evidence: Today, there are six politically distinct Maroon peoples in Suriname and French Guiana -- the Ndyuka and Saramaka each have a population of about 49,000, the Matawai 4000, the Aluku (Boni) and Paramaka each closer to 6000, and the Kwinti only about 500. Their traditional territories are shown on page 40, though today large numbers of Maroons live outside of these areas, in Paramaribo or the Netherlands, and, increasingly, in the coastal towns of French Guiana. (We now estimate that 30 percent of all Maroons reside in French Guiana -- mostly as poor, exploited immigrants; see R. & S. Price, 2002.) Although these societies were formed under broadly similar historical and ecological conditions, they vary in everything from language, diet, and dress to patterns of marriage, residence, and migratory wage labor. The greatest cultural differences are between the Maroons of central Suriname (Saramaka, Matawai, and Kwinti) and those of eastern Suriname and western French Guiana (Ndyuka, Aluku, and Paramaka). Languages divide similarly, with variants of Saramaccan spoken by Saramakas, Matawais, and Kwintis, and variants of Ndyuka spoken by Ndyukas, Alukus, and Paramakas.