Afro-Surinamese

However, in practice, enslaved people from Loango,[3] purchased in Cabinda, Angola,[4] were the largest group of slaves in Suriname since 1670; they surpassed the number on the Gold Coast in almost all periods.

Enslaved people including the Ewe (who live in southern Ghana, Togo and Benin), Igbo (from Nigeria), Yoruba (from Benin[5]) and Kongo (who live in the Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola), all left their cultural footprints in Suriname.

The space they received was when the British in the Treaty of Breda (1667) gave land on the northern coast of South America, ceded to them in exchange for New York.

Slaves were rapidly shipped from Africa to Suriname to work on coffee, cocoa, and sugar plantations for the Dutch and other Europeans.

[6] Because they remained strictly separated from the white population, the slaves developed their own culture with a strong West African influence.

The native language of the Creoles is Sranantongo, because slaves were historically forbidden to learn and speak Dutch.

[12] Escaped enslaved people in Suriname and French Guiana, known as Maroons or Bushinengues, fled to the interior and joined with indigenous peoples to create several independent tribes, among them the Saramaka, the Paramaka, the Ndyuka (Aukan), the Kwinti, the Aluku (Boni), the Matawai,[13] and the Brooskampers.

[14] By 1740, the maroons had formed clans and felt strong enough to challenge the Dutch colonists, forcing them to sign peace treaties.

From 1972 to 1978, two American professors, S. Allen Counter and David L. Evans, made seven voyages upriver into the maroon areas.