PARAMARIBO, the capital of Dutch Guiana or Surinam (see Guiana), in 5° 44' 30" N., 55° 12' 54" W., 20 m. from the sea on the right bank of the Surinam, here a tidal river nearly a mile broad and 18 ft. deep. Pop. (1905), 33,821. Built on a plateau about 16 ft. 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 plain public buildings would not be unworthy of a town in the Netherlands.
The Indian village of Paramaribo became the site of a French settlement probably in 1640, 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.