Suriname

Suriname is a republic located on the north coast of South America, bounded by Guyana in the west, French Guiana in the east, Brazil in the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Human settlement dates to 3000 BC, with the arrival of the Arawaks, followed by the Carib people. Spanish, French, and English explorers made contact in the sixteenth century. The English established a tobacco plantation and colony under the command of Captain J. Marshall along the Suriname River in 1630, named Marshall's Creek. In 1650, another colony was established by Major Anthony Rowse, and named Willoughbyland in honour of their patron Lord Willoughby. The Dutch seized the colony in 1667, and renamed the region Dutch Guiana following the Treaty of Breda, and was administered by the Dutch West Indies Company until 1791. In 1941, the United States occupied Dutch Guiana, under agreement with the Dutch government-in-exile, to protect the Alcoa-owned bauxite mines for the duration of the Second World War. Between 1954 and 1975, Dutch Guiana was an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On 25 November 1975, the country was granted full independence as Suriname. The capital and largest city is Paramaribo. Estimated population of Suriname in 2013 was 566,846.