Suriname Posters
for social studies classrooms, home schoolers, offices.

The Republic of Suriname, the smallest independent country in South America, and formerly known as Dutch Guiana, is located on the Caribbean/North Atlantic coast. Suriname is bordered on the west by Guyana (formerly British Guiana), the south by Brazil and to the east by French Guiana.

The capital and largest city is Paramaribo is located on the Suriname River at the Atlantic Coast. Dutch is the official language of Suriname, reflecting colonial period. In the 1600s the Dutch and English established plantations on the coast; the eventual conflicts were resolved when the English accepted the small trading post called New Amsterdam in reparation for its South American colonies. (FYI - New Amsterdam became New York City.)

Eighty percent of Suriname's area is covered with rainforests, the remaining lowland coastal area along the Caribbean is cultivated and has the largest portion of the population, which include descendents of contract laborers from the Middle East, Java, and China, and West African slaves from the colonial plantation period.

Suriname is located on the Guiana Shield, one of three cratons (stable part of tectonic plates) of the South American Plate. Twelve percent of Suriname is national parks and lakes, having been cited by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its biodiversity.

Surinam is the English colonists spelling, Suriname is the Dutch spelling.