Squatting in Suriname is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner.

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

and indigenous peoples such as Tiriyó

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Ame ...

have squatted buildings and illegal gold prospectors have occupied land.

History

Suriname became an independent republic in 1975, after previously being a Dutch colony. The Dutch had recognised the land rights of the coastal Amerindians since 1686, and land rights of the various

maroon Maroon ( US/ UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word ''marron'', or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown". According to multiple dictionaries, there are var ...

groups from 1760 onwards. In 1815, following the ratification of the Convention of London, Suriname became the only Dutch colony in the Guianas. In the 1990s, squatters occupied government-built housing at

Koewarasan Koewarasan ( Javanese : ꦏꦸꦮꦫꦱꦤ꧀ lit. meaning : "well-being") is a resort in Suriname, located in the Wanica District. Its population at the 2012 census was 27,713. It is located to the west of Paramaribo, and is mainly a suburban ar ...

and called their occupation Sunny Point. The occupiers were mostly

, who had been displaced by the

Surinamese Interior War The Surinamese Interior War ( nl, Binnenlandse Oorlog) was a civil war waged in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname between 1986 and 1992. It was fought by the Tucayana Amazonas led by Thomas Sabajo and the Jungle Commando led by Ronnie Brunswij ...

. The village of

Pokigron Pokigron is a town in Suriname located on Brokopondo Reservoir. It is located in the Boven Suriname municipality (resort) in the Sipaliwini District. It has a population of approximately 400 people in 2018. Pokigron is located at the end of a pave ...

was destroyed in the conflict and people ended up squatting in a barracks near

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

. The Tiriyó

have a habit of squatting abandoned sites. People moved from

Kwamalasamutu Kwamalasamutu, also Kwamalasamoetoe, is a Tiriyó Amerindian village in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname, and home to the granman (paramount chief) of the northern Trios. Kwamalasamutu is the biggest village of the Tiriyó tribe. History The ...

Alalapadu Alalapadu is a Tiriyó village in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The village was founded by Baptist missionaries next to the Alalapadu Airstrip in order to concentrate the Tiriyó of the area in one central village. History In 1961 the m ...

in the 1970s, then Alalapadu was re-occupied from 1999 onwards. Derelict colonial-era buildings in

Kuruni Kuruni (also: Curuni and Coeroeni) is a village in the Coeroeni resort in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The village is inhabited by indigenous people of the Tiriyó tribe. The inhabitants are of the subgroup Aramayana or the Bee people. O ...

were also squatted. In

Amatopo Amatopo or Amotopo is a Tiriyó village on the Courentyne River in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The village lies next to the Amatopo Airstrip and about upstream from the village of Lucie, Suriname, Lucie. The Frederik Willem IV Falls and ...

, houses had been built for an abandoned

bauxite mining Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(OH ...

project. The first two settlers moved into the unused buildings near the airstrip and a pilot chased them away.

Asongo Alalaparu Asongo Alalaparu also Ashongo Alalaparoe (1941-42 – 21 November 2021) was a Granman (paramount leader) of the indigenous Tiriyó people in Suriname. He led the Tiriyó from 1997 to 2021 from his residence in Kwamalasamutu. During his rule, th ...

, the

granman Granman (Ndyuka language: ''gaanman'') is the title of the paramount chief of a Maroon (people), Maroon nation in Suriname and French Guiana. The Ndyuka people, Ndyuka, Saramaka, Matawai people, Matawai, Aluku, Paramaccan people, Paramaka and Kwint ...

(paramount chief of the tribe), told them to return and build their houses next to the facilities which were already present. The presence of gold in the interior, has attracted ''garimpeiros'' (illegal gold prospectors) who come mainly from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. They have founded

Antonio do Brinco Antonio do Brinco, also Albina 2, is a ''garimpeiros'' (illegal gold prospectors) village in the Tapanahony resort of the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The village is located on the Lawa River, and is next to Peruano, and opposite Maripasoula ...

and

Villa Brazil Villa Brazil (also Villa Brasil) is a ''garimpeiros'' (illegal gold prospectors) village in the Boven Saramacca resort of the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. Overview Gold was discovered in the Rosebel area in 1879. More than century after, in ...

among others.

History

See also

References

Further reading