Suriname (country)

A

Tourism

Tourism is not highly developed in Suriname. The capital has interesting buildings in a Dutch colonial style. In the interior there are a number of nature reserves in which to view tropical plants and wildlife. Transportation to the interior is primarily by airplane or up the rivers by boat.

B

Trade and Currency

In 2001 exports totaled $306 million. Imports totaled $443 million; imports usually consist mostly of food, fuels, and industrial goods. Principal purchasers of Suriname’s exports are the United States, Norway, France, and Canada. The chief sources of imports are the United States, Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Japan. In 1995 Suriname joined in forming the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), a free-trade organization. The organization’s other members include 12 nations bordering on or in the Caribbean and the members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).

The monetary unit is the Suriname dollar of 100 cents (2.735 dollars equaled US$1; 2004). It replaced the Suriname guilder in 2004 in a government attempt to restore confidence in the economy. The bank of issue is the Centrale Bank van Suriname.

C

Transportation and Communication

Transportation facilities in Suriname are concentrated in the northern part of the country. The nation has 4,492 km (2,791 mi) of roads. The principal road runs east-west and links Albina with Nieuw Nickerie. There are no passenger railroads. Boats carry people along Suriname’s inland rivers and canals and between towns on its coast. Paramaribo and Nieuw Nickerie are the chief seaports, and Moengo, Paranam, and Smalkalden are important ports for shipping bauxite. Suriname’s principal airport is at Zanderij; Suriname Airways is the national airline.

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The country has several radio stations and two television stations. Broadcasts are in Dutch and several other languages. There were 728 radio receivers, 253 television sets, and 180 telephone mainlines for every 1,000 inhabitants in 1997.

V

Government

Until 1980 Suriname was governed under a constitution adopted in 1975. The government was headed by a popularly elected president, a council of ministers, and a unicameral parliament. Following a coup d’état in 1980, the constitution was suspended, parliament was dissolved, and the Policy Center, a council dominated by the military, began ruling by decree.

A new constitution, adopted by referendum in 1987, established a 51-member National Assembly with the power to select the president. The president is elected to a five-year term. Members of the National Assembly are elected to five-year terms by popular vote.

VI

History

Before the advent of Europeans, the territory that is now Suriname was inhabited by tribes of Arawak, Carib, and Warrau Native Americans. Most Native Americans lived in small, independent villages in which kinship ties formed the basis of community. They lived by hunting and farming, mainly of root crops such as cassava (manioc). The coastal peoples spoke Arawakan languages; those in the interior spoke Cariban languages.