Paramaribo

Paramaribo, city in northern Suriname, capital of the country, on the Suriname River near the Atlantic Ocean. The nation's largest city and chief seaport, Paramaribo is a commercial and manufacturing centre and a distribution point for bauxite and alumina, timber, rice, sugar cane, and citrus fruit. Important products include timber and processed food. Paramaribo is the site of the University of Suriname (1968); the Suriname Museum (1954), with archaeological, cultural, and natural history exhibits; the Suriname Cultural Centre (1947); and an institute concerned with tropical research. The architecture and canals of the city give it a Dutch appearance. It is served by an airport at Zanderij.

Originally settled by French colonists in the early 1640s on the site of a Native American village, the settlement was made the capital of a newly established British dependency in the 1650s. The Dutch gained control of the area in the 1660s. Paramaribo became the capital of the newly independent republic of Suriname in 1975. Its historic centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. Population 294,000 (2000 estimate).