Johannes King (born: Adiri circa 1830 - 24 October 1898), was the first Maroon missionary, and the first important writer in Sranan Tongo.

[6] Adiri was born as a son of granman (paramount chief) Kodjo of the Matawai,[7] near the plantations of Haarlem and Maho in Suriname.

[7] In 1855, Adiri started to receive visions: a strange god pointed at an alien religion, told him to go to the city, and be baptized.

[6] The book is hard to read, because he uses an autodidactic spelling and often confuses a with h.[b][2] The original is archived by the Moravian Church in Zeist.

[12] In 1973, the dairies of Johannes King were published in Sranan Tongo as Life at Maripaston with summary in English by Henri Frans de Ziel.