The Keizerstraat Mosque, next door to Neveh Shalom Synagogue, was completed in 1984. Paramaribo’s Muslim community was established in 1929 and built its first mosque in 1932.

Paramaribo (pronounced ‘par-uh mar-ee boh’), the capital and commercial center of Suriname, lies on the left bank of the Suriname River roughly 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) inland from the Atlantic Ocean where the Dutch established a trading post in 1613. The trading post had been abandoned by the time British settlers arrived in 1650 and established a town on the site. The Dutch conquered Paramaribo in 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War which ended with the Netherlands acquiring the colony of Suriname with Paramaribo as its capital. The city suffered devastating fires in 1821 and in 1832. Its population saw a dramatic increase after 1873 when emancipated African slaves were finally able to leave the plantations.

Suriname (or Surinam) is the smallest sovereign nation in South America and the only nation outside Europe where Dutch is spoken by a majority of the population (although Sranan Tongo, an English-based Creole language, is widely spoken).

Suriname saw lots of visits by European explorers after Columbus arrived in the area, but the British were the first to establish an actual colony: Marshall’s Creek along the Suriname River. A second colony named Willoughbyland after Lord Francis Willoughby, Governor of Barbados, was founded in 1650 (lasting only until 1674). In 1667 the Treaty of Breda ending the Second Anglo Dutch War, Britain took New Amsterdam (to be renamed New York City) while the Dutch took the developing plantation colony of Suriname. Those plantations grew primarily sugar cane, cotton, and indigo, all overtaken by coffee in the early 18th century, using African-slave labor. The Netherlands abolished slavery in 1863 with a 10-year transition period when the slaves would get minimal pay before truly being freed in 1873. To work the plantations then, indentured laborers were imported from the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia today)—especially the island of Java—and from India in an arrangement with the British. During World War II, the United States gained the agreement of the Netherlands government-in-exile from the Germans to occupy Suriname in order to protect the bauxite mines, a critical input for aluminum production. In 1975 Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands which continued to provide crucial foreign aid for the next decade.

The Historic Inner City of Paramaribo was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.

On Google Earth: Neveh Shalom Synagogue 5°49'42.22"N, 55° 9'33.25"W

Keizerstraat Mosque 5°49'43.43"N, 55° 9'35.44"W