Flag: Suriname Emoji

The flag of Suriname: five horizontal stripes of green (double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width) with a large yellow five-pointed star in the center.

The green represents the country's agricultural richness and its famously vast rainforest (93% forest cover, the highest proportion of any nation). The white stripes symbolize freedom and justice. The red band represents progress and hope. The yellow star stands for national unity and a golden future, deliberately replacing a 1959 design that featured five separate stars representing the country's five ethnic groups.

Suriname is the smallest country in South America, but it packs an outsized story: a Dutch colony traded for New York in 1667, home to the world's most ethnically diverse populations (Hindustani 27%, Maroon 22%, Creole 16%, Javanese 14%), one of only three carbon-negative countries on Earth, and sitting on a $10.5 billion offshore oil discovery that could reshape its economy by 2028.

🇸🇷 appears around Suriname Independence Day (November 25, marking the 1975 split from the Netherlands), during Carnival season, and in posts about the country's extraordinary biodiversity and rainforest conservation.

The Surinamese diaspora in the Netherlands (roughly 350,000 people, more than half the population of Suriname itself) drives significant usage for cultural identity, especially around Keti Koti (July 1, emancipation day) and when sharing roti and pom recipes. Football posts connecting Suriname to Dutch-Surinamese stars like Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard generate spikes.

Travel content featuring the wooden cathedral, the mosque-next-to-synagogue symbol of tolerance, and jungle lodge tourism keeps steady usage. The 2020 offshore oil discovery and subsequent $10.5 billion development deal brought 🇸🇷 to financial media attention.

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  Capital: Paramaribo (5.85°N, 55.20°W). UNESCO-listed historic inner city, wooden Dutch colonial architecture along the Suriname River
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  Population: ~646,000 (2024). Smallest independent country in South America
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  Area: 163,820 km² (slightly larger than Greece). ~93% rainforest cover, highest of any country
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  Currency: Surinamese dollar (SRD, Sr$). Replaced the guilder in 2004
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  Languages: Dutch (official), Sranan Tongo (lingua franca), Sarnami Hindustani, Javanese, Hakka, Saramaccan
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  Calling code: +597
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  Time zone: SRT (UTC-3). No DST
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  Internet TLD: .sr
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  Political status: Independent republic since November 25, 1975. CARICOM and UNASUR member
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  Carbon status: One of only three [carbon-negative countries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suriname) on earth (with Bhutan and Panama), storing ~11 gigatons of carbon

1. 1959First autonomous flag: white field with black ellipse containing five colored stars (white, black, brown, yellow, red) representing the five ethnic groups
2. 1975Current flag adopted November 21, four days before independence; won through national design competition; single yellow star replaces five ethnic stars to emphasize unity over division
3. 2015Added to Unicode as part of Emoji 2.0 regional indicator flag set

Suriname is sometimes called the most diverse country in the Western Hemisphere. The population includes Hindustani (27.4%), Maroons (21.7%), Creoles (15.7%), Javanese (13.7%), mixed (13.4%), Indigenous peoples (2%), Chinese (2%), and Europeans (1%), each maintaining distinct cultural traditions, cuisines, and languages while sharing a national identity.

The Maroon communities deserve special attention. Descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped Dutch plantations in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maroons fled into the rainforest interior and built independent societies. In 1762, a full century before general emancipation, they forced the Dutch to sign a treaty recognizing their freedom and territory. Today, Maroon culture is considered one of the best-preserved African-derived cultures outside Africa, with matrilineal social structures, the Winti spiritual tradition, and the Saramaccan language (50% African, 20% English, 20% Portuguese vocabulary).

Suriname's religious tolerance is legendary. In Paramaribo, the 1835 Neve Shalom synagogue (oldest continuously active in the Americas) sits next to the Ahmadiyya mosque, sharing a parking lot. Hindu temples, Christian churches, and mosques operate within blocks of each other. Holi, Eid, Christmas, and Keti Koti are all national celebrations.

The food reflects the fusion: Surinamese roti (Indian), pom (Creole-Jewish origin using pomtajer root), nasi goreng (Javanese), bara (Indian fried snack), and peanut soup all sit on the same table. In the Netherlands, Surinamese cuisine has become one of the most popular takeout cuisines.

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  March (variable): Phagwa: Indo-Surinamese Holi. One of the very few countries outside India where it's a national holiday, alongside Guyana.
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  July 1: Keti Koti: Literally 'the chain is broken.' Marks the 1863 abolition of slavery. Traditional kotomisi dress, processions in Paramaribo and Amsterdam. Most culturally charged day for Afro-Surinamese and Maroon identity.
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  June 5: Indian Arrival Day: Commemorates the 1873 arrival of the first indentured Indian laborers aboard the Lalla Rookh.
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  August 9: Javanese Arrival Day: Commemorates the 1890 arrival of the first Javanese indentured laborers aboard the SS Koningin Emma. Gamelan and selamatan.
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  October 10: Day of the Maroons: Marks the 1760 Dutch-Ndyuka peace treaty. Recognizes Maroon self-liberation a century before general emancipation.
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  November (variable): Diwali: Hindu festival of lights. Indo-Surinamese homes light diyas and temples host public pujas.
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  November 25: Independence Day: Marks the 1975 independence from the Netherlands. Flag-raising at Onafhankelijkheidsplein in Paramaribo, parade, and fireworks.

• •Suriname was literally traded for New York. In the 1667 Treaty of Breda, the Dutch kept Suriname and ceded New Amsterdam (Manhattan) to the English. At the time, Suriname's sugar plantations were considered the better deal.
• •There are more Surinamese people in the Netherlands (~350,000) than in many Surinamese cities. The 1975 independence triggered a massive emigration wave when residents had to choose citizenship.
• •Suriname is one of only three carbon-negative countries on Earth (with Bhutan and Panama), absorbing more CO2 than it emits thanks to its 93% rainforest cover storing 11 gigatons of carbon.
• •The Saramaccan language spoken by Maroon communities has a vocabulary that's 50% African languages, 20% English, 20% Portuguese, and 10% Dutch and Indigenous languages, a living record of colonial-era contact.
• •St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Paramaribo (1885) is the largest wooden church in the Americas, built entirely from local greenheart and basralocus wood without a single steel beam.
• •Suriname's Maroon communities won their freedom from the Dutch in 1762, a full century before slavery was abolished in the colony in 1863, by fighting guerrilla wars from the rainforest interior.
• •The previous Surinamese flag (1959) had five different colored stars representing five ethnic groups. It was replaced because the new nation wanted to emphasize unity, not ethnic division.

• 700+ bird species: Including harpy eagles, scarlet macaws, and 24 species of parrots
• 100+ amphibian species: Home to the iconic blue poison dart frog (okopipi), found nowhere else on Earth in such numbers
• 8 primate species: Including howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and capuchins throughout the interior
• 5,000+ plant species: Many still undocumented by science in the remotest parts of the interior
• Mega-fauna: Jaguars, giant river otters, lowland tapirs, and giant anteaters roam the Central Suriname Nature Reserve