Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, sometimes considered part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. Situated slightly north of the equator, over 90% of its territory is covered by rainforests, the highest proportion of forest cover in the world. Suriname is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, and Brazil to the south. It is the smallest country in South America by both population and territory, with around 612,985 inhabitants in an area of approximately 163,820 square kilometers. The capital and largest city is Paramaribo, which is home to roughly half the population.
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.
The flag of Suriname was legally adopted on 25 November 1975, upon the independence of Suriname from the Netherlands.
Groningen is the capital town of the Saramacca District, Suriname.
Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are nationals of Suriname. Their ancestors were indentured workers from British Raj brought by the Dutch and the British to the (then) Dutch colony of Suriname during the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Per the 2012 Census of Suriname, 148,443 citizens of Suriname are of Indo-Surinamese origin, constituting 27.4% of the total population, making them the largest ethnic group in Suriname on an individual level.
The Dutch diaspora consists of the Dutch and their descendants living outside the Netherlands.
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.
Indians in the Netherlands are residents of Indian origin in the Netherlands. The majority of the people of Indian descent in the Netherlands are of Indo-Surinamese origin. More recently the flow of emigrants from India has increased, as well as from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, mostly those married to Indo-Surinamese.
Chinese Surinamese people are Surinamese residents of ethnic Han Chinese origin. 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 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.
Surinamese people in the Netherlands are people in the Netherlands who come from a Surinamese background. From 1667 to 1975, Suriname was a colony of the Netherlands.
The Honorary Order of the Yellow Star is the highest state decoration of the Republic of Suriname. The Order was instituted in 1975 at the independence of Suriname and replaced the Dutch Order of the Netherlands Lion. It is awarded to individuals for their meritorious service to the Surinamese people or nation. Foreigners are also eligible to receive the order. The president of Suriname is the Grand Master of the order.
Surinamese culture has strong Asian, African and European influences. The population is mainly composed of the contribution of people from India, Africa, China, Europe, and Indonesia, as well as indigenous peoples who lived in the area, before the arrival of European settlers.
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.
White Surinamese or European Surinamese are Surinamese people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe.
Surinamese Americans are Americans of Surinamese descent. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 2,833 people reported Surinamese ancestry.
Indonesia and Suriname established diplomatic relations in 1975. 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.
The exact number of Surinamese people in Belgium is unknown. The (legal) Surinamese community in the Belgian capital is in any case very small: In 2015, only two Surinamese women were enrolled in Brussels along with a number of men); in 2012 this was only one. According to figures quoted "in the corridors" of the Surinamese Embassy in Belgium, the total number of Surinamese people in Belgium would be about 30,000, or at least 20,000. According to the diaspora organisation Suriname Diaspora Solidarity Belgium (Surisobe), half of them are illegally present in the country. However, it is not known how Surisobe calculated this number. In October 2016, the embassy indicated that more precise figures are now being mapped out.
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.
