Pennsylvania Dutch [Ger. Deutsch=German], people of E Pennsylvania of German descent who migrated to the area in the 18th cent., particularly those in Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh, Lebanon, York, and adjacent counties. The colony of Pennsylvania, established by William Penn as a refuge for Quakers, offered other groups the prospect of religious freedom. In 1683 the village of Germantown was established by a group of Mennonites led by Francis Daniel Pastorius, and in succeeding years other groups, such as the Dunkards and the Moravians, settled in Pennsylvania. However, the bulk of immigration occurred after 1710, when the Germans from the Palatinate first arrived. Many of these people had sought economic and religious freedom in England; from there a number were sent to the Hudson valley to engage in the production of naval stores, but with the failure of that project many Palatines moved to Pennsylvania. Enthusiastic reports brought other settlers from Germany, until by the time of the American Revolution the population of Pennsylvania, according to Benjamin Franklin, was one-third German.

At first the large influx of German settlers antagonized the English, but they were gradually accepted, and during the Revolution they provided valuable assistance. Most of the settlers engaged in farming, at which they were extremely successful. For the most part they maintained their own language and customs; the family became the principal economic and social unit, and the church was next in importance.

The aim of the various religious denominations was to establish a Christian, democratic society; for many years they opposed public schooling, preferring to retain their own standards and manners, and they strongly resisted signs of progress and worldly living. Several of the churches are completely pacifistic, such as the Amish and the Mennonites. The Amish are particularly strict in the matter of dress, maintaining a simple but distinctive garb, and also have a strong aversion to automobiles, electric lights, and telephones. The Amish have continued to oppose public schooling, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the Amish were exempt from state compulsory education laws. The Church of the Brethren, incorrectly but popularly known as the Dunkards or Dunkers from their manner of baptism, and the Schwenkfelders are two other denominations.

The Pennsylvania Dutch, or Pennsylvania German, language is a blend of several dialects, essentially Palatinate, with some admixture of standard German and English. A substantial Pennsylvania German literature, art, and architecture exists. Many written records were adorned with illuminated writing, and such articles as pottery, furniture, needlework, and barns made use of decorative motifs, often of a highly artistic nature. Their buildings are usually of heavy stone and timber construction, with steep roofs and small, irregular windows. Pennsylvania Germans have contributed much to the culture of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania German Society, organized in 1891, has published much material relative to the history and folklore of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

East India Company, Dutch, 1602-1798, chartered by the States-General of the Netherlands to expand trade and assure close relations between the government and its colonial enterprises in Asia. The company was granted a monopoly on Dutch trade E of the Cape of Good Hope and W of the Strait of Magellan. From its headquarters at Batavia (founded 1619) the company subdued local rulers, drove the British and Portuguese from Indonesia, Malaya, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and arrogated to itself the fabulous trade of the Spice Islands. A colony, established (1652) in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, remained Dutch until conquered by Great Britain in 1814. The company was dissolved when it became scandalously corrupt and nearly insolvent in the late 18th cent., and its possessions became part of the Dutch colonial empire in East Asia.

Dutch metal: see brass.

Dutch literature: see Dutch and Flemish literature.

Dutch language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Also called Netherlandish, it is spoken by about 15 million inhabitants of the Netherlands, where it is the national language, and by about 300,000 people in the Western Hemisphere. The written and spoken forms of Dutch differ significantly. For example, written Dutch exhibits far greater formality than spoken Dutch in both grammar and vocabulary. One reason for this divergence is that written Dutch evolved from the Flemish dialect spoken in the culturally advanced Flanders and Brabant of the 15th cent., whereas modern spoken Dutch grew out of the vernacular of the province of Holland, which became dominant after the 16th cent. (see Flemish language). Also, written Dutch is relatively uniform, while the spoken language has a number of dialects as well as an official standard form. The Roman alphabet is used for Dutch, and the earliest existing texts in the language go back to the late 12th cent. Among the words with which Dutch has enriched the English vocabulary are: brandy, cole slaw, cookie, cruiser, dock, easel, freight, landscape, spook, stoop, and yacht. Dutch is noteworthy as the language of an outstanding literature, but it also became important as the tongue of an enterprising people, who, though comparatively few in number, made their mark on the world community through trade and empire.

Dutch elm disease: see diseases of plants; elm.

