{"id":8938,"date":"2021-11-21T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=8938"},"modified":"2021-11-21T13:35:02","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T21:35:02","slug":"suriname","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/suriname\/","title":{"rendered":"Suriname"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Suriname\u00a0or\u00a0Surinam, officially known as the\u00a0Republic of Suriname, is a country on the northeastern\u00a0Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0coast of\u00a0South America<\/a>.\u00a0It is bordered<\/a>\u00a0by the Atlantic Ocean to the north,\u00a0French Guiana<\/a>\u00a0to the east,\u00a0Guyana<\/a>\u00a0to the west, and\u00a0Brazil<\/a>\u00a0to the south. At just under 165,000 square kilometers (64,000 square miles), it is the smallest\u00a0sovereign state<\/a>\u00a0in South America.<\/sup> Suriname has a population of approximately 575,990,\u00a0most of whom live on the country’s north coast, in and around the capital and largest city,\u00a0Paramaribo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Situated slightly north of the\u00a0Equator<\/a>, Suriname is a\u00a0tropical country<\/a> dominated by rain forests. A\u00a0developing country<\/a>\u00a0with a\u00a0high level of human development<\/a>,\u00a0Suriname’s economy<\/a>\u00a0is heavily dependent on its abundant natural resources, namely bauxite, gold, petroleum and agricultural products.<\/p>\n

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Suriname on the Globe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Suriname was inhabited as early as the fourth millennium BC by various indigenous peoples, including the\u00a0Arawaks<\/a>,\u00a0Caribs<\/a>, and\u00a0Wayana<\/a>. Europeans arrived in the 16th century, with the\u00a0Dutch<\/a>\u00a0establishing control over much of the country’s current territory by the late 17th century. During the\u00a0Dutch colonial period<\/a>, Suriname was a lucrative source of\u00a0sugar<\/a>, its\u00a0plantation economy<\/a>\u00a0driven by African slave labor and, after abolition of slavery in 1863,\u00a0indentured servants<\/a>\u00a0from Asia. In 1954, Suriname became one of the\u00a0constituent countries<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Kingdom of the Netherlands<\/a>. On 25 November 1975,\u00a0Suriname<\/a>\u00a0left the Kingdom to become an\u00a0independent<\/a>\u00a0state, but continues to maintain close economic, diplomatic, and cultural ties.<\/p>\n

Suriname is considered to be a culturally\u00a0Caribbean<\/a>\u00a0country, and is a member of the\u00a0Caribbean Community<\/a>\u00a0(CARICOM). Suriname is the only sovereign nation outside of Europe where\u00a0Dutch<\/a>\u00a0is the official and prevailing language of government, business, media, and education.[14]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Sranan Tongo<\/a>, an English-based\u00a0creole language<\/a>, is a widely used\u00a0lingua franca<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Pre-History:<\/h3>\n

Indigenous settlement of Suriname dates back to 3,000 BC. The largest tribes were the\u00a0Arawak<\/a>, a nomadic coastal tribe that lived from hunting and fishing. They were the first inhabitants in the area.<\/p>\n

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Arawak Woman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Carib<\/a>\u00a0also settled in the area and conquered the Arawak by using their superior sailing ships. They settled in Galibi (Kupali Yum\u00ef,<\/i>\u00a0meaning “tree of the forefathers”) at the mouth of the\u00a0Marowijne River<\/a>. While the larger Arawak and Carib tribes lived along the coast and savanna, smaller groups of indigenous people lived in the inland rainforest, such as the\u00a0Akurio<\/a>,\u00a0Tri\u00f3<\/a>,\u00a0Warrau<\/a>, and\u00a0Wayana<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Colonial Period:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Beginning in the 16th century,\u00a0French<\/a>,\u00a0Spanish<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0English<\/a>\u00a0explorers visited the area. A century later,\u00a0Dutch<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0English<\/a>\u00a0settlers established\u00a0plantation<\/a>\u00a0colonies along the many rivers in the fertile Guiana plains. The earliest documented colony in\u00a0Guiana<\/a>\u00a0was an English settlement named Marshall’s Creek along the Suriname River.<\/sup>\u00a0After that there was another short-lived English colony called\u00a0Surinam<\/a>\u00a0that lasted from 1650 to 1667.<\/p>\n

