Which South American capital is Suriname's largest city?

Paramaribo is Suriname’s capital and largest city.

The city lies along the Suriname River in northern Suriname, close to the Atlantic coast. Its origins reach back to an English settlement founded in 1613, but Dutch control became decisive in 1667, when Abraham Crijnssen captured the town during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The nearby fort was renamed Fort Zeelandia, which remains one of Paramaribo’s best-known historic landmarks.

Paramaribo grew as Suriname’s administrative, commercial and cultural center during the colonial period and retained that role after independence in 1975. Its historic inner city is notable for distinctive wooden buildings that reflect Dutch, Caribbean and local influences; the area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.

Readers sometimes confuse Paramaribo with Georgetown, the capital of neighboring Guyana, or Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. Paramaribo is the Dutch-influenced capital on the Suriname River, while those two cities belong to different political territories.