De West

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De West is one of the main newspapers of Suriname.

De West was founded in 1892, and in its early years was a conservative paper that had a somewhat antagonistic rivalry with the left-leaning Suriname , the other leading newspaper in what was then the Dutch colony of Suriname. [1] De West became a daily newspaper in 1950 owned and edited by David George Findlay. [2]

On 25 February 1980, Dési Bouterse led a coup d'état. During the coup a hand grenade was thrown into the offices of De West, and the building was under fire. Luckily, the fighting caused only minor damage. [3] The paper was forced to close in the early 1980s following a coup led by Dési Bouterse. It was allowed to reopen in 1984, although still under some government censorship. [4] As of 2002, it was the second-largest paper by circulation in Suriname, after de Ware Tijd , and takes an independent political stance. [5]

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The early history of Suriname dates from 3000 BCE when Native Americans first inhabited the area. The Dutch acquired Suriname from the English, and European settlement in any numbers dates from the 17th century, when it was a plantation colony utilizing slavery for sugar cultivation. With abolition in the late 19th century, planters sought labor from China, Madeira, India, and Indonesia, which was also colonized by the Dutch. Dutch is Suriname's official language. Owing to its diverse population, it has also developed a creole language, Sranan Tongo.

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References

  1. Rudolf Asveer Jacob van Lier (1971). Frontier Society: A Social Analysis of the History of Surinam. Martinus Nijhoof. p. 332.
  2. "Het dagblad De WEST is de oudste krant van Suriname". Dagblad De West (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  3. Alwin de Rooij (2008). "Pers onder bevel". OSO. Tijdschrift voor Surinaamse taalkunde, letterkunde en geschiedenis. (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 March 2021.{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  4. Gary Brana-Shute (1986). "Back to the Barracks? Five Years 'Revo' in Suriname". Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. 28 (1): 93–121. doi:10.2307/165737. JSTOR   165737.
  5. "Suriname: Transport and communications". Economist Intelligence Unit. November 5, 2002.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)