Figure 1.--This is a Dutch postcard from Suriname dated about 1910. The caption read: "Indian mother with children. The children are dressed along the ines of European colonialist ideas. The mother is wearing traditional Amer-Indian garments.

Smaller Surimame ethnic groups include the indigenous Amer-Indan population (3.5 percent). The Spanish or in the case of Surinam, the Dutch, tried to enslave the natives. It did not work. The native people began dieing in large numbers or fled into the interior. It was easier and cheaper for the Dutch to import more Africans than chase v after the Amer-Induians deepinto the interior,especaillynas theubwerev likelyb ton dievaferv theybwere caught. As a result, they began importuing captive Africans. This began to reach numbers, when the highly profitable sugar industry took hold. The indigenous population included the Arawak, Carib, and Warrau peoples living along the riverbanks and coastal plains. The Trios, Akurios, and Wyanas live along the upper reaches of the rivers. The tribal distriubution often follows the course of the major rivers. The Amer-Indian poulation today are a small part of the population because indigenous people throughout the Americas had no resistance to Euroopean diseases. In the wider Caribbean the indeigenous population was basically wiped out. Unlike the Guianas, small islands had no interior where the native people could flee. Even with a large interior, however, the indugenous population of the Guianas was desimated.

Created: 8:39 PM 2/16/2024
Last updated: 8:39 PM 2/16/2024