The coast of Suriname was discovered in 1499 by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci. Suriname, known as Dutch Guiana, was ceded to the Dutch by the Treaty of Breda in 1667 after the English transferred sovereignty to them in exchange for New Amsterdam (New York). It was under British rule from 1804 until November 20, 1815 when the Treaty of Paris reestablished Surinam as a Dutch colony. Dutch Guiana was temporarily united with the Netherlands Antilles as part of the Dutch West Indies from 1828 until 1848. Suriname was integrated into the Netherlands in 1948, gained home rule in 1950, and achieved independence on November 25, 1975.
Dutch and Spanish coins were used in Suriname in the 1600s and 1700s, but the shortage of coins led to sugar being declared legal tender in 1669. It was used as money into the eighteenth century. Coins were minted specifically for Dutch Guiana in 1679 and 1764, but Dutch, Spanish and other coins were the primary source of currency until World War II.
The Dutch Guilder (XNLG) was the unit of account in Dutch Guiana while it was a Dutch colony. The Dutch Guilder was divisible into 20 Stuyver or 240 Penning until 1804, and divisible into 100 cents when the Guilder was reintroduced in Dutch Guiana in 1815. The West-Indische Bank issued banknotes between 1829 and 1837, and Da Surinaamsche Bank issued banknotes between 1865 and 1957. The Surinam Government also issued small-denominaton banknotes.
Suriname remained part of the Dutch monetary system until May 10, 1940 when Dutch Guiana broke its link to the Dutch metropolitan unit after the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, and the Suriname Guilder (SRG) was linked to the United States Dollar. Coins were struck for Suriname in 1942, and coins were issued in the name of Suriname from 1962 on. The Centrale Bank van Suriname began issuing banknotes in 1963, and continued to issue them after Suriname gained its independence in 1975. In 2004, Suriname replaced the Guilder with the Suriname Dollar (SRD) at the rate of 1 Suriname Dollar equal to 1000 Suriname Guilder. |
