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.[1] As the Dutch gained control of Suriname, they preserved the rights granted to this Jewish community and even expanded it in some ways, including 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.[2][3][4] The settlement reached its largest size in around 1700 when it was estimated to have 570 citizens.[3]