A fire that gutted the House of Parliament also destroyed the treaty in which the Dutch traded Manhattan for Suriname, the archives-keeper says.

Authorities suspect arson in Thursday’s fire, which burned the 1667 Treaty of Breda.

After years of skirmishes, Netherlands agreed in the treaty to cede New Amsterdam - now Manhattan - to the English in return for this South American country.

Delaware was also part of the trade.

Archives director Hariette Frankenland said she would travel to The Hague, London and Washington to try to find copies of the treaty and other documents burned in the fire.

At least one copy of the Treaty of Breda is in the General National Archive in The Hague, the Dutch capital.

In a telegram to President Ronald Venetiaan, Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok promised his government would help its former colony replace its burned history.

“Suriname doesn’t exist anymore. We must start again from the beginning,” Frankenland said ruefully Friday, as she surveyed the charred beams and bricks that had been the 18th-century Parliament building.

Police have not determined the cause of the fire, which came at a time of political upheaval in a month in which legislators are to choose a new president for the nation.