Contrary to what (still) a lot of people think, Suriname is not in Africa! Suriname is on the north-eastern coast of South America, neighbored by French Guyana to the East, Guyana to the West, Brazil to the South and some huge pond called the Atlantic to the North.
This country is 2 countries to the east of Venezuela and is one of the 4 non-Spanish speaking countries on this continent. Guyana speaks English, I don’t know what language they speak in FRENCH-Guyana, Suriname speaks Dutch and Brazil speaks Portuguese. All other South American countries speak Spanish.
Suriname is one of the very few modern day countries to develop a new language. The slaves in Suriname combined their native tongue with the English and (very little) Spanish they learned from their owners. The created a dialect that was still not understandable to the owners, but also not the original language these African slaves took with them when they were taken here. Over the years, Sranang Tongo was structures more and more to be an official language. Now it’s our second language, but the most spoken language in Suriname.
Suriname is a a real cultural melting pot. In trying to develop Suriname over the years, many people from different cultures were brought here.
After the end of slavery, the owners needed to get more workers, so the “Hindustanis” from India, the Chinese and Indonesians were brought in as workers, not all at the same time. Most of the time it didn’t work out between the owners and these workers, because they could not deliver what the owners wanted. Some think they were too “fragile” compared to the Africans. So they quit working for the rich owners and just found their spot to stay here, instead of going back to their countries. Even the Portuguese somehow mistakenly landed in Suriname, when they were supposed to go to Guyana or some other country! Good thing though, cause then I would not have been here right now!
Over the years all these different cultures learned to live together, respect each other’s culture. Visitors stare in awe to see a Jewish Synagogue standing right next to a Muslim Mosque, to see black people celebrating Phagwa with their Hindu friends, or Chinese guys dancing a “Bigi Poku” (literally: Big Song/Music/Sound, a party dance style more performed by black people) with a voluptuous “Dyuka meid” (girl from one of the native tribes, the Ndyuka’s).
This living together also resulted in the mixing of the genes. (thank heaven AGAIN!!) The most beautiful mixes of races can be found in Suriname. Indonesians, Indian, Chinese, Blacks, Whites, native Indians, all of them mixing. Take a look at my friend Elias’s site, Partipix Suriname (www.partypixsuriname.com).
