Paramaribo
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the capital of Dutch Guiana, on the Surinam, about 10 miles from its mouth. It has broad, treeshaded streets, with clean wooden houses, painted light gray, and numerous canals and churches. There are also a governor's palace, two forts, a park, etc. The Herrnhuters (Moravian Brethren) are a strong body in the town. Except for the small harbor of Nickerie, all the trade of the colony is at Paramaribo. Pop. (1918) 37,051. PARANÁ, a city of Argentina, the capital of the province of Entre Rios. It is on the Paraná river, 370 feet from its mouth. The town is well built and has a number of handsome public buildings, including a normal school and handsome college. It has an important trade and steamship connection with Santa Fé. Pop. about 40,000. From 1853 to 1861 Paraná was the capital of Argentina. PARANÁ, a state of Brazil, in S. E. bounded by Atlantic Ocean, São Paulo, Paraguay, Matto Grosso, Argentina, and Santa Catharina. Rises from sea-level to a plateau on which elevations further rise to 5,000 feet above the sea. There are dense forests, but on the plains cocoa, coffee, maté, and rice are cultivated. PARANOIA Tributaries of the Paraná river irrigate the state. Area 67,570 square miles. Capital, Curitiba. Pop. 480,400. PARANÁ, a river in South America, the largest except the Amazon, and draining a larger basin than any other river in the New World except the Amazon and the Mississippi. It is formed by the junction of two streams, the Rio Grande and the Paranahyba, which meet in Brazil, and it discharges sa itself into the estuary of the La P Plata, its course latterly being through the Argentine Republic. Its principal tributaries are the Paraguay and the Salado, both from the right. Its length, from its sources to its junction with the Paraguay, is probably 1,500 miles, and thence to the sea 600 miles more. In breadth, current, and volume of water, the Paraná has 10 times the magnitude of the Paraguay.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921, Paramaribo was the capital of a Dutch colony with 37,051 people; it is now the capital of the independent Republic of Suriname, which broke from the Netherlands on 25 November 1975, and holds roughly a quarter of a million residents inety about half the country's population. Independence was followed by mass emigration to the Netherlands and, in 1980, a military coup led by Desi Bouterse, who later returned as elected president. The wooden houses and shaded streets Collier's admired survive well enough that the historic inner city was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2002. The Moravian Brethren remain a presence, but the city is now strikingly plural, with Hindu temples and mosques serving descendants of Indian and Javanese indentured labourers.
Written for this edition, 2026.