Suriname and Hindus

-- When you see the map you will find Suriname sitting quietly just above Brazil.
-- Suriname is a small country with 3,86,000 citizens and one third of these are Indian Hindus.
-- Suriname was settled by British.
-- In 1667 Dutch exchanged their colony New Amsterdam for Suriname with British.
-- In 1863 as the Dutch freed their African Slaves ( around 70000) they were forced to import mainly Hindus as contract labourers from India.
-- These Indians were mainly from U.P,  West Bihar and Ganges plains of North India. As they embarked from Calcutta they are still referred to as Kollakittas even today.