en Districts of Suriname

Suriname is divided into 10 districts (Dutch: districten).

Overview

Regions of Suriname by number and name

	District	Capital	Area (km²)	Area (%)	Population (2012 census)^[1]	Population (%)	Pop. dens. (inhabitants/km²)
	Suriname	Paramaribo	163,820	100.0	541,638	100.0	3.3
1	Brokopondo	Brokopondo	7,364	4.5	15,909	2.9	2.2
2	Commewijne	Nieuw-Amsterdam	2,353	1.4	31,420	5.8	13.4
3	Coronie	Totness	3,902	2.2	3,391	0.6	0.9
4	Marowijne	Albina	4,627	2.8	18,294	3.4	4.0
5	Nickerie	Nieuw-Nickerie	5,353	3.3	34,233	6.3	6.4
6	Para	Onverwacht	5,393	3.3	24,700	4.6	4.6
7	Paramaribo	Paramaribo	182	0.1	240,924	44.5	1323.8
8	Saramacca	Groningen	3,636	2.2	17,480	3.2	4.8
9	Sipaliwini	none	130,567	79.7	37,065	6.8	0.3
10	Wanica	Lelydorp	443	0.3	118,222	21.8	266.9

History

The country was first divided up into subdivisions by the Dutch on October 8, 1834, when a Royal Decree declared that there were to be 8 divisions and 2 districts:^[2]

Upper Suriname and Torarica
Para
Upper Commewijne
Upper Cottica and Perica
Lower Commewijne
Lower Cottica
Matapica
Saramacca
Coronie (district)
Nickerie (district)

The divisions were areas near the capital city, Paramaribo, and the districts were areas further away from the city.

Suriname districts 1914-1917
Suriname districts 1958-1967
Suriname districts 1968-1985

In 1927, Suriname's districts were revised, and the country was divided into 7 districts. In 1943, 1948, 1949, 1952 and 1959 further small modifications were made. In 1968 the districts were redrawn again, into^[3]

Nickerie
Coronie
Saramacca
Brokopondo
Para
Suriname
Paramaribo
Commewijne
Marowijne

These divisions remained until 1980, when yet again, the borders of the districts were redrawn, however, with the following requirements:

Changes in the old boundaries were made only if it leads to improved functioning
Each area should be developed
The new boundaries should respect the identities of indigenous people.

The last changes to the districts were in 1985.^[3]