This country, sometimes called Suriname, about the size of New York State, by the Peace of 1667 was conceded to the Netherlands, Great Britain taking New York in exchange. Situated between British and French Guiana it has the Atlantic Ocean on the north, and Brazil on the south.
The colony has a Governor and an executive council appointed by the Crown, a Legislature elected from the 16 districts. There are District Courts besides a Supreme Court at Paramaribo appointed by the Crown. The population is about 107,500, the vast majority colored, besides negroes and Indians in the forest.
Paramaribo, population 37,000, the capital and the only city of importance, is situated at the mouth of the Surinam River. Other settlements are on or near the coast, mostly a little east or west of the Surinam, between the Saramacca and the Commewyne rivers. Some remarkable cross channels and the various rivers make boat navigation possible, at least in the rainy season, all the way from the Maroni River, the eastern boundary, to the Corentyn on the west. Like the rivers in British Guiana those here are not navigable far up, being likewise interrupted by rapids. Back of the low coast land are savannas with low hills, some rising to 3000 feet, and impenetrable forests back to the Tumac Humac Range along the Brazilian frontier. There are a long and a short dry season with periods of heavy and lighter rain.
Transportation. The only port of commercial importance is the capital. Internal communication, in addition to the rivers and channels, is confined to a single railway extending 109 miles from Paramaribo to Macami on the Surinam River, a gold shipping point, to which at last accounts there was a weekly train.
Resources
The natural resources of the country are practically the same as those of British Guiana.
Agriculture
Sugar was a source of great wealth in the days of slavery, but since this was abolished in 1863 the industry has declined. Where once there were 400 plantations with an export of 26,000,000 pounds in the year 1800, there are now hardly a dozen, scarcity of labor hindering industry. The soil is rich, and recently there has been some revival, so that 25,000,000 pounds were produced in 1918.
Cacao has been cultivated from the beginning, and increasingly after the abolition of slavery. From 1870 when 1,000,000 pounds were exported the production increased until 9,000,000 were exported in 1895, since when it has been declining. Some plantations were ruined by a disease which attacked the trees. Its effects have been gradually overcome, and the crop in 1918 was nearly 4,000,000 pounds.
Coffee was a large crop in the 18th century, 400 plantations producing over 12,000,000 pounds annually; later the production decreased to 500,000 pounds, but in 1918 was over 3,700,000.