Jodensavanne was a Jewish plantation community in Suriname, South America, and was for a time the centre of Jewish life in the colony. It was established in the 1600s by Sephardi Jews and became more developed and wealthy after a group of Jews fleeing persecution in Brazil settled there in the 1660s. It was located in what is now Para District, about 50 km (31 mi) south of the capital Paramaribo, on the Suriname River. Sugarcane plantations were established by forcing Black African people to work as slaves. At its height in around 1700, Jodensavanne was home to roughly 500 plantation owners and 9000 enslaved people. The colony faced regular attacks from Indigenous people, slave revolts, and even raids from the French navy. The community eventually relocated to the capital of Paramaribo. Clearing of grave sites and maintenance of the synagogue ruins has been attempted at various times from the 1940s to the 21st century.
Michaël Henricus Gertrudis (Michiel) van Kempen is a Dutch writer, art historian and literary critic. He has written novels, short stories, essays, travel literature and scenarios. He was the compiler of a huge range of anthologies of Dutch-Caribbean literature and wrote an extensive history of the literature of Suriname, in two volumes.
Meerzorg is a town and resort (municipality) in Suriname, located on the eastern bank of the Suriname River, directly opposite the capital Paramaribo. Its population at the 2012 census was 12,405. Since 2000 it has been connected to Paramaribo by the Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge, named after the former President Jules Wijdenbosch.
Wilhelmina Drucker was a Dutch politician and writer. One of the first Dutch feminists, she was also known under her pseudonyms Gipsy, Gitano, and E. Prezcier.
Elisabeth Samson was an Afro-Surinamese coffee plantation owner. She was born in about 1715 in Paramaribo to a freed slave, known as Mariana. All of her other siblings had been born as slaves and were emancipated by her half-brother Charlo Jansz. Raised in the home of her half-sister Maria Jansz, Samson was taught to read and write by her brothers-in law who also trained her in business. She began acquiring property at the age of 19, but was banished from the colony in 1736 after being convicted of slander. Her appeal, heard by the Dutch Parliament, was successful and she returned to Suriname in 1739.
Astrid Heligonda Roemer is a Surinamese-Dutch writer and teacher. The Dutch-language author has published novels, drama and poetry, and in December 2015 was announced as the winner of the P. C. Hooft Award, considered the most important literary prize in the Netherlands and Belgium, which was presented in May 2016.
Gloria Daisy Wekker is an Afro-Surinamese Dutch emeritus professor and writer who has focused on gender studies and sexuality in the Afro-Caribbean region and diaspora. She was the winner of the Ruth Benedict Prize from the American Anthropological Association in 2007.
Granman is the title of the paramount chief of a Maroon nation in Suriname and French Guiana. The Ndyuka, Saramaka, Matawai, Aluku, Paramaka and Kwinti nations all have a granman. The paramount chiefs of Amerindian peoples in Suriname are nowadays also often called “granman”.
Marjan Sax is a Dutch feminist lesbian activist, member of Dolle Mina and co-founder of a number of feminist organisations, ethical bank Mama Cash among them. Sax is also an advisor for charity organisations.
Nola Hatterman was a Dutch actress and painter.
Bernharddorp is an indigenous village of Lokono and Kalina Amerindians in the resort of Noord in the Para District in Suriname.
Anna Amalia Bergendahl (1827–1899) was a Dutch prose author, poet, publisher, philanthropist and abolitionist. She played a significant part in the Dutch Abolitionist movement, known for her public campaign and funding for the issue at the time of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonial empire.
Henry Roëll Neijhorst is a Surinamese economist who served as Prime Minister of Suriname from 31 March to 9 December 1982. He also served as Minister of Finance from 15 March to 15 August 1980.
Leonardus Josephus "Jozef" Weidmann was a Dutch-Surinamese Catholic priest, politician and union leader. He is one of the founders of the Progressive Surinamese People's Party (PSV). Weidmann played a leading role in establishing universal suffrage in Suriname, and was the founder of Progressive Workers Organisation, the oldest recognised trade union in Suriname.
Dance in Suriname is practiced from the amateur to the professional level for cultural, social and spiritual reasons, among others. Suriname has a variety of traditional and contemporary dance styles which have developed from the cultures of its ethnic groups. In addition, several foreign popular styles have been adopted from the West, the greater Caribbean, Java and Bollywood.
Karin B. Refos is a Surinamese former model, entrepreneur, and public speaker on child welfare and women's rights. She founded the brand consultancy STAS International.
Christiaan Hendrik "Hein" Eersel was a Surinamese linguist and cultural researcher.
Joke Swiebel is a Dutch political scientist, and a former policy maker, politician and activist. Since the 1960s, she has been involved with the feminist and LGBT movements. She served as first chair of the Federation of Student Working Groups on Homosexuality and on the board of the COC Nederland while a student. In the former capacity, she was one of the organizers of the first LGB demonstration in the Netherlands — and probably all of Europe — which was held on 21 January 1969. It was a protest against a discriminatory provision in the Criminal Code, introduced in 1911, that set a significantly higher age of consent for homosexual than for heterosexual contact.After earning her master's degree in 1972 from the University of Amsterdam, she led the political science library at that institution until 1977. She was involved in the creation of the women's studies program at the university and worked to coordinate between activist groups to ensure that neither gender or sexual orientation were the basis for discriminatory policies.
Poeloegoedoe is a village in the Tapanahony River at the confluence with the Lawa River. It is named after the Poeloegoedoe Falls and is inhabited by maroons of the Ndyuka people. The village is located in the Tapanahony resort of Sipaliwini District, Suriname.
Gerda Alexandra Havertong is a Dutch-Surinamese actress, television presenter, actress and singer. She is well known for being a recurring character in Sesamstraat, the Dutch version of Sesame Street, since 1984.
