Suriname

South-American/Caribbean republic independent from the Netherlands in 1975; its Muslim minority — of Javanese (Indonesian) and South-Asian indentured descent — is one of the largest in the Americas in proportion, and the country is strikingly plural in religion.

☾ The Coming of Islam

Islam brought by Javanese and South-Asian indenture

Islam came to Suriname with indentured labourers brought by the Dutch in the 19th and early 20th centuries — Javanese from the Indonesian archipelago and South Asians from British India — giving the country one of the largest Muslim populations, in proportion, of the Americas.

☾ Religious Composition

A notable Muslim minority in a strikingly plural society

Suriname is one of the most religiously plural countries of the Americas — Christian, Hindu and Muslim communities all substantial — with its Muslim minority drawn chiefly from Javanese and Indo-Surinamese descent.

Demographic shares are approximate.

At a glance