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28-607: Towns in the region include New Amsterdam , Corriverton and Rose Hall . The Corentyne River forms the whole of the eastern border with Suriname, though the southernmost section is claimed by Suriname and is known in Guyana as the New River Triangle or Tigri Area in Suriname. The Government of Guyana has administered three official censuses since the 1980 administrative reforms, in 1980, 1991 and 2002. In 2012,

56-569: A drink made by the Amerindians. Of course, alcohol was not considered an indulgence in those days, but rather a necessity, since it was erroneously believed that it warded off diseases like malaria, which it was claimed came from exposure to 'miasmas'. In March 1763, the rebel leader Cuffy made the Court of Policy building in the little town his headquarters, and on either side of its doorway he placed two cannon, which had been repaired for him by

84-467: A house within six months of the government being transferred from upstream, was to lose his lot. Five years later, Berbice 's capital fell into British hands, although not all its early visitors from that quarter of Europe were impressed by its appearance. Gradually, however, it acquired a character of its own, and to its credit it still boasts (among many other advantages) what is arguably the best example of Cesar Castellani 's architecture extant, namely,

112-421: A new approach to the design of dikes and other water-retaining structures, based on an acceptable probability of overflowing. Risk is defined as the product of probability and consequences. The potential damage in lives, property, and rebuilding costs is compared with the potential cost of water defences. From these calculations follows an acceptable flood risk from the sea at one in 4,000–10,000 years, while it

140-407: A piece of land elevated above its surroundings, with the augmentative suffix -er and epenthetical -d- . The word has been adopted in thirty-six languages. The Netherlands is frequently associated with polders, as its engineers became noted for developing techniques to drain wetlands and make them usable for agriculture and other development. This is illustrated by the saying "God created

168-468: A village which grew up alongside Fort Nassau in the 1730s and 1740s. The first Nieuw Amsterdam, as it was called then, was situated about 90 km (56 mi) up the Berbice River on the right bank. Before the 1763 slave uprising it comprised a Court of Policy building, a warehouse, an inn, two smithies, a bakery, a Lutheran church and a number of houses, among other buildings. Built in 1740 by

196-608: Is one in 100–2,500 years for a river flood. The particular established policy guides the Dutch government to improve flood defences as new data on threat levels become available. Major Dutch polders and the years they were laid dry include Beemster (1609–1612), Schermer (1633–1635), and Haarlemmermeerpolder (1852). Polders created as part of the Zuiderzee Works include Wieringermeerpolder (1930), Noordoostpolder (1942) and Flevopolder (1956–1968) Several cities on

224-880: Is the name of an open public ground west of Esplanade Road and immediately opposite The Gardens. It was a picnic resort and rendezvous for the people of Berbice. The bandstand featured the British Guiana Militia Band . There are several hotels in the town, including Church View Guest House, Astor Hotel, Little Rock Hotel, Leisure Inn Hotel, The Penguin International Hotel, and the Parkway Hotel. The newly built Little Rock Suites on Main Street (Not to be confused with Little Rock Hotel in Vryman's Erven). In December 2008, travel to New Amsterdam

252-618: Is the regional capital of East Berbice-Corentyne , Guyana and one of the country's largest towns. It is 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the capital, Georgetown and located on the eastern bank of the Berbice River , 6 km (4 mi) upriver from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean , and immediately south of the Canje River . New Amsterdam's population is 17,329 inhabitants as of 2012. New Amsterdam has its origins in

280-838: The Courantyne River or to the East Canje area of Berbice. A road also leads up the Berbice River bank to the town of Mara about 40 km (25 mi) south. New Amsterdam serves as a port and has a government-run hospital . The town has many old colonial buildings, some dating back to the time of Dutch colonisation. Mission Chapel has been designated a National Heritage Site. The main schools in New Amsterdam are Berbice High School , Berbice Educational Institute, Vryman's Erven Secondary, Tutorial Academy, and New Amsterdam Secondary formerly known as New Amsterdam Multilateral High School (opened in 1975). The Esplanade

308-648: The New Amsterdam Public Hospital (The Palms in Georgetown is another example of his work). In 1831, New Amsterdam lost its status as a capital, when the two colonies of Berbice and Essequibo / Demerara were combined into one to become British Guiana . The present town is fairly small, consisting of three main roads with about a dozen cross streets. It has a mayor, Kirt Wynter, and a thriving market. From New Amsterdam you can get to Crabwood Creek (about 72 km (45 mi) away) via

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336-786: The Paraíba Valley region (in the state of São Paulo ) have polders on land claimed from the floodplains around the Paraíba do Sul river. Bangladesh has 139 polders, of which 49 are sea-facing, while the rest are along the numerous distributaries of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River delta. These were constructed in the 1960s to protect the coast from tidal flooding and reduce salinity incursion. They reduce long-term flooding and waterlogging following storm surges from tropical cyclones . They are also cultivated for agriculture. The Jiangnan region, at

364-486: The Yangtze River Delta , has a long history of constructing polders. Most of these projects were performed between the 10th and 13th centuries. The Chinese government