Timeline: Suriname

A chronology of key events:

1498 - Christopher Columbus sights the coast of Suriname.

Traditional home: House on stilts

1593 - Spanish explorers visit the area and name it Suriname, after the country's earliest inhabitants, the Surinen.

1600-c.1650 - Settlements attempted by Spanish, Dutch, British, and French during the first half of the 17th century. They all fail, in part because of resistance by the native Indian inhabitants.

1651 - First permanent European settlement in Suriname, established by the British at Paramaribo by Lord Francis Willoughby.

Dutch rule

1667 - British cede their part of Suriname to the Netherlands in exchange for New Amsterdam (later called New York City).

1682 - Coffee and sugar cane plantations established and worked by African slaves.

1799-1802, 1804-16 - British rule reimposed.

1863 - Slavery abolished; indentured labourers brought in from India, Java and China to work on plantations.

1916 - Aluminium Company of America (Alcoa) begins mining bauxite - the principal ore of aluminium - which gradually becomes Suriname's main export.

1954 - Suriname given full autonomy, with the Netherlands retaining control over its defence and foreign affairs.

Independence, coups and civil war

1975 - Suriname becomes independent with Johan Ferrier as president and Henk Arron, of the Suriname National Party (NPS), as prime minister; more than a third of the population emigrate to the Netherlands.

1980 - Arron's government ousted in military coup, but President Ferrier refuses to recognise the military regime and appoints Henk Chin A Sen of the Nationalist Republican Party (PNR) to lead a civilian administration; army replaces Ferrier with Chin A Sen.

Desi Bouterse seized power in a 1982 military coup

1982

- Armed forces seize power in a coup led by Lieutenant-Colonel Desire (Desi) Bouterse and set up a Revolutionary People's Front; 15 opposition leaders charged with plotting a coup and executed; Netherlands and US respond by cutting off economic aid.

1985 - Ban on political parties lifted.

1986 - Surinamese Liberation Army (SLA), composed mostly of descendants of escaped African slaves, begins guerrilla war with the aim of restoring constitutional order; within months principal bauxite mines and refineries forced to shut down.

1987 - Some 97% of electorate approve new civilian constitution.

1988 - Ramsewak Shankar, a former agriculture minister, elected president.

1989 - Bouterse rejects accord reached by President Shankar with SLA and pledges to continue fighting.

1990 - Shankar ousted in military coup masterminded by Bouterse.

Return to civilian rule

1991 - Johan Kraag (NPS) becomes interim president; alliance of opposition parties - the New Front for Democracy and Development - wins majority of seats in parliamentary elections; Ronald Venetiaan elected president.

1992 - Peace accord reached with SLA.

1996 - Jules Wijdenbosch, an ally of Bouterse, elected president.

Former president Jules Wijdenbosch

1997 - Dutch government issues international arrest warrant for Bouterse, claiming that he had smuggled more than two tonnes of cocaine into the Netherlands during 1989-97, but Suriname refuses to extradite him.

1999 - Dutch court convicts Bouterse for drug smuggling after trying him in absentia.

2000 - Ronald Venetiaan becomes president, replacing Wijdenbosch, after winning early elections that followed protests against the former government's handling of the economy.

2002 April - State-owned banana company closes, its financial woes compounded by low market prices. A smaller, restructured company opens in March 2004.

2004 January - Suriname dollar replaces guilder. Government says move aims to restore confidence in economy.

2004 June - UN sets up tribunal to try to resolve long-running maritime border dispute between Suriname and neighbouring Guyana.

Venetiaan re-elected

2005 August - President Venetiaan is re-elected after months of deadlock. His New Front coalition won a narrow majority in parliamentary elections in May.

2006 May - Flooding, caused by torrential rain, leaves more than 20,000 people homeless. President Venetiaan says lowland areas are in "total chaos".

2006 July - Government makes official apology to relatives of at least 39 people killed in 1986 massacre during military dictatorship.

2007 September - A UN tribunal rules in the Guyana-Suriname dispute over maritime territory, giving both a share of a potentially oil-rich offshore basin.

2008 July - Trial begins of former dictator Desi Bouterse and 24 others accused of involvement in 1982 killings of opponents of military regime.

2008 October - Following a dispute with the government over the development of a new bauxite mine in the west of the country, the mining giant BHP Billiton announces it is to cease operations in Suriname by 2010.