Disputes arose between the Dutch and the English for control of this territory. In 1667, during negotiations leading to the\u00a0Treaty of Breda<\/a>\u00a0after the\u00a0Second Anglo-Dutch War<\/a>, the Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of Surinam they had gained from the English. In return the English kept\u00a0New Amsterdam<\/a>, the main city of the former colony of\u00a0New Netherland<\/a>\u00a0in North America on the mid-Atlantic coast. The British renamed it after the Duke of York:\u00a0New York City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Slaves in Suriname<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1683, the\u00a0Society of Suriname<\/a>\u00a0was founded by the city of\u00a0Amsterdam<\/a>, the\u00a0Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck<\/a>\u00a0family, and the\u00a0Dutch West India Company<\/a>. The society was chartered to manage and defend the colony. The planters of the colony relied heavily on\u00a0African slaves<\/a>\u00a0to cultivate, harvest and process the commodity crops of coffee, cocoa, sugar cane and cotton plantations along the rivers. Planters’ treatment of the slaves was notoriously brutal even by the standards of the time<\/sup>\u2014historian\u00a0C. R. Boxer<\/a>\u00a0wrote that “man’s inhumanity to man just about reached its limits in Surinam”<\/sup>\u2014and many slaves escaped the plantations. In November 1795, the Society was nationalized by the\u00a0Batavian Republic<\/a>\u00a0and from then on, the Batavian Republic and its legal successors (the Kingdom of Holland and the Kingdom of the Netherlands) governed the territory as a national colony, barring a period of British occupation between 1799 and 1802, and between 1804 and 1816.<\/p>\n

With the help of the\u00a0native South Americans<\/a>\u00a0living in the adjoining rain forests, these runaway slaves established a new and unique culture in the interior that was highly successful in its own right. They were known collectively in English as\u00a0Maroons<\/a>, in French as\u00a0N\u00e8g’Marrons<\/i>\u00a0(literally meaning “brown negroes”, that is “pale-skinned negroes”), and in Dutch as\u00a0Marrons.<\/i>\u00a0The Maroons gradually developed several independent tribes through a process of\u00a0ethnogenesis<\/a>, as they were made up of slaves from different African ethnicities. These tribes include the\u00a0Saramaka<\/a>, Paramaka,\u00a0Ndyuka<\/a>\u00a0or Aukan,\u00a0Kwinti<\/a>,\u00a0Aluku<\/a>\u00a0or Boni, and Matawai.<\/p>\n

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Maroon Village on Suriname River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n
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The Maroons often raided plantations to recruit new members from the slaves and capture women, as well as to acquire weapons, food and supplies. They sometimes killed planters and their families in the raids; colonists built defenses, which were significant enough that they were shown on 18th-century maps.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The colonists also mounted armed campaigns against the Maroons, who generally escaped through the rain forest, which they knew much better than did the colonists. To end hostilities, in the 18th century the European colonial authorities signed several peace treaties with different tribes. They granted the Maroons sovereign status and trade rights in their inland territories, giving them autonomy.<\/p>\n

Abolition of Slavery:<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Netherlands abolished slavery in Suriname in 1863, under a gradual process that required enslaved people to work on plantations for 10 transition years for minimal pay, which was considered as partial compensation for their masters. After that transition period expired in 1873, most\u00a0freedmen<\/a>\u00a0largely abandoned the plantations where they had worked for several generations in favor of the capital city,\u00a0Paramaribo<\/a>. Some of them were able to purchase the plantations they worked on, especially in the district of Para and Coronie. Their descendants still live on those grounds today. Several plantation owners did not pay their former enslaved workers the pay they owed them for the ten years following 1863. They paid the workers with the property rights of the ground of the plantation in order to escape their debt to the workers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Javan Laborers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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As a plantation colony, Suriname had an economy dependent on labor-intensive commodity crops. To make up for a shortage of labor, the Dutch recruited and transported contract or\u00a0<\/span>indentured laborers<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0<\/span>Dutch East Indies<\/a>\u00a0(modern\u00a0<\/span>Indonesia<\/a>) and\u00a0<\/span>India<\/a>\u00a0(the latter through an arrangement with the British, who then ruled the area). In addition, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, small numbers of laborers, mostly men, were recruited from China and the Middle East.<\/span><\/div>\n
Decolonization:<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

