SURINAM

Suriname stamps for sale at Io Collezionista. Suriname is the smallest state in South America, setting aside neighbouring French Guiana, an overseas territory. The first contacts between the local peoples and European explorers, the English, date to the 16th century, but it was the Dutch who took root in the area during the 17th: the main business was the plantations, worked by slaves from the trade, later replaced by indentured labour once slavery was abolished in 1863. Suriname probably comes from Surinen, the name of an indigenous people which the English pronounced Surinam, a form that remained in use until 1978.