Suriname (Discovering South America)

Introduces Suriname, describing its history, politics, culture, and geography.

Named for the Surinen Indians who once lived within its borders, Suriname is located on the northeastern coast of South America. It is the continent's smallest independent nation. Dense tropical rain forests cover much of the country's sparsely populated, mountainous interior. Most of Surinames populationof East Indian, African, and mixed-race descentlive in the flat coastal region to the north. Settled in the mid-1600s by the English, the colony was later traded to the Dutch in exchange for a colony in North America called New Amsterdam (which eventually became New York City). With independence from the Netherlands in 1975, the nation became the Republic of Suriname. Today, a growing tourist industry and exports of sugar, bauxite, and other crops and minerals drive much of the nations economy. There's a lot to discover about Suriname! Each title in this series contains color photos, maps, a chronology of events related to the country, recipes, list of festivals, ideas for projects and reports, and back matter including: an index, further reading lists for books and internet resources, and a series glossary. Mason Crests editorial team has placed Key Icons to Look for throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons are as follows: Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are then used in the prose throughout that chapter, and are emboldened, so that the reader is able to reference back to the definitions- building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Sidebars are highlighted graphics with content rich mater