Initially this was mainly the colonial elite but expanded during the 1920s and 1930s to the less fortunate inhabitants looking for better education, employment or other opportunities.
[1] The choice of becoming Surinamese or Dutch citizens in the years leading up to Suriname's independence in 1975 led to a mass migration to the Netherlands.
This migration continued in the period immediately after independence and during military rule in the 1980s and for largely economic reasons extended throughout the 1990s.
Famous footballers like Ruud Gullit and Virgil van Dijk are of Surinamese descent.
Female singer Milly Scott and kickboxer Ernesto Hoost are also of Surinamese descent.