Perhaps one of the most multicultural and multiracial societies in the world, Surinam is doubly secluded; it sits in the north-eastern corner of South America beside the huge expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. With its mangrove littoral, and palm trees that are the crème de la crème of its landscape the sequestered tropical republic is separated from Africa and Europe by the treacherous ocean on one side and on the other side by the immense and unforgiving Amazon forest.

The dense bush, misty swamps and lagoons cuts it off from the rest of South America. The Amazon itself is another ocean that can only be traversed by an experienced navigator, undaunted courage and a passion for wild adventure is not enough to cross a vast verdant canopy that is hardly swarming with human life.

Native Amerindians, such as the Arowaks have been living in the area since 500AD where they formed a highly developed agricultural system. Later the arrival of Caribs tribes from the Caribbean altered the Arowak lifestyle and domination of the area. Despite this, the Arowaks remained in the area. Localised tribes like the Arowak often hacked timber and then exploited the cleared land of its fertility and lived in complete autonomy from others.

This lack of communication and a common uniting organised structure made the tribes weak and vulnerable when individually attacked. The idea was that one tribe would have the choice of collaborating with another tribe in order to destroy an enemy; both victorious tribes would then reap the benefits of their defeat, land, crops, women etc.

This disunity and independent existence made it easy for the European conquerors to take control of the area. Zeelander farmers, later called boerers (farmers) from the Netherlands soon settled in the new colony, and established a fort town called 'Fort Zeelandia', despite the scarcity of food, skirmishes with the natives and disputes with English colonists.

Surinam may be rich in its natural wealth but this plantation colony that provided sugar for Europeans was a place of casual cruelty. Formerly known as Dutch Guana, Surinam came under Dutch rule in 1667 began as one big plantation for sugar. West African slaves were imported over as slaves to work in inhumane conditions and for very long hours in the fields. At the time Dutch colony Surinam had one of the highest death rates in the world due to unspeakable violence and cruelty that its slaves endured.

The journey to the new world took anything from six weeks to three months depending on weather. Slaves frequently rebelled against their rulers, often just for a few hours of freedom, the courageous ones fled into the bush (marronage), or the huge verdant interior that forms part of the Amazon. Their descendants, the wetland maroons later soon acclimatised to the wild and became banal at living at ease with nature, however grotesque it looked or dangerous it was.

Once slavery had been abolished by the Dutch in 1863 African slaves continued to work on the plantations but were on a pay roll. Soon as 'mandatory service' was abolished and former slaves who became free men relocated to Paramaribo or bought their own plots of land to live off, new workers needed to be found. This was a regional phenomenon as British Guyana, and Trinidad also brought in Asian workers to replace the slaves.

'Contract workers' were shipped over from India; these consisted of people from the poorest sections of Hindustani society. Their working conditions were no better in comparison to the blacks that worked there, the Indian workers needed to work at least ten years before they could leave Surinam and return home; it was still slavery but under a different name. Eventually Mahatma Gandhi put an end to this practice. Indians, known locally as Hindus today account for 33% of the population.

But it was not just the Indians who were brought over to labour in the sugar plantations, other Asians were also shipped over in large numbers. In 1858 some 500 Chinese were recruited in the British colony of Hong Kong, later after the British prohibited this practice people were recruited from India instead. From 1890 the immigration of the Javanese was facilitated, often the young men chosen were the targeted recruits. Lebanese Christians and Jews also arrived.

Often the newcomers, particularly the Hindustanis were better educated than the black and Amerindian population, which in turn caused resentment. It was the jealousy and resentment caused by this that the term 'coolie' was coined together as a derogatory term to describe Hindustanis.

It was not until independence from the Netherlands in 1975, when Surinam's diverse people were poised to share government that these tensions surfaced into officialdom. With its dwindling supply of funds, Surinam felt ignored by the mother country and its leaders marshalled support for independence. In the 1930s a movement for change began which saw the shifting of former racial divisions of power; the Creole middle-classes replaced the white elite in government. Today

it still suffers from bouts of political instability and chaos, and tearful economic woes.

Virtually all the people of Surinam arrived for economic reasons the seeds of the present multi-cultural community of Surinam was thus sown in the period of severe human exploitation from the seventeenth century onwards. Emerging from this period of suffering and humiliation emerged a fully vibrant and colourful mosaic of cultures. Surinam may be one of the smallest nations on earth, but it contains many worlds.

Today a common history of servitude engenders a sense of unity among the diversity of people in Surinam, who are all mostly the product of colonial rule. Surinam may be multiracial and multicultural but it is by no means a segregated or fragmented society. With a brumous future, and times of uncertainty still, Surinam is a truly global village, and a sign that good can emerge from the worst circumstances.