Dutch art, the art of the region that is now the Netherlands. As a distinct national style, this art dates from about the turn of the 17th cent., when the country emerged as a political entity and developed a clearly independent culture.

Early History

During the Middle Ages, Netherlandish art was subject to the leveling influence of the Romanesque and Gothic styles that prevailed throughout Europe. In the 15th and 16th cent. the southern, or Flemish, provinces in general led in quantity and refinement of production and set the artistic pace for the entire region (see Flemish art and architecture). Consequently, it is difficult to distinguish a development of national traits in the art of the Dutch provinces before the aesthetic florescence of the 17th cent. Moreover, the iconoclasm that attended religious and political upheavals in the mid-16th cent. destroyed much existing work.

The earliest known Dutch paintings, by such artists as Geertgen tot Sint Jans and Albert van Ouwater, date from the second half of the 15th cent. and are clearly related to the Flemish tradition of the Van Eycks. In the 16th cent. a profusion of Italian Renaissance motifs appeared especially in decorative sculpture, and centers of sculptural production grew up at Dordrecht, Utrecht, and Breda. In painting, enthusiasm for Italian art, combined with a kind of late revival of Gothicism, resulted in a mixture of mannerist and classicist elements in works by such painters as Cornelis Englebrechtsz (1468-1533), Jacob Corneliszoon van Oostsanen (c.1470-1533), Jan de Mabuse, Jan van Scorel, Maerten van Heemskerck, Hendrik Goltzius, and Cornelis Corneliszoon (1562-1638). At the same time, a continuing native tendency toward sober realism asserted itself in the works of Jan Mostaert, Antonio Moro, and Lucas van Leyden.

The Flowering of Dutch Art: The Seventeenth Century

The current of Italian Renaissance influence persisted well into the 17th cent. and is to be noted especially in the work of the most important sculptor, Hendrik de Keyser, whose style was perpetuated in the work of his sons Willem and Pieter de Keyser. The 12-year truce with Spain (1609-21) introduced a period of unprecedented cultural growth and material prosperity. Calvinist proscription of church art and the absence of extensive state patronage encouraged the development of private easel painting, and a heightened national pride was reflected in the immense popularity of pictures portraying the domestic scene and Dutch burgher activities.

The expressions of jovial burghers were captured in the rapid, vigorous brushstrokes of Frans Hals. Meanwhile, many other artists devoted themselves primarily to treating special types of material portraying contemporary Dutch life. Among these were Thomas de Keyser and Bartholomeus van der Helst, who were primarily portraitists; their works include many of the large group portraits of officers of corporations and guilds—a type of painting peculiar to Dutch culture. Adriaen van Ostade became well known as a painter of peasant scenes.

At Utrecht the 16th-century Italianate tradition persisted in the work of Abraham Bloemaert. The outstanding members of the Utrecht school, notably Gerard van Honthorst, Hendrik Terbrugghen, and Dirck van Baburen, went to Italy and were influenced by Caravaggio in their rendering of large-figured genre groups and isolated half-length figures of musicians and drinkers. With their dramatic rendering of light and shade, these artists, together with the classical and historical painters the Pynas brothers and Pieter Lastman, provided the background for the greatest figure to emerge in the history of Dutch art, Rembrandt van Rijn.

Rembrandt's genius was expressed in the whole gamut of subject matter, from portraiture, landscape, and interiors to still life and historical scenes. Unfortunately, his incredible mastery of all types of painting and the graphic arts was reflected only weakly in the art of his numerous pupils, among whom were Nicholaes Maes, Gerard Dou, and the most talented of his disciples, Carel Fabritius.

Toward the middle of the 17th cent. there was increased interest in the rendering of homely domestic scenes and views of urban life, seen in the paintings of Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu, and Jan Steen. In the 1660s and 70s taste began to favor effects of wealth, elegance, and refinement. A tranquillity of atmosphere pervaded not only works of lesser artists but also the exquisite paintings of Gerard Ter Borch and Jan Vermeer.

Landscape also became an enormously popular subject, offering full scope to the native tendency toward pictorial realism. The painters depicted their countryside with a sensitivity and unpretentious sincerity that has made the Dutch school of landscape one of the most influential and esteemed of all time. At the beginning of the 17th cent. a mannered, decorative style was carried over from the 16th cent. in the landscapes of Gillis van Coninxloo. A straightforward contemplative realism emerged in work by such artists as Esaias van der Velde and the highly original Hercules Seghers.

