Totness is a town in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, located in the Coronie district, of which it is the capital. Totness is the oldest settlement in the district.

History

Totness was settled by

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

and English colonists from 1808 onward, and is named after

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ab ...

, England. In 1863, the area around Totness was designated for independent agriculture. A market and a District Commissioner's Office on the former

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

Friendship were added to the resort. In the 1940s, a road was built linking Totness with

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, 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 p ...

which is nowadays part of the East-West Link. The Suriname-Guyana Submarine Cable System has its landing station in Totness. It connects the telecommunications networks in Suriname with those in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and from Trinidad to the rest of the world. The Totness Airstrip is one of the oldest airports in Suriname, in use since 1953, when the

Piper Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...

(PZ-NAC) of Kappel-van Eyck named "Colibri" landed there from

Zorg en Hoop Airport Zorg en Hoop Airport is a small airport in the city of Paramaribo, Suriname. It is west of the Suriname River, between the city quarters of Zorg en Hoop and Flora. It is mainly used for general aviation, flight training, emergency medical ...

. Totness has been designated as a regional centre, and is planned to be upgrade with a medium sized

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

and a proper city centre. The village of

Friendship Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Althoug ...

is located is on the north side of the East-West link, and Totness is to the south.

Sports

The

Letitia Vriesde Sportcomplex Letitia Vriesde Sportcomplex is a multi-purpose stadium in Totness, Suriname. It is home to SVB Eerste Klasse club F.C. West United. Former top flight clubs and Coronie Sport Bond (CSB) members F.C. Corona and S.V. Coronie Boys are also tenant ...

is a multi-purpose stadium located in Totness. It is home to

SVB Eerste Klasse The SVB Tweede Divisie is third-highest division overall in the Surinamese football league system after the SVB Eerste Divisie, where the top club is promoted to each season. The weakest club is relegated to the Derde Divisie. The league was pr ...

club F.C. West United.

Tata Colin

Tata Colin (circa 1806 - 1836) was a slave on the plantation Leasowes near Totness. In 1835, he attempted a

slave rebellion A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of slaves have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedom and the dream o ...

. His intention was to free all the slaves, but he was betrayed, taken to

where he was tortured and tried. Colin was taken to Fort Zeelandia to be hung, but died or vanished using black magic, before his sentence was carried out. His followers were sentenced to hard labour or public corporal punishment. A statue had been erected to Tata Colin in the central square of Totness, and the local school had been named after him.

Notable people

Jozef Slagveer The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on De ...

(1940–1982), journalist, and a victim of the

December murders The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on De ...

. *

Michaël Slory Michaël Arnoldus Slory (4 August 1935 in Totness, Surinam – 19 December 2018 in Paramaribo, Suriname) was a Surinamese poet. He mainly wrote poetry in Sranan Tongo, and is considered one of the most important poets in Sranan Tongo. He also p ...

(1935–2018), poet mainly in

Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo (Sranantongo, "Surinamese tongue", Sranan, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language from Suriname, in South America, where it is the first or second language for 519,600 Surinamese people (approximately 80% of the popu ...

Ervin Tjon-A-Loi Ervin Tjon-A-Loi (born 6 April 1995) is a Surinamese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Suriname Major League club Inter Moengotapoe. International career Tjon-A-Loi made his debut for Suriname in a 2–1 loss to Jamaica ...

(born 1995), footballer *

Letitia Vriesde Letitia Alma Vriesde (born 5 October 1964) is a former track and field athlete from Suriname, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 1500 metres. She is the first (and to date, only) sportsperson from Suriname to compete a ...

(born 1964), athlete *

Emile Wijntuin Emile Linus Alfred Wijntuin (22 September 1924 – 7 May 2020) was a Surinamese politician who served as Chairman of the National Assembly of Suriname from 1975 until the aftermath of the 1980 Surinamese coup d'état. Wijntuin was a member of t ...

(1924–2020),

Chairman of the National Assembly of Suriname The chairman of the National Assembly of Suriname () is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the National Assembly (Suriname), National Assembly of Suriname. List of chairmen The following is a complete list of office-holders since inde ...

Gallery

File:Church on Sunday (18168628221).jpg, Church of Totness File:Huis tussen de bomen - 20651592 - RCE.jpg, Hidden house (1967) File:Vooraanzicht en zijaanzicht gevel - Totness - 20417921 - RCE.jpg, House in Totness File:Haven en zoutwaterkanaal van Totness (titel op object), NG-1994-65-1-28-1.jpg, Harbour of Totness (1906-1913)

References

{{Authority control Resorts of Suriname Populated places in Coronie District