DescriptionCoastal Suriname was home to Arawaks and Caribs from at least 3000 BC. Other groups lived inland. French, Spanish, English, and Dutch explorers showed up in the 16th century. The English and Dutch became the main palyers. In 1667 those two made a treaty in which the Dutch got Suriname and the English got New Amsterdam, which later became New York City. The Dutch established a slave plantation system. In the 20th century bauxite mining for aluminum became a major factor. Suriname was occupied by American troops during World War II. Independence was established in 1975.It has been habitual, on the collecting side of numismatics, for “Africa” to exclude the Mediterranean coastal states, which are typically lumped in with the other Arab states in the category “Middle East.” Generally speaking, there was a colonial period and an independent period.By “Modern World Coins” we mean here, generally, the round, flat, shiny metal objects that people have used for money and still do. “Modern,” though, varies by location. There was some other way they were doing their economies, and then they switched over to “modern coins,” then they went toward paper money, now we’re all going toward digital, a future in which kids look at a coin and say “What’s that?” We’ll say: “We used to use those to buy things.” Kids will ask “How?” The main catalog reference is the Standard Catalog of World Coins, to which the KM numbers refer.
