Geography
Suriname Quiz 🇸🇷
South America's smallest country — Dutch-speaking, rainforest-covered, and wildly diverse.
South America's smallest country — Dutch-speaking, rainforest-covered, and wildly diverse.
The English traded Suriname to the Dutch in 1667 in exchange for New Amsterdam — which became New York City, in one of history's most consequential colonial swaps. That extraordinary deal shaped two continents and left Suriname as the only Dutch-speaking country in South America. Today Suriname is remarkable for its staggering ethnic diversity, its vast and largely intact Amazon rainforest (covering about 93% of the country), and a capital whose mosque and synagogue stand side by side as symbols of extraordinary tolerance. With only around 600,000 people and large swathes of interior accessible only by river or small plane, Suriname remains one of the world's least-explored countries.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll explore Suriname's geography as South America's smallest country, the Dutch colonial legacy and the New York connection, the extraordinary ethnic makeup including Hindustani, Creole, Javanese, and Maroon communities, the UNESCO-listed historic capital Paramaribo and the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, the role of rivers as highways in the roadless interior, key historical events including independence in 1975 and the 1980 December Murders, and the unique foods and languages that make Suriname one of the world's most culturally layered nations.
Suriname speaks Dutch because it was a Dutch colony from 1667 until independence in 1975. The Dutch acquired Suriname from the English in the Treaty of Breda, exchanging it for New Amsterdam (now New York City). Dutch became the official language of government, education, and media, and it remains so today. This makes Suriname unique as the only Dutch-speaking country in South America. While Dutch is the official language, most Surinamese also speak Sranantongo (an English-based creole that serves as the everyday lingua franca), as well as languages tied to their ethnic heritage including Hindi, Javanese, and various Maroon creoles.
Suriname is widely considered the most ethnically diverse country in South America, and one of the most diverse in the world relative to its small population. Its ethnic groups include Hindustani (descendants of indentured workers brought from India, about 27%), Maroons (descendants of escaped African slaves, about 22%), Creoles (mixed African and European heritage, about 16%), Javanese (descendants of workers from Java, Indonesia, about 14%), Indigenous Amerindian peoples (about 4%), and Chinese, European, and other communities. This mosaic emerged from the Dutch colonial labour system that brought workers from Asia after the abolition of slavery. Remarkably, the country functions with relative harmony, and Paramaribo's central square features a Catholic cathedral, a synagogue, and a mosque within metres of each other.
In 1667, at the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, England and the Dutch Republic signed the Treaty of Breda. Under this treaty, England gave up its claim to Suriname (which the Dutch had captured) in exchange for the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam on the tip of Manhattan Island. The English renamed New Amsterdam "New York" after the Duke of York (the future King James II). At the time, both Suriname and New Amsterdam were considered equally valuable — Suriname for its lucrative sugar plantations. In hindsight, the Dutch gave away what would become one of the world's most valuable pieces of real estate. The exchange is often cited as one of the most consequential colonial-era trade deals in history.
Last updated: March 2026