Did you know that South America has a country where Dutch is the official language? Yes, it is the Republic of Suriname!
Situated on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America, Suriname is the smallest sovereign state on the continent. With a population of over 612,000 people descended from slaves and laborers, Suriname has quite a history.
European settlers arrived in the 16th century and the Dutch took over much of the territory by the 17th century. The colonial period saw sugar as a lucrative crop with African slave labor (until 1863 when slavery abolished) and Asian indentured servants working in the fields.
In 1954 Suriname became one of the constituents of the Kingdom of the Netherlands leaving the Kingdom in 1975 to become an independent state.
The country is divided into ten administrative districts. These districts are subdivided into 62 resorts, with the primary religions being Protestantism, Catholicism, and Hinduism. If you are searching for ancestors in Suriname, the documents you are likely to find are church, civil, immigration, and other vital records.
Some of these records are online at FamillySearch, FindMyPast (for British subjects as early as 1886 who inhabited the country for a time), and other websites (just put “Suriname records” in the search engine).
Dutch Naming Conventions
If you are researching Dutch ancestors from Suriname, be aware of Dutch naming conventions. When married, partners can retain their surname, choose their partner’s surname, or use both.
Parents can decide to give children the father’s or mother’s surname (default is father’s). If the parents are not legally married or registered with the government, the child will have the mother’s maiden surname.
There is no central location for records so you will need to find the hometown. If you strike out online, write to the local government. Find addresses online.
What countries do your ancestors come from? Check out our other blogs on different countries. Let us know and we will blog about those locations in the future.
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