In the second quarter of the century the landscapes of Jan van Goyen and Salomon van Ruisdael reveal a greater breadth of space and more dynamic composition. The culmination of these tendencies was reached in the art of Jacob van Ruisdael, Aelbert Cuyp, and Meindert Hobbema and in that of the great specialists in marine views, Jan van de Cappelle, Willem van de Velde, and Ludolf Backhuysen. Certain landscapists emphasized animal painting (e.g., Paul Potter) or concentrated on unusual light effects in sunsets and moonlight scenes (e.g., Aert van der Neer).

Outstanding Dutch still-life painters included Jan Davidszoon de Heem, Willem Claeszoon Heda, and Willem Kalf (1619-93). An outstanding painter of birds and wildlife was Melchior d' Hondecoeter. Also characteristically Dutch as subject matter were architectural interiors. Specialists in this field included Pieter Saenredam and Emanuel de Witte. After the middle of the 17th cent. there was a long period of artistic decline. Even works of the principal artists in the last quarter of the century reveal tendencies toward empty elaboration of effects and pomposity or sentimentality of content.

The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

During the 18th cent. a strong wave of French influence encouraged renewed interest in historical and mythological painting and a heavy-handed imitation of rococo elegance. Among the more original 18th-century masters were Jacob de Wit (1695-1754) and Cornelis Troost (1697-1750). Not until the middle of the 19th cent. was there a revival of Dutch artistic culture—marked by the creative production of Jozef Israëls, Anton Mauve, Hendrik Mesdag, Johann Jongkind, and the Maris brothers. The outstanding genius of the second half of the century was Vincent van Gogh, one of the most important figures of the postimpressionist school.

The Twentieth Century

During the 20th cent., Dutch painting was strongly influenced by fauvism, cubism, and expressionism. Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg founded the movement known as de Stijl, which radically altered the development of international design. After World War II, Piet Ouberg (1880-1954) influenced a younger generation of artists with his colorful abstract composition. In 1949 the CoBrA (an acronym for Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) group of avant-garde artists signaled the new tendency toward abstract expressionism. Contemporary Dutch art is best reflected in the works of Jef Diederon, Jan Dibbets, Stanley Brouwn, Jan Roland, and Ger van Elk. In the graphic arts an outstanding 20th-century figure is M. C. Escher.

Sculpture and the Minor Arts

In sharp contrast with the vitality of the Dutch school in painting and the graphic arts is its comparative lack of important sculpture. Outstanding among Dutch minor arts is the silverwork and goldwork of the 16th and 17th cent. There was also extensive production and export of ceramic tiles, of which the finest examples date from the late 16th and 17th cent.

Dutch and Flemish literature, literary works written in the standard language of the Low Countries since the Middle Ages. It is conventional to use the term Dutch when referring to the language spoken by the people of the modern Netherlands, and Flemish when referring to that spoken by the Belgians who use the same language. This is inaccurate and many scholars would argue that Dutch and Flemish are dialects of a single language.

Flourishing from the 12th cent. onward, the earliest literature of the Low Countries displays a strong French and somewhat weaker German influence in its vocabulary and literary style. Middle Dutch literature shows the same general characteristics as the contemporary vernacular literatures; thus the bourgeois spirit was expressed in the works of Jacob van Maerlant and in the Dutch versions of Reynard the Fox. Hadewijch, John Ruysbroeck, and Gerard Groote spoke the language of mysticism. By the 14th cent., chivalry and scholasticism had waned, and by the 15th cent. mysticism was transformed as moral piety. Among the best-known of Dutch medieval dramas are Mary of Nimmegen and the morality play Elckerlijk, closely related to Everyman.

The greatest Dutch figure of the Renaissance, Erasmus, wrote in Latin, but other humanists—Jan van der Noot, Dirck Coornhert, Hendrick Spieghel, and the painter and poet Karel van Mander—used vernacular. Reformation polemics were represented by the Catholic Anna Bijns, and the Protestant Philip van Marnix. With the establishment of the republic and the subsequent commercial prosperity, came the Golden Age of Dutch literature; this is the period of the masters Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft and Joost van den Vondel, of the homely verse of Jacob Cats, of the comedies of Gerbrand Bredero, and of the works of Constantijn Huygens.

