PARAMARIBO, the administrative and commercial capital of Dutch Guiana or Surinam, is situated in 5° 44' 30" N. lat. and 55° 12' 54" W. long., on the right bank of the Surinam, which, though at that point 20 miles from the sea, is a tidal river nearly a mile broad and 18 feet deep. Built on a plateau about 16 feet above low-water level, Paramaribo is well-drained, clean, and in general healthy; the straight canals running at right angles to the river, the broad, straight, tree-planted streets, the spacious squares, and the solid if plain looking public buildings would not be unworthy of a town in the Netherlands. Among the more conspicuous edifices are—Fort Zeelandia (used as a civil and military prison) at the north corner, between the town proper and the Combé suburb; the Government-house, surrounded by a magnificent garden and park; the town-house, with a tower 100 feet high; the law courts; the public hospital, where there is a remarkable betel-nut avenue 50 feet in height; the Reformed Dutch, Lutheran, Moravian, and Roman Catholic churches; and the Portuguese and Dutch synagogues. The population, barely 16,000 in 1854, was 20,373 in 1869, and 21,265 in 1878.

The Indian village of Paramaribo became the site of a French settlement probably in 1610, and in 1650 it was made the capital of the colony by Lord Willoughby of Parham. In 1683 it was still only a “cluster of twenty-seven dwellings, more than half of them grog-shops,” but by 1790 it counted more than a thousand houses. The town was partly burned down in 1821, and again in 1832.