Total population | |
---|---|
2,833 (2000 U.S. Census) [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Florida (mainly South), New York | |
Languages | |
English, Dutch, Sranan Tongo, Sarnami Hindustani, Javanese | |
Religion | |
Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, other | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Trinidadian and Tobagonian Americans, Guyanese Americans, Indo-Caribbean Americans, Caribbean Americans, Dutch Americans, African Americans, Indonesian Americans, Chinese Americans |
Surinamese Americans (Dutch : Surinaamse Amerikanen) are Americans of Surinamese descent. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 2,833 people reported Surinamese ancestry. [1]
The Surinamese immigrant Jan Ernst Matzeliger worked in Lynn, Massachusetts, developing and patenting an automated lasting machine in 1883 that was essential for the mechanization of shoemaking, immediately improving quality, halving prices, and ending the previously necessary putting-out system.
A substantial Surinamese community in United States has existed since at least 1975. For much of the 20th century, many Surinamese immigrants moved to the U.S. via a permanent residency visa, which enabled them to acquire U.S. citizenship. However, it became easier to immigrate to the U.S. because of the open door policy the U.S. had for many refugees. Some Surinamese were political refugees that fled the Bouterse regime.
Surinamese have immigrated to the U.S. due to both push and pull factors. Although many migrate to the U.S. to escape poverty, many have migrated for work, study, and tourism. Thus, many Surinamese who traveled to the U.S. with tourist purposes to study at their universities, definitely settled there. Most Surinamese that settled in U.S. cities were lower and middle-class individuals who arrived from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Also, Surinamese families already being in some U.S. cities boosted further emigration from Suriname. [2]
Most Surinamese organizations estimate that about 10,000 to 15,000 Surinamese live in the United States. Most Surinamese Americans reside in South Florida and New York City. Other places with relatively large Surinamese communities include but are not limited to Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; California (primarily San Francisco); and other cities in Florida. Most Surinamese settle in places similar to their land, from residential architectural style to flora and fauna to tropical climate. For that reason, the highest concentrations of Surinamese are in Florida (Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota and Tampa.) Most Surinamese in the U.S. are of Chinese, East Indian, Creole, and mixed descent. Trace amounts of other Suriname ethnicities are also represented in the U.S. Some Surinamese in the U.S. are also white (especially those of Dutch descent) and some are of Javanese, Amerindian, and/or Maroon descent. The racial variety in the Surinamese community is displayed especially in New York City. The Surinamese community experiences disunity and mistrust among other issues. The Surinamese community of New York is more tightly knit than that of Florida. [2]
Most organizations try to maintain the identity of Surinamese cultures, particularly Indian, Creole, and Javanese, organizing many activities and events throughout the year. Florida contains all these organizations, and all but one operate in Miami -- the Surinamese Moravian Fellowship of Miami, Surjawa, the Organization of Surinamese people in Miami (OSIM), the Surinamese American Network Incorporation (SANI), the Surinam Heritage Foundation, Heri Heri, and Fayalobi (the only one in Tampa.)
The Surinamese Moravian Church in Miami tries to promote social unity through Christian faith and organization of events. [2]
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, sometimes considered part of the Caribbean and the West Indies.
This is a demography of the population of Suriname, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
Cuban Americans are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba, regardless of racial or ethnic origin. As of 2022, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States after Mexican Americans, Stateside Puerto Ricans and Salvadoran Americans.
Haitian Americans are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area. In addition, they have settled in major Northeast cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and in Chicago and Detroit in the Midwest. Most are immigrants or their descendants from the mid-late 20th-century migrations to the United States. Haitian Americans represent the largest group within the Haitian diaspora.
Colombian Americans, are Americans who have Colombian ancestry. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United States from Colombia. Colombian Americans are the largest South Americans Hispanic group in the United States.
According to the official data, the Muslim population of Suriname represents about 13.9 percent of the country's total population as of 2012, which is the highest percentage of Muslims in the Americas. Though the majority belong to the Sunni sect of Islam, there are some Shi'a, and a small population of Ahmadiyyas.
As of 2017, South America has an estimated population of 418.76 million people.
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and to Europe. As of 2016, about 13 million — about 4% of the total U.S. population — have Caribbean ancestry.
Haiti has a sizable diaspora, present primarily in the United States, Panama, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Canada, France, the Bahamas, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Chile. They also live in other countries like Costa Rica, Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela, Argentina, Barbados, Dominica, Suriname, Aruba, Guyana, Belgium, Switzerland, United States Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, among others.
Venezuelan Americans are Americans who trace their heritage, or part of their heritage, to the nation of Venezuela. The word may refer to someone born in the U.S. of Venezuelan descent or to someone who has immigrated to the U.S. from Venezuela.
Congolese Americans are Americans descended from the peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, which consist of hundreds of ethnic groups.
Surinamese people are people who identify with the country of Suriname. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Surinamese, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Surinamese.
Chinese Surinamese people are Surinamese residents of ethnic Chinese origin, majority of which are Hakka. The earliest migrants came in the 19th century as indentured laborers; there was another wave of migration in the 1950s and 1960s. There were 7,885 Chinese in Suriname at the 2012 census, constituting 1.5% of the total population. They constitute the largest component of the 'other' ethnic category, which makes up 2.3% of the population as per the CIA World Factbook. The majority of the Chinese Surinamese consider Hakka of Guangdong as their ancestral homes. There is a small minority of Heshan, Jiangmen origin Cantonese and Hakkas as well.
Javanese Surinamese are an ethnic group of Javanese Indonesians descent in Suriname. They have been present since the late 19th century, when their first members were selected as indentured laborers by the Dutch colonizers from the former Dutch East Indies.
The history of the Jews in Suriname starts in 1639, as the English government allowed Spanish and Portuguese Jews from the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy to settle the region, coming to the old capital Torarica.
Indonesia and Suriname established diplomatic relations on 24 January 1976. Both had a special relationship, based upon shared common history as former colonies of the Dutch Empire. Large numbers of Javanese migrated to Suriname to work on plantations during the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. Indonesia has an embassy in Paramaribo also accredited to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, while Suriname has an embassy in Jakarta. Indonesia and Suriname are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Forum of East Asia-Latin America Cooperation.
Women in Suriname are women who were born in, live in, or are from Suriname. Surinamese women may be ethnically East Indian, Creole/Afro-Surinamese, Javanese, Amerindian, Mixed, or of other ancestry. Many women of Suriname work in the informal sector and in subsistence agriculture.
Cuban immigration to the United States, for the most part, occurred in two periods: the first series of immigration of wealthy Cuban Americans to the United States resulted from Cubans establishing cigar factories in Tampa and from attempts to overthrow Spanish colonial rule by the movement led by José Martí, the second to escape from Communist rule under Fidel Castro following the Cuban Revolution. Massive Cuban migration to Miami during the second series led to major demographic and cultural changes in Miami. There was also economic emigration, particularly during the Great Depression in the 1930s. As of 2019, there were 1,359,990 Cubans in the United States.
The Javanese diaspora is the demographic group of descendants of ethnic Javanese who emigrated from the Indonesian island of Java to other parts of the world. The Javanese diaspora includes a significant population in Suriname, with over 13% of the country's population being of Javanese ancestry. Other major enclaves are found in Australia, French Guiana, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.