After the 17th cent. Flemish and Dutch literature declined. Pieter Langendijk and Joseph Addison's imitator Justus van Effen, the novelists Elisabeth Wolff and Agatha Deken, were the chief Dutch writers in the 18th cent. In the 19th cent. Dutch and Flemish literature expanded on European lines, with the novelists Jacob van Lennep, Anna Bosboom-Toussaint, Eduard Dekker, and the Belgian Hendrik Conscience, and the poets Isaäc Da Costa, Hendrik Tollens, Everhardus Potgieter, and the Belgians Guido Gezelle, Albrecht Rodenbach, Pol de Mont, and Nicolaas Beets.

The 1880s saw a reorientation of Dutch letters under foreign influence, especially under that of French naturalism and the English poets Keats and Shelley. By 1900, impressionistic themes were emerging in poetry. The new forces were seen in novelists and short-story writers, such as Louis Couperus, and in the Belgians Stijn Streuvels and Felix Timmermans. Among the better-known poets are Roland Holst, Pieter Boutens, and Herman Gorter in the Netherlands, and Karel van de Woestijne in Belgium. The successful dramatist Herman Heijermans has a significant place in 20th-century Dutch literature.

After the 1940s, the psychological novel came to typify Flemish literature. The physician Simon Vestdijk, perhaps the greatest Dutch writer of the 20th cent., wrote psychological novels that revealed the influence of existentialism. His contemporary Gerrit Achterberg explored similar themes of life and death in his powerful poems. The diary of Anne Frank is only the best known of a vast number of works that concern the Dutch experience during World War II. The character of Dutch poetry was altered after the war when Lucebert (Lubertus Swaanswijk), whose work was related to the internationalist CoBrA group, rejected rhyme and meter and introduced surrealist elements into his verse. In fiction, the works of postwar Dutch writers such as Anna Blaman, Alfred Kossman, and Adriaan Van der Veen reveal the influence of both the Nazi occupation and existentialism. Indeed, the existentialist influence is found even in fictional works of the 1960s in which writers such as Willem F. Hermans, Jan Wolkers, and Harry Mulisch express their overpowering sense of absurdity and despair.

Dutch West Indies: see Netherlands Antilles.

Dutch West India Company, trading and colonizing company, chartered by the States-General of the Dutch republic in 1621 and organized in 1623. Through its agency New Netherland was founded. The phenomenal success of the Dutch East India Company was an influential factor in its establishment. The United New Netherland Company, which had been trading around the mouth of the Hudson River for several years, was absorbed into the new company. By the terms of the charter no citizen of the Netherlands could trade with any point on the African coast between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope or on the American coast between Newfoundland and the Straits of Magellan without the company's permission. The company was responsible to the States-General in larger matters, such as declaring war, but otherwise had almost complete administrative and judicial power in its territory. The company was initially interested taking Brazil from the Portuguese. After 30 years of warfare, however, Brazil was lost. By that time the company had built Fort Orange (1624) on the site of Albany, N.Y., Fort Nassau (1624) on the Delaware River, Fort Good Hope on the site of Hartford on the Connecticut River, and finally Fort Amsterdam (1626), on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which was the nucleus of the settlement called New Amsterdam, now New York City. England could not then afford to antagonize the Dutch because of wars with France and Spain and so permitted the Dutch settlement to be made on lands that England claimed. New Netherland remained under the control of the company until the English finally conquered it in 1664 (see New York, state). The company's unsound financial condition led to its reorganization under a new charter in 1674. Thereafter it engaged primarily in the African slave trade, though it still possessed colonies in Guiana. In 1791 its charter expired and was not renewed.

Dutch Wars, series of conflicts between the English and Dutch during the mid to late 17th cent. The wars had their roots in the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry, although the last of the three wars was a wider conflict in which French interests played a primary role.

