Sranan is one of the English-lexifier creole languages spoken in Suriname and French Guyana. No kind of popular or colonial English is known which could fulfil the role of overall direct precursor to these languages. The first English settlers came to Suriname in 1651, but the vast majority of them had already left the country again in 1675. The first records of Sranan are from 1707. The language diverges to a considerable extent from English and is often referred to as a ‘radical’ creole. Sranan used to be the language of the coastal plantations and of the capital, Paramaribo. Today it is used both as a first language and as a lingua franca throughout the country.