Timeline of Surinam
	Scarce archeological records of Indian Occupation
1499	Discovery of the "Wild Coast" by the Spanish under the leadership of Alonso de Ojeda.
1644	French attempt at colonisation and settlement
1650-55	Francis Willoughby the Earl of Parham establishes an English Colony
1654	With the permission of the English, Jewish Colonists from Brazil settle on the edge of the river Surinam
1664	Jewish colonists from Cayenne which at that time was transferred from Dutch to French hands arrive and settle on the Surinam-river.
1667	Abraham Crijnssen takes the colony from the English which becomes property of the Province Zeeland. At the treaty of Breda the colony is formally ceded to the Dutch
1668	Importation of slaves from Africa begins
1683	The colony changes hands from Zeeland to the Society of Surinam. The Society consists of 3 members: the second West India Company, The City of Amsterdam and the Governor of Surinam Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck.
1683	Van Aerssen Sommelsdijk introduces sluice-gates and lays out the city, A number of [hervormde] churches are founded in the hinterland and a fort is constructed at the fork of the Cottica and the Commewijne
1684	Settlement of a number of Labadists, a Protestant sect.
1686	A second influx of French settlers, this time Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
1689	Founding of the Court of Civil Justice to complement the already existing courts of Police and Criminal Justice
1712	An attack by the French Admiral Jacques Cassard. This events leads up to the building of te Fort New Amsterdam
1739	Founding of an Evangelic, Brotherhood, which in the following year is forbidden to worship in public
1742	The first Lutheran preacher reaches Surinam
1787	Consecration of the First Roman Catholic Church
1791	The closure of the West Indian Company. There are 591 plantations of which 46 are owned by Jewish settlers
1795	The governor-general J.F. Frederici receives a recommendation from the Prince of Orange to cede the colony to the English, he refuses to comply.
1795	The [Patented] Society of Surinam folds and the country [Komt onder Staatsbestuur]
1799	The colony is ceded to the English, Frderici stays Governor-General
1802	Surinam is given back to the Dutch in the Treaty of Amiens, the country is Governed by the Batavian Republic
1804-16	Surinam is ruled by the English
1808	On the 1 January the slave trade is abolished
1816	26 February: Surinam is given back to the Dutch
1821 & 1832	Fires rage through Paramaribo
1845	Dutch farmers settle on the Saramacca
1853	First Chinese immigrants arrive, the influx continues to 1869
1863	The abolition of slavery
1865	Institution of the Colonial States [Koloniale Staten]
1873	4 June, arrival of the first group of Hindustani from Calcutta, immigration continues until 1916
1891	Arrival of the first immigrants from Indonesia, immigration continues until 1939
1929	Founding of the Surinam Islamic Society
1954	Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands leading to Independence
1975	Surinam becomes independent