De West was founded in 1892, and in its early years was a conservative paper that had a somewhat antagonistic rivalry with the left-leaning Suriname, the other leading newspaper in what was then the Dutch colony of Suriname.
[1] De West became a daily newspaper in 1950 owned and edited by David George Findlay.
During the coup a hand grenade was thrown into the offices of De West, and the building was under fire.
[3] The paper was forced to close in the early 1980s following a coup led by Dési Bouterse.
[4] As of 2002[update], it was the second-largest paper by circulation in Suriname, after de Ware Tijd, and takes an independent political stance.