly held Cayenne again, but the French retook it later that year, and Spranger may have been among the prisoners.