A Dutch colonial town centre that survived intact, 15 km up the Suriname River from the Atlantic, founded in 1613 and UNESCO listed in 2002 for keeping both its buildings and its original street plan. Fort Zeelandia sits on the river. The Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral is one of the largest wooden buildings in the Americas. The Neveh Shalom synagogue is among the oldest in the hemisphere, and it stands next door to a mosque, which tells you most of what you need to know about the place: the city is roughly 27 percent Creole, 23 percent East Indian, 16 percent Maroon and 10 percent Javanese, and about half of Suriname’s entire population lives here. The gold, oil, bauxite, rice and timber all move through it.
Paramaribo, Suriname
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