France–Suriname border

Which river is the Maroni?

The Maroni river forms the border from the Atlantic coast inland. In 1861 a mixed commission of officials from both colonies followed it upstream to where two rivers of almost equal size meet, the Tapanahony and the Lawa, and after measuring width and depth concluded that the Lawa was the greater. Neither France nor the Netherlands acted on the finding.^[2]

Gold finds in 1874 brought prospectors into the area, and the Dutch proposed arbitration. Tsar Alexander III of Russia ruled for the Dutch in May 1891: the Lawa was the boundary, and the land above its confluence with the Tapanahony belonged to the Netherlands.^[2]

A treaty signed in Paris on 30 September 1915 divided the islands along a long stretch of the Maroni: those wholly or mostly west of the mid-river line went to the Dutch, the rest to France, with free navigation and gold-dredging permits by mutual consent. In 2021 France and Suriname agreed a more detailed delimitation for about two-thirds of the river line, settling sovereignty over hundreds of islands.^[2][1]

The Itany–Marouini tract

The tsar’s ruling left one question open. Upstream, the Lawa is itself formed by two rivers of nearly equal size: the Itany (or Litani) to the west and the Marouini to the east. France claims the border follows the Itany, while the Netherlands, and Suriname since its independence in 1975, have claimed the Marouini, which runs nearly 100 miles further east.^[2][1]

The land between them, about 5,000 square miles of forest bordering Brazil, is administered by France and shown as French on most maps except Suriname’s. It is thinly populated, by seasonal gold miners and rubber tappers among others, and is thought to hold gold, bauxite and hydroelectric potential. The question is being negotiated by the two countries’ boundary commission.^[2][1]