Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam
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Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam
Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam is a fort in Suriname built from 1734 to 1747 at the confluence of the Suriname and Commewijne rivers. It is open to the public as an open-air museum. History The necessity of improving the fortifications of the colony of Suriname was underscored when French buccaneers under the leadership of Jacques Cassard attacked the colony in 1712. Fort Sommelsdijk, which was situated further upstream the Commewijne River at its confluence with the Cottica River was fortified for this purpose in 1715, but it was clear something more substantial needed to be done to defend the colony against foreign attacks. It was eventually decided to build a new fort at the confluence of the Suriname and Commewijne rivers. When Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam was completed in 1747, Fort Sommelsdijk was downgraded to a military outpost. Between 1863 and 1967, the fort was used as a prison. It is the location of the decommissioned lightvessel '' Suriname-Rivier'', which is permanently moored in ...
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Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, and Brazil to the south. At just under , it is the smallest sovereign state in South America. It has a population of approximately , dominated by descendants from the slaves and labourers brought in from Africa and Asia by the Dutch Empire and Republic. Most of the people live by the country's (north) coast, in and around its capital and largest city, Paramaribo. It is also List of countries and dependencies by population density, one of the least densely populated countries on Earth. Situated slightly north of the equator, Suriname is a tropical country dominated by rainforests. Its extensive tree cover is vital to the country's efforts to Climate change in Suriname, mitigate climate ch ...
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Lightvessel
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the first modern lightvessel was off the Nore sandbank at the mouth of the River Thames in England, placed there by its inventor Robert Hamblin in 1734. The type has become largely obsolete; lighthouses replaced some stations as the construction techniques for lighthouses advanced, while large, automated buoys replaced others. Construction A crucial element of lightvessel design is the mounting of a light on a sufficiently tall mast. Initially, it consisted of oil lamps that could be run up the mast and lowered for servicing. Later vessels carried fixed lamps which were serviced in place. Fresnel lenses were used as they became available, and many vessels housed them in small versions of the lanterns used in lighthouses. Some lightship ...
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Military Installations Established In 1747
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may f ...
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History Of Suriname
The early history of Suriname dates from 3000 BCE when Native Americans first inhabited the area. The Dutch acquired Suriname from the English, and European settlement in any numbers dates from the 17th century, when it was a plantation colony utilizing slavery for sugar cultivation. With abolition in the late 19th century, planters sought labor from China, Madeira, India, and Indonesia, which was also colonized by the Dutch. Dutch is Suriname's official language. Owing to its diverse population, it has also developed a creole language, Sranan Tongo. Indigenous settlement Suriname was populated millennia before the Europeans by many distinct indigenous cultures. The largest nations at the time of colonialization were the Arawaks, a nomadic coastal tribe that lived from hunting and fishing, and the Caribs. The Caribs conquered the Arawaks along much of the coast, and into the Caribbean, using sailing ships. They settled in Galibi (''Kupali Yumï'', meaning "tree of the forefather ...
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Forts In Suriname
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek ''Towns of ancient Greece#Military settlements, phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the ancient Roman, Roman castellum or English language, English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certa ...
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Commewijne District
Commewijne is a district of Suriname, located on the right bank of the Suriname River. Commewijne's capital city is Nieuw Amsterdam. Tamanredjo is another major town, while Meerzorg is the most populated. The district has a population of 31,420 and an area of 2,353 km2. One of the most populated of Suriname's districts, Commewijne relies primarily on agriculture for its income, with plantations dating back to the first Dutch colonisation of the area in the 17th century. In the 21st century, Meerzorg has been designated as a regional centre, and suburban area for Paramaribo, and is the site of many building projects. Nieuw Amsterdam has been steadily growing as well. History In 1621, the Dutch West India Company started to explore the Guianas, and traded with the indigenous people. When a force reporting to Francis Willoughby landed on Commewijne, there was already a small Dutch settlement who were trading with the indigenous people, and a group of Jews had arrived in S ...
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List Of Museums In Suriname
This is a list of museums in Suriname. Suriname is a small country on the north-eastern coast of South America, and a former Dutch colony. Paramaribo * Geological Museum - Museum dedicated to geology and mining in Suriname, located in the Geological Mining Service building (Geologische Mijnbouwkundige Dienst), Jaggernath Lachmonstraat, Paramaribo. * Koto Museum - History and culture museum dedicated to Afro-Surinamese culture (notably traditional costumes). Prinsessestraat 43, Paramaribo. * Lalla Rookh Museum - History and culture museum dedicated to Indo-Surinamese culture. Lalla Rookhweg 54, Paramaribo. (''Lalla Rookh'' was the name of the first ship to transport Indian indentured workers from British India to the Dutch colony of Suriname, and about two-thirds of them stayed on after their 5-year contracts had ended.) * Maritime Museum - Located in the building of the Maritime Authority of Suriname (MAS), Cornelis Jongbawstraat 2, Paramaribo. * Numismatic Museum of the Cen ...
