suriname info

Suriname is situated on the North East Coast of South America, with in the west Guyana, in the East French Guyana and in the South Brazil.
Although Suriname is situated on the mainland of South America , cultural and historically it is part of the Caribbean.

Geography: The land area of Suriname is 163.265 km². The most important rivers are the Corantijn River at the border with Guyana, the Marowijne River at the border with French Guyana and in the center of the country the Suriname and the Coppename River. The Tumuc Humac mountain makes up the Southern border with Brazil. In the North the country borders the Atlantic Ocean.

Area: 63,250 square mile (= 163.265 square kilometer).

Capital: Paramaribo

Government: parliamentary democracy, elections are held every 5 year.

Population: 480.000 inhabitants

Hindustanis (from India) 37%
Creole 31%
Javanese 15%
Maroons 10%
Indigenous, Chinese, Lebanese etc 7%

Languages: The official language of Suriname is Dutch and is spoken by almost everyone. The lingua franca is Sranan tongo. The different ethnicities all speak their own languages. English is also widely spoken

Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Islam and several indigenous religions.

History: In 1650 England established a European settlement in Suriname along the Suriname River. Suriname was exchanged in 1667 by the treaty of Breda with the Dutch. As a result of that the English obtained New York. Colonisation initially was restricted to the coastal zone. In 1863 slavery was abolished. Starting in 1873 indenture laborers were brought from former British India and starting in 1890 also from former Dutch East Indies. In 1948 the colony became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On 25 November 1975 Suriname became independent. On 25 February 1980 a military coup took place and in 1987 democracy was restored by free elections.

Money: Since 1 January 2004 the Surinamese currency is the Surinamese dollar. But you can also pay with American dollars and Euros in many places. The banking hours are from Monday till Friday from 08.00 hour till 14.00 hour. Many exchange offices are open 7 days a week from 08.00 hour till 00.00 hour and on Sunday from 12.00 hour till 00.00 hour. There are ATM machines that accept foreign bank credit or debit cards.

Post offices: opening hours from Monday till Friday from 08.00 hour till 14.00 hour.

Time: The time zone for Suriname is -03.00 GMT

Electricity: The voltage is 127V AC.

Phone: Local and international calls are possible with a phone card from one of the phone booths. These cards are for sale at the telecom company Telesur, supermarkets and gas stations. There are 3 mobile (GSM) providers, TeleG, Uniqa and Digicel, where you can buy a locale sim card.

Public transport: There are buses that go to the different neighborhoods as well to the districts. Taxi's can be found in all neighborhoods of Paramaribo and at the hotels.

Internet and e-mail:Paramaribo has several internet cafés.

Do's and Don'ts: Always greet! Shaking hands is common and when you are invited for a meal it is proper to accept. To make sure you don't offend anybody it is best to remove your shoes before you enter someone's house.

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