Paramaribo is the capital of Suriname and a melting pot of cultures. The city, with almost a quarter of a million inhabitants, accommodates Creoles, Javanese, Hindustanis, Chinese, Native Americans (Indians) and Maroons (descendants of runaway slaves). As a result of the colonial past, Dutch is by far the most widely spoken language in Paramaribo households. Other frequently spoken languages are Sranantongo (Surinamese), Sarnami Hindustani and Javanese.

Many religions also exist alongside each other in Paramaribo: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and other religious persuasions. Keizerstraat in Paramaribo is the only place in the world where a mosque and a synagogue stand next to each other in peace. A little further on, the street also has a Catholic church and a Hindu temple. It is not only religions and population groups that reflect Paramaribo.s diversity. Because of the different rulers in the past and the many cultures populating Paramaribo, the city has a unique wooden architecture. It is for good reason that the historic centre of Paramaribo is on Unesco's World Heritage List.

Suriname in general and Paramaribo in particular are not only striking examples of a multicultural society, but also of a transnational community. Many Surinamers maintain a strong tie with the former colonial power the Netherlands, for instance because they have relatives there. Hindustanis have a strong bond with India where their ancestors came from to work as contract labourers in Suriname at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.

More and more countries are acquiring a multicultural and also transnational character. In the Netherlands, for example, there are large groups of Turks and Moroccans as a result of the shortage of workers in the 1960s. These guest or immigrant workers and their children and grandchildren have settled in the Netherlands permanently, but still maintain close ties with their motherland. In numerous large and medium-sized cities, this migration flow has meanwhile affected the population composition. Amsterdam is now the city with the greatest number of nationalities worldwide among its inhabitants (177 nationalities on 1 January 2007, which is more than New York, for example). This increasingly multicultural character of urban hubs can be observed throughout the world, also for example in the Asian and Latin American metropolises that are experiencing an economic boom.