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Fort Zeelandia (Paramaribo)
Fort Zeelandia is a fortress in Paramaribo, Suriname. In 1640 the French built a wooden fort on the spot, which during the British colonial days was reinforced and became Fort Willoughby. It was taken by the Dutch in 1667 and renamed Fort Zeelandia. History Surinam, a small Dutch colony was established in 1650 by Major Anthony Rowse on behalf of the governor of Barbados, Francis Willoughby. In 1651 the English reinforced the abandoned French fort near present-day Paramaribo, calling it Fort Willoughby. In 1667 the Dutch Admiral Abraham Crijnssen took Paramaribo from forces under Lieutenant-Governor William Byam in a battle which lasted only three hours as British munitions were exhausted. Crijnssen also recaptured the Essequibo-Pomeroon Colony Crijnssen renamed the Surinamese fort to Zeelandia. Over the years, it started to become obsolete as a military object and in 1772, there were even plans to tear it down. After the Surinamese independence in 1975, during the military go ...
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Independence Of Suriname
The early history of Suriname dates from 3000 BCE when Native Americans first inhabited the area. The Dutch acquired Suriname from the English, and European settlement in any numbers dates from the 17th century, when it was a plantation colony utilizing slavery for sugar cultivation. With abolition in the late 19th century, planters sought labor from China, Madeira, India, and Indonesia, which was also colonized by the Dutch. Dutch is Suriname's official language. Owing to its diverse population, it has also developed a creole language, Sranan Tongo. Indigenous settlement Suriname was populated millennia before the Europeans by many distinct indigenous cultures. The largest nations at the time of colonialization were the Arawaks, a nomadic coastal tribe that lived from hunting and fishing, and the Caribs. The Caribs conquered the Arawaks along much of the coast, and into the Caribbean, using sailing ships. They settled in Galibi (''Kupali Yumï'', meaning "tree of the forefather ...
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Suriname-Rivier
''Suriname-Rivier'' is a lightvessel permanently berthed in a wet dock in the Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam Open-Air Museum in Nieuw-Amsterdam, Commewijne, Suriname. The lightvessel was constructed by the Conrad shipyard in Haarlem, the Netherlands, for the Ministry of the Colonies of the Netherlands. It was launched in 1910 and, not being equipped with engines, was sailed to Suriname by Captain Johannes Franciscus Wijsmuller (1876–1923) in 1911. It was used to mark the mouth of the Suriname River The Suriname River (Dutch: ''Surinamerivier'') is 480 km long and flows through the country Suriname. Its sources are located in the Guiana Highlands on the border between the Wilhelmina Mountains and the Eilerts de Haan Mountains (where it i .... The ship was replaced in 1968, decommissioned in 1972, and transferred to the Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam Open-Air Museum. Attempts to put the ship behind the local dikes at high tide resulted in a partial flooding of the village of Nieuw-Amsterd ...
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Prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correctional facility, lock-up, hoosegow or remand center, is a facility in which inmates (or prisoners) are confined against their will and usually denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state as punishment for various crimes. Prisons are most commonly used within a criminal justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those pleading or being found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment. In simplest terms, a prison can also be described as a building in which people are legally held as a punishment for a crime they have committed. Prisons can also be used as a tool of political repression by authoritarian regimes. Their perceived opponents may be ...
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Society Of Suriname
The Society of Suriname (Dutch: ''Sociëteit van Suriname'') was a Dutch private company, modelled on the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and set up on 21 May 1683 to profit from the management and defense of the Dutch Republic's colony of Suriname. It had three participants, with equal shares in the costs and benefits of the society; the city of Amsterdam, the family Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck, and the Dutch West India Company. Only through mutual consent could these shareholders withdraw from the society. Although the organization and administration was of the colony was limited to these three shareholders, all citizens of the Dutch Republic were free to trade with Suriname. Also, the planters were consulted in a Council of Police, which was a unique feature among the colonies of Guyana.Buddingh, H. (1995) Geschiedenis van Suriname, p. 26. Its governors included Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck, Johan van Scharphuizen, and Paulus van der Veen. The Society was nationaliz ...
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