Districts of Suriname
type of administrative division of Suriname
Suriname is divided into 10 districts (Dutch: districten).
Overview
History
The country was first divided up into subdivisions by the Dutch on October 8, 1834, when a Royal Decree declared that there were to be 8 divisions and 2 districts:
Upper Suriname and Torarica
Para
Upper Commewijne
Upper Cottica and Perica
Lower Commewijne
Lower Cottica
Matapica
Saramacca
Coronie (district)
Nickerie (district)
In 1851 Coronie District was upgraded to a division.
In 1927, Suriname's districts were revised, and the country was divided into 7 districts.
Commewijne
Coronie
Marowijne
Nickerie
Paramaribo
Saramacca
Suriname
In 1943, 1948, 1949, 1952 and 1959 further small modifications were made.
In 1959 the Brokopondo District was established out of the former Suriname District.
In 1968 the districts were redrawn again, into
Brokopondo District
Commewijne District
Coronie District
Marowijne District
Nickerie District
Para District was split from the Suriname District.
Paramaribo District
Saramacca District
Suriname District
These divisions remained until 1980, when yet again, the borders of the districts were redrawn, however, with the following requirements:
Changes in the old boundaries were made only if it leads to improved functioning
Each area should be developed
The new boundaries should respect the identities of indigenous people.
In 1983
Saramacca District was created.
Para District quadrupled in size.
Sipaliwini District was created from parts of Nickerie District.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Districts of Suriname” is type of administrative division of Suriname. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Districts, Suriname and type, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “type of administrative division of Suriname” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1649296. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1834, 1851, 1927 and 1943.
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This entry incorporates text from “Districts of Suriname” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.