Geography
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Suriname is located in South America, situated along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Its neighboring countries are Guyana, Brazil, and French Guiana. Suriname has a population of 568,301 and is noted as the smallest independent country in South America. It spans across 163,820km2 of land. Its major geographic regions consist of coastal lowlands in northern Suriname and tropical rainforests in western and eastern Suriname. Suriname has many rivers and lakes such as the Coppename River, Saramacca River, Corantijn River and many more. The sovereign state is known for being home to the largest reservoir lake, the Brokopondo Reservoir. The Brokopondo Reservoir provides Suriname with hydroelectric power to the country.
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(Image from World Fact Book)
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Population
Suriname has a population of 568,301 people. Much of the population is centralized in the country’s capital, Paramaribo or along the country’s coastline. Paramaribo is Suriname’s largest urban area, with its own population of around 241,000 people. Suriname has a vastly diverse population. It is home to different ethnic groups such as South Asians (indo-pakistani) - 37%, Maroons (Africa) - 10%, Creoles (Africa) - 31%, and Indonesians (Javanese) -15%.
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Political Climate
Suriname, also called The Republic of Suriname, is classified as a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The republic has a legislative branch, or national assembly, responsible for representing the people of Suriname. A president is elected by two-thirds of the national assembly and serves a 5 year term. The current president of Suriname is Desi Bourterse.
Religion
Due to its vast cultural diversity, Suriname practices many different religions. Listed below are some of the most commonly practiced religions in the country:
- Christianity - 48.4%
- Pentecostal, Moravian, and Catholicism
- Pentecostal, Moravian, and Catholicism
- Hindu - 22.3%
- Muslim - 13.9%
- Javanese (Faith of Indonesian Immigrants) - 0.8%
- Winti (Faith of African Creoles) - 1.8%
Dutch Influence in Suriname
In the early 17th century, Dutch, Spanish, and English settlers colonized Suriname and set up plantations along its coast. In 1667, the Treaty of Breda established Paramaribo, Suriname's capital, as a Dutch colony (Luscombe, 2006). This influenced the heavy presence of the Dutch culture and language throughout the country. Today, Dutch is the official language of the country and is spoken natively by 60% of the population. Dutch is the language used in government, education, media, and more.
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Major Languages Spoken in Suriname
Dutch
The Dutch established their presence in Suriname in 1665. Dutch became the major language of the country. Suriname was under Dutch rule until 1975 when it declared independence. Today, Dutch is still the commonly spoken in Suriname, with 60% of the population speaking it natively. A quote by Isabelle Leglise and Bettina Migge describes the strong presence of Dutch as a result of “successive governments that have pursued a policy of linguistic assimilation to Dutch with the result that nowadays, “[a] large proportion of the population not only speaks dutch, but speaks it as their first and best language”’ (Léglise & Migge, 2015, p 13).
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Sranantongo
Sranantongo is also known as Sranan, Surinaams, Surinamese, Suriname Creole, and Taki Taki. This language is used as a lingua franca in Suriname to fit the ethnic and linguistic diversity of the country. It is an English based creole with influences from Dutch, Portuguese, and native West and Central African languages.
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Other Common Languages
Sarami
Saramaka Javanese Chinese |
Jade Losinski
English 495 Fall 2018 Dr. Battenburg |