GUIANA, Durcif, or SURINAM', lies between British and French Guiana, and is separated from the former by the Corentyn, which forms its western boundary, while the Barony separates it from the territories of the latter, and constitutes its eastern boundary. To the n. it is bounded by the Atlantic, and s. by the Acarai mountain range, which divides it from Brazil. It extends from 2° to 6° n. lat.. and from about 53' to about 57° w. long., and has an area of 45,000 sq. miles. Pop. Jan. 1, '75, 51,834, of whom 713 were Europeans, 464 Chinese, and 3,085 East Indian coolies. The births (in 1874) were 1548; the deaths 3,364.
Although the physical character, climate, and productions arc very nearly the same as British Guiana (q.v.), the natural advantages of the colony are not so fully developed, and in the hilly districts in the interior and south, which are held by the Maroons, or runaway slaves, the lands are wholly uncultivated. The rivers all fall Into the Atlantic. and the most considerable is the Surinam, which has a course of nearly 300 m.. but is not navi gable for large ships many miles above Paramaribo (q.v.), the capital, which is built about 10 in. from its mouth. Dutch laws are in force, and the coinage, weights, and measures of the mother-country are generally used. The government of the colons' is adminis tered by a governor-general (nominated by the king of the Netherlands) and a general council of native freeholders. All religions are tolerated, and the Jews have synagogues in different parts of the colony. The Moravian missionaries serge 194 plantations, and
had, in 1875, 23.576 persons enrolled.
The principal exports are sugar, coffee, cacao, rum, molasses, many sorts of valuable wood, gums, balsams, and drugs. In 1874 the goods imported were valued at £303,781. and the exports at £218,067. Cleared inward, 204 vessels measuring 26,472 tons; out ward, 212, with a tonnage of 27,593. Among the exports were 24,135,503 lbs. sugar, 2,435,433 lbs. cacao. 127,400 lbs. cotton, 57,549 lbs. quassia-wood, 1029 lbs. coffee, 201,780 gallons of rum, and 273.159 gallons of molasses.
There were in all 200-plantations with about 30.000 acres in cultivation, The chief product is sugar; then, in order, cacao, cotton, .coffee. The live-stock Were 3,515 head of cattle, 20S horses, 82 mules, 250 asses, 1131 sheep, 422 goats, and 1733 swine. Tie revenue (1674) amounted to X.101,984, and the expenditure to the same. The letters by mail were 39,114; newspapers and circulars, 39.5:51. A bill for the emancipation of the slaves was passed Aug. 8, 1862, and came into force July 1, 1863. The compensation given was £25 for each slave.
The Dutch, who were the first European settlers in Guiana, organized trading stations on the coast as early as 1589. from which period till 1790, when Demerara and _Essequibo fell into the hands of the English, they retained possession of most of Gulana. The presesent limits of Dutch Guiana were settled by the congress of Vienna.