War of 1652-54

The 1652-54 war between the English and the Dutch marked a crisis in the long-standing rivalry between the two nations as leaders in world trade. The crisis was precipitated by English search and seizure of Dutch merchant ships in the course of an unofficial Anglo-Dutch maritime war and, secondarily, by the English Navigation Act of 1651, which was directed against Dutch trade with British possessions. Hostilities were opened (May, 1652) by a sea fight between the British and Dutch admirals, Robert Blake and Maarten Tromp. At the beginning of the war Blake broke up the Dutch herring fleet, while George Ayscue successfully waylaid Dutch ships in the English Channel. However, the victory of Tromp over Blake off Dungeness (Nov., 1652) gave the Dutch command of the Channel, and in Jan., 1653, a Dutch treaty with Denmark closed the Baltic to English trade. Meanwhile reforms were introduced into the British navy for greater efficiency, and generals Richard Deane and George Monck were associated with the naval command. Tromp's fleet was forced to retire after an engagement off Portland (Feb., 1653), and the English regained control of the Channel. After Blake's succeeding victory off Gabbard's Shoal (June, 1653) the British were able to blockade the Dutch coast. While Dutch trade was thus effectively cut off, England itself was approaching financial exhaustion. Negotiations were undertaken but failed. On July 31, 1653, Tromp attacked the blockading fleet; he was defeated and killed, but the English ships were forced to return home for refitting. Peace was finally signed in Apr., 1654. The Dutch agreed to salute the British flag in British seas, to pay compensation for English losses, and to submit territorial claims to arbitration.

War of 1664-67

The years 1664-67 saw another war between the English and the Dutch. The first war had humbled, but had not crushed, the Dutch power, which continued to challenge English commercial supremacy, especially in the East Indian trade and in the West African slave trade. In 1664, Robert Holmes raided the Dutch colonies on the coast of Africa, and Richard Nicolls took the Dutch colony of New Netherland (later New York and New Jersey) in North America. War was officially declared by England in Mar., 1665. The duke of York (later James II) won the battle off Lowestoft (June, 1665), and in September the bishop of Munster, an ally of the English, overran the eastern province of the Netherlands; he was, however, soon expelled. In Jan., 1666, Louis XIV of France declared war on England, yet his interests did not lie on the side of the Dutch, and he took little part in the war. The British fleet under Monck and Prince Rupert was defeated in the Four Days Battle or Battle of the Downs (June 1-4, 1666) by Michiel de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp, but in August they inflicted a severe defeat on the Dutch and destroyed shipping along the Dutch coast. The plague, the great fire, and disaffection in Scotland made England anxious for peace, and negotiations were undertaken, while Charles II let the fleet fall into a state of unpreparedness that enabled De Ruyter to attack the British ships in the Thames and inflict heavy losses (1667). By the Treaty of Breda (July, 1667) the trade laws were modified in favor of the Dutch, and all conquests of war were retained, with the English receiving New Netherland and Delaware and the Dutch keeping Suriname. At the same time the English and French both gave up their conquered territories. The Treaty of Breda was a blow to English prestige but proved in the long run to English advantage.

War of 1672-78

The war of 1672-78 was the first of the great wars of Louis XIV of France. It was fought to end Dutch competition with French trade and to extend Louis XIV's empire. Having obtained the support of Charles II of England by the secret Treaty of Dover (1670) and allied himself with Sweden (see Charles XI) and several German states, Louis overran the southern provinces of the Netherlands (May, 1672). The Dutch stopped his advance on Amsterdam by opening the dikes; about the same time, under the command of De Ruyter, the Dutch defeated the English and French fleets at Southwold Bay. When Dutch peace proposals made at this juncture were spurned by the French, a revolution broke out, and William of Orange (later William III of England) took over Dutch leadership from the ill-fated Jan de Witt (July, 1672). William's attempt to divide the French lines and enter France was countered by the French seizure of Maastricht (1673). By the end of the year the French were forced to retreat, and Spain, the Holy Roman emperor, Brandenburg, Denmark, and other powers entered the war on the side of the Dutch. In 1674, England made peace with the Dutch. Nevertheless, the military situation changed in favor of France. In 1674, Louis II de Condé won the battle of Seneff, while Turenne was victorious at Sinzheim. The defeats Créquy suffered in 1675 were balanced by the successful naval campaign of Abraham Duquesne in 1676, and in 1677 the French defeated William at Cassel and took Freiburg. Peace was negotiated at Nijmegen in 1678. Maastricht was ceded to the Dutch and a trade treaty modified the French restrictive tariffs in favor of the Dutch. By a subsequent treaty with Spain, Louis received Franche-Comté and a chain of border fortresses in return for evacuating the Spanish Netherlands. By a treaty with the Holy Roman emperor (1679), France was confirmed in possession of Freiburg and a part of Lorraine.

Dutch Reformed Church: see Reformed Church in America.

Dutch New Guinea: see Papua, Indonesia.

Dutch Harbor: see Aleutian Islands.

Dutch Guiana: see Suriname.

Dutch East Indies: see Indonesia.

Dutch East India Company: see East India Company, Dutch.

Trading company founded by the Dutch in 1602 to protect their trade in the Indian Ocean and to assist in their war of independence from Spain. The Dutch government granted it a trade monopoly in the waters between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan. Under the administration of forceful governors-general, it was able to defeat the British fleet and largely displace the Portuguese in the East Indies. It prospered through most of the 17th century but then began to decline as a trading and sea power; it was dissolved in 1799. Seealso East India Co., French East India Co.

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Widespread disease that kills elms, originally described in The Netherlands. The disease is caused by the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi (also known as Ceratocystis ulmi). It was first identified in the U.S. in 1930, and an eradication campaign could not stop its spread into regions wherever the very susceptible American elm (Ulmus americana) grew. The leaves on one or more branches of a stricken tree suddenly wilt, turn dull green to yellow or brown, curl, and may drop early. Because symptoms are easily confused with other diseases, positive diagnosis is possible only through laboratory culturing. The fungus can spread up to 50 ft (15 m) from diseased to healthy trees by natural root grafts. Overland, the fungus normally is spread by the European elm bark beetle (Scolytus multistriatus; see bark beetle), less commonly by the American elm bark beetle (Hylurgopinus rufipes). Control involves exclusion of the beetles, usually by use of an insecticidal spray applied to the tree.

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or Dutch Wars

Four naval conflicts between England and the Dutch Republic in the 17th–18th century. The First (1652–54), Second (1665–67), and Third (1672–74) Anglo-Dutch Wars all arose from commercial rivalry between the two nations, and victories by England established its naval might. The two countries had been allied for a century when the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–84) broke out over Dutch interference in the American Revolution. By 1784 the Dutch Republic had declined dramatically in power and prestige.

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officially Republic of the United Netherlands

Former state (1581–1795), about the size of the modern kingdom of The Netherlands. It consisted of the seven northern Netherlands provinces that formed the Union of Utrecht in 1579 and declared independence from Spain in 1581 (finally achieved in 1648). Political control shifted between the province of Holland and the princes of Orange. In the 17th century the Dutch Republic developed into a world colonial empire far out of proportion to its resources, emerging as a centre of international finance and a cultural capital of Europe. In the 18th century the republic's colonial empire was eclipsed by that of England. In 1795 the Dutch Republic collapsed under the impact of a Dutch democratic revolution and invading French armies.

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officially Republic of Suriname formerly Dutch Guiana

Country, northern coast of South America. Area: 63,251 sq mi (163,820 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 493,000. Capital: Paramaribo. The population includes South Asians, Creoles, Javanese, and smaller groups of people of African, Chinese, American Indian, and Dutch descent. Languages: Dutch (official), English, Sranan (a creole language), Javanese, Sarnami (derived from Hindi and Urdu). Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant, other Christians), Hinduism, Islam, traditional beliefs. Currency: Suriname dollar. Suriname has a low, narrow coastal plain, inland savannas, a forested plateau region, and mountain ranges. A number of major rivers, including the Courantyne, Maroni, and Suriname, cross the country to empty into the Atlantic. Bauxite mining, aluminum production, and agriculture are the largest sectors of the economy. Exports include rice, bananas, sugarcane, oranges, and shrimp. Suriname is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. It was inhabited by various South American Indian peoples prior to European settlement. Spanish explorers claimed Suriname in 1593, but the Dutch began to settle there in 1602, followed by the English in 1651. It was ceded to the Dutch in 1667, and in 1682 the Dutch West India Company introduced coffee and sugarcane plantations and African slaves to cultivate them. Slavery was abolished in 1863, and indentured servants were brought from China, Java, and India to work the plantations, adding to the ethnic mix of the population. Except for brief interludes of British rule (1799–1802, 1804–15), Suriname remained a Dutch colony. It gained internal autonomy in 1954 and independence in 1975. A military coup in 1980 ended civilian control until the electorate approved a new constitution in 1987. Military control resumed after a coup in 1990. Elections were held in 1992, and civilian democratic government returned.

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