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Suriname: Dutch Guiana
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Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667. The new colony, Dutch Guiana, did not thrive. Historians cite several reasons for this, including Holland's preoccupation with its more extensive (and profitable) East Indian territories, violent conflict between whites and native tribes, and frequent uprisings by the imported slave population, which was often treated with extraordinary cruelty. Barely, if at all, assimilated into plantation society, many of the slaves fled to the interior, where they maintained a West African culture and established the five major Bush Negro tribes in existence today: the Djuka, Saramaccaner, Matuwari, Paramaccaner, and Quinti.
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[E]xplored by the Spaniards in the 16th century and then settled by the English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667. With the abolition of slavery in 1863, workers were brought in from India and Java. Independence from the Netherlands was granted in 1975. Five years later the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared a socialist republic. It continued to exert control through a succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987, when international pressure finally forced a democratic election. In 1990, the military overthrew the civilian leadership, but a democratically elected government - a four-party New Front coalition - returned to power in 1991 and has ruled since, expanding to eight parties in 2005.
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In the beginning, they were called "Congregation of Cayenne." According to their archives, the "Portuguese Jewish Congregation of Suriname" was founded in 1661/1662. When Suriname was English territory, the Jews received important privileges from the Crown on August 17, 1665. These were re-affirmed by the Dutch, after Suriname was taken by Abraham Crijnssen in 1667.
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At independence, Suriname signed an agreement with the Netherlands providing for about $1.5 billion in development assistance grants and loans over a 10- to 15-year period. Initial disbursements amounted to about $100 million per year, but were discontinued during military rule. After the return to a democratically elected government in 1991, Dutch aid resumed. The Dutch relationship continued to be an important factor in the economy; with the Dutch insisting that Suriname undertake economic reforms and produce specific plans acceptable to the Dutch for projects on which aid funds could be spent. In 2000, the Dutch revised the structure of their aid package and signaled to the Surinamese authorities their decision to disburse aid by sectoral priorities as opposed to individual projects. In 2001 both governments agreed to spend the remaining development funds to finance programs in 6 different sectors: health care, education, environment, agriculture, housing and governance.
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If you owned Manhattan, would you exchange it for Suriname? That's what the British did in 1667. At that time, Manhattan was the heart and soul of the Dutch Colony of New Netherlands. The British, who briefly occupied what became Dutch Guiana and then S...continue
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Over the course of three centuries, the Dutch transformed Suriname by means of African slaves and later indentured labor from British India, Indonesia, China, Madeira and Syria into one of the most ethnically complex societies in the world. Suriname is composed of no less than eight distinct groups: East Indians (36%); Creoles (31%); Indonesians, principally Javanese (15%); Maroons (10%); Amerindians (2.5%); Chinese (2%); Burus, descendents from Europeans (1.5%), and others, mainly Sephardic Jews, Syrians and Lebanese. All ethnic groups mentioned have managed to preserve much of their culture and religions. Even after gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1975, Suriname maintains strong ties with the Netherlands. The major reason for this is that approximately 300,000 to 350,000 Dutch from Surinamese origin live in the Netherlands. This is almost the same number of inhabitants Suriname has.
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Dutch Guiana