During\u00a0World War II<\/a>, on 23 November 1941, under an agreement with the\u00a0Netherlands government-in-exile<\/a>, the United States occupied Suriname to protect the\u00a0bauxite<\/a>\u00a0mines to support the Allies’ war effort.<\/sup>\u00a0In 1942, the Dutch government-in-exile began to review the relations between the Netherlands and its colonies in terms of the post-war period.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Paramaribo 1955<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1954, Suriname became one of the constituent countries of the\u00a0Kingdom of the Netherlands<\/a>, along with the\u00a0Netherlands Antilles<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Netherlands<\/a>. In this construction, the Netherlands retained control of its defense and foreign affairs. In 1974, the local government, led by the\u00a0National Party of Suriname<\/a>\u00a0(NPS) (whose membership was largely\u00a0Creole<\/a>, meaning ethnically African or mixed African-European) started negotiations with the Dutch government leading towards full independence, which was granted on 25 November 1975. A large part of Suriname’s economy for the first decade following independence was fueled by foreign aid provided by the Dutch government.<\/p>\n

Independence:<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

The first President of the country was\u00a0<\/span>Johan Ferrier<\/a>, the former governor, with\u00a0<\/span>Henck Arron<\/a>\u00a0(the then leader of the NPS) as Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Henck Arron, Queen Beatrix and Johan Ferrier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the years leading up to independence, nearly one-third of the population of Suriname emigrated to the Netherlands, amidst concern that the new country would fare worse under independence than it had as a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Surinamese politics did degenerate into ethnic polarization\u00a0and corruption soon after independence, with the NPS using Dutch aid money for partisan purposes. Its leaders were accused of fraud in the\u00a01977 elections<\/a>, in which Arron won a further term, and the discontent was such that a large portion<\/span>\u00a0of the population fled to the Netherlands, joining the already significant Surinamese community there.<\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

1980 Military Coup:<\/span><\/h3>\n

On 25 February 1980, a\u00a0military coup<\/a>\u00a0overthrew Arron’s government. It was initiated by a group of 16 sergeants, led by\u00a0D\u00e9si Bouterse<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Opponents of the military regime attempted counter-coups in April 1980, August 1980, 15 March 1981, and again on 12 March 1982. The first counter attempt was led by\u00a0Fred Ormskerk<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0the second by\u00a0Marxist-Leninists<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0the third by\u00a0Wilfred Hawker<\/a>, and the fourth by\u00a0Surendre Rambocus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
D\u00e9si Bouterse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hawker escaped from prison during the fourth counter-coup attempt, but he was captured and summarily executed. Between 2\u00a0am and 5\u00a0am on 7 December 1982, the military, under the leadership of D\u00e9si Bouterse, rounded up 13 prominent citizens who had criticized the military dictatorship and held them at\u00a0Fort Zeelandia<\/a>\u00a0in Paramaribo.<\/sup>\u00a0The dictatorship had all these men\u00a0executed over the next three days<\/a>, along with Rambocus and\u00a0Jiwansingh Sheombar<\/a>\u00a0(who was also involved in the fourth counter-coup attempt).<\/p>\n

<\/span>Civil war, Elections, and Constitution:<\/span><\/h3>\n

The brutal\u00a0civil war between the Suriname army and Maroons<\/a>\u00a0loyal to rebel leader\u00a0Ronnie Brunswijk<\/a>, begun in 1986, continued and its effects further weakened Bouterse’s position during the 1990s. Due to the civil war, more than 10,000 Surinamese, mostly Maroons, fled to\u00a0French Guiana<\/a> in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ronnie Brunswijk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

National elections were held in 1987. The National Assembly adopted a new constitution that allowed Bouterse to remain in charge of the army. Dissatisfied with the government, Bouterse summarily dismissed the ministers in 1990, by telephone. This event became popularly known as the “Telephone Coup”. His power began to wane after the 1991 elections.<\/p>\n

In 1999, the Netherlands tried Bouterse\u00a0in absentia<\/i>\u00a0on drug smuggling charges. He was\u00a0convicted<\/a> and sentenced to prison but remained in Suriname. The\u00a01999 Surinamese protests<\/a>\u00a0occurred in 1999.<\/p>\n

21st Century:<\/span><\/h3>\n

On 19 July 2010, the former dictator\u00a0D\u00e9si Bouterse<\/a>\u00a0returned to power when he was elected as the president of Suriname.<\/sup>\u00a0Before his election in 2010, he, along with 24 others, had been charged with the murders of 15 prominent dissidents in the December murders. However, in 2012, two months before the verdict in the trial, the National Assembly extended its\u00a0amnesty<\/a>\u00a0law and provided Bouterse and the others with amnesty of these charges. He was reelected on 14 July 2015.<\/sup>\u00a0However, Bouterse was convicted by a Surinamese court on 29 November 2019 and given a 20-year sentence for his role in the 1982 killings.<\/sup><\/p>\n

After winning the\u00a02020 elections<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0Chan Santokhi<\/a>\u00a0was the sole nomination for\u00a0president of Suriname<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0On 13 July, Santokhi was elected president by acclamation in an\u00a0uncontested election<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0He was inaugurated on 16 July in a ceremony without public attendance due to the\u00a0COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Geography:<\/h2>\n

Suriname is the smallest independent country in South America. Situated on the\u00a0Guiana Shield<\/a>, it lies mostly between latitudes\u00a01\u00b0<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a06\u00b0N<\/a>, and longitudes\u00a054\u00b0<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a058\u00b0W<\/a>. The country can be divided into two main geographic regions. The northern, lowland coastal area (roughly above the line Albina-Paranam-Wageningen) has been cultivated, and most of the population lives here. The southern part consists of tropical\u00a0rainforest<\/a>\u00a0and sparsely inhabited\u00a0savanna<\/a>\u00a0along the border with\u00a0Brazil<\/a>, covering about 80% of Suriname’s land surface.<\/p>\n

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Topographic Map of Suriname<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two main mountain ranges are the\u00a0Bakhuys Mountains<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Van Asch Van Wijck Mountains<\/a>.\u00a0Julianatop<\/a> is the highest mountain in the country at 1,286 meters (4,219\u00a0ft) above sea level. Other mountains include\u00a0Tafelberg<\/a> at 1,026 meters (3,366\u00a0ft), Mount\u00a0Kasikasima<\/a> at 718 meters (2,356 ft), Goliathberg at 358 meters (1,175 ft) and\u00a0Voltzberg<\/a> at 240 meters (790\u00a0ft).<\/p>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n

Suriname’s democracy gained some strength after the turbulent 1990s, and its economy became more diversified and less dependent on Dutch financial assistance.\u00a0Bauxite<\/a>\u00a0(aluminium ore) mining used to be a strong revenue source. The discovery and exploitation of oil and gold has added substantially to Suriname’s economic independence. Agriculture, especially rice and bananas, remains a strong component of the economy, and\u00a0ecotourism<\/a>\u00a0is providing new economic opportunities. More than 93% of Suriname’s land-mass consists of unspoiled rain forest; with the establishment of the\u00a0Central Suriname Nature Reserve<\/a> in 1998, Suriname signaled its commitment to conservation of this precious resource. The Central Suriname Nature Reserve became a\u00a0World Heritage Site<\/a> in 2000.<\/p>\n

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Suriname Export Treemap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The economy of Suriname was dominated by the bauxite industry, which accounted for more than 15% of GDP and 70% of export earnings up to 2016. Other main export products include rice, bananas, and <\/span>shrimp<\/a>. Suriname has recently started exploiting some of its sizeable\u00a0<\/span>oil<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and gold<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0reserves. About a quarter of the people work in the agricultural sector. The Surinamese economy is very dependent on commerce, its main trade partners being the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, and\u00a0<\/span>Caribbean<\/a>\u00a0countries, mainly\u00a0<\/span>Trinidad and Tobago<\/a>\u00a0and the islands of the former\u00a0<\/span>Netherlands Antilles<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n
\n

Suriname has 4303 km of roads of which 1119km are paved.\u00a0 Transport into the interior is mostly by river and by air due to a lack of roads in the rain forest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Paramaribo Airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
The country has 55 airports<\/sup>\u00a0(of which 6 are paved). The international airport is:\u00a0Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Flag of Suriname:<\/h2>\n
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The\u00a0Flag of Suriname\u00a0was legally adopted on 25 November 1975, upon the independence of\u00a0Suriname<\/a>. Prior to that, there were two different flags. The people of\u00a0Suriname<\/a>\u00a0disapproved of the new flag and in 1959 the government held a national competition to design another flag.<\/p>\n

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Flag of Suriname<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1986, the national anthem, national flag, and the national coat of arms were officially accepted by the Surinamese. The flag of Suriname was raised for the first time on the\u00a0Independence Day of the Republic of Suriname<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

The flag of Suriname is composed of five horizontal bands of green (top, double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width) with a large, yellow, five-pointed star in the center.<\/p>\n

The color red represents progress, white represents freedom and justice and the green represents the fertility of the land. The yellow star represents unity and a golden future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flag of Suriname is composed of five horizontal bands of green (top, double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width) with a large, yellow, five-pointed star in the center. The color red represents progress, white represents freedom and justice and the green represents the fertility of the land. The yellow star represents unity and a golden future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32,12,59,5,6,7,18,28,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9536,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8938\/revisions\/9536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}