Surinam is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the Marowijne River, French Guiana and Brazil. By the time the Spanish arrived in the late15th century, the Surinen (the original inhabitants of Surinam) had been driven out by other Amerindian groups. Fierce resistance to colonization deterred most would-be occupiers from Europe, although the territory formally changed hands many times between the Dutch, English and French, before finally being confirmed as a Dutch possession by the terms of the 1815 Treaty of Vienna.

At this time, the majority of the population were slaves, working on the plantations. Despite the abolition of slavery in 1863, conditions changed very little until the early 20th century and the discovery of large bauxite deposits, which brought about a major change in the economic - and consequently, political - complexion of the country.

In 1954, Surinam, with the Netherlands Antilles, became an autonomous region within the Kingdom of The Netherlands. Full independence was achieved in 1975.

While the 17th-century capital, Paramaribo, with its attractive colonial architecture, is a good starting point for any visitor, Surinam's main attraction is its tropical rainforest, which covers nearly 80 per cent of the country and is home to a huge variety of wildlife.

Geography
Surinam is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by the Marowijne River (which forms the border with French Guiana), to the west by the Corantijn River (which forms the border with Guyana), and to the south by forests, savannahs and mountains, which separate it from Brazil. In the northern part of the country are coastal lowlands covered with mangrove swamps. Further inland runs a narrow strip of savannah land. To the south, the land becomes hilly and then mountainous, covered with dense tropical forest, and cut by numerous rivers and streams.