Diaspora · South America · Caribbean (CARICOM)

Suriname

Capital · Paramaribo

Maroon nations — Saramaka, Ndyuka, Aluku, Paamaka — who forced treaties out of the Dutch in the 1760s and still govern their own interior.

🇸🇷 Paramaribo
The essentials

Suriname at a glance

Capital
Paramaribo
Region
South America · Caribbean (CARICOM)
Currency
Surinamese dollar (SRD)
Languages
Dutch · Sranan Tongo
Dialling code
+597
Status
Sovereign nation
The thread back

The African connection

Nowhere in the Americas did Maroon societies survive so completely. Saramaka and Ndyuka kept West and Central African language, drumming, textile design and governance largely intact, and their communities along the upper rivers remain self-governing.

Plan around it

Key dates for Suriname

The dates this community marks — independence, emancipation, and the festivals that fill a hall wherever its people have settled.

Nov 25Independence DayFrom the Netherlands, 1975
Jul 1Keti Koti'The chain is broken' — emancipation, 1863
Oct 10Day of the Maroons
One family

Diaspora meets diaspora

AfricAsia began with Africans in Asia. The same story runs through every entry in this section — people of African descent building a life a long way from where their ancestors started.

If you are from Suriname and you are anywhere in Asia — studying, working, playing, passing through — there are people here who will know what you are asking before you finish the question.

Every Asian country →
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The Suriname channel

Every entry in the diaspora section has its own free channel in the Hub, alongside the 108 country channels and the topic rooms.

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