ABSTRACT

The present demographic composition of the Surinamese population is a result of three historical migrations of people from different geographic areas. First, there were those who were deported from African countries between 1502 and 1826. When there were rebellions on many plantations, slaves fled deep into the interior of Suriname (these slaves were referred to as Maroons). During the nineteenth century, large groups of people from Asia (predominately India, China and Indonesia) were brought to Suriname to supplement the labour force after slavery was abolished (Hoefte, 1990; Choennie, 2003).