Suriname
POPULATION 436,494
HINDU 27.4 percent
PROTESTANT 25.2 percent
ROMAN CATHOLIC 22.8 percent
MUSLIM 19.6 percent
OTHER 5 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
The Republic of Suriname is located on the northern coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana. The territory was originally inhabited by Arawak peoples (c. 3000 B.C.E.) and later by Carib peoples.
Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries introduced Christianity to the region after the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494 C.E.) gave it to Portugal. Spain officially claimed the territory in 1593; however, it was not until 1650 that the first Europeans settled there, starting with the British. In 1667 the Dutch assumed control of the territory, and it became a colony known as Dutch Guiana. During the Dutch and English colonial periods, forced manual labor was provided first by Native Americans, after 1640 by Africans, and after 1863 (when slavery was abolished in the colony) by a series of indentured laborers from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Portugal, and South Asia.
Today the population of Suriname is composed of many ethnic and religious groups. The largest ethnic group, forming 37 percent of the population, are descendants of immigrants from India; in Suriname they have come to be called Hindustanis or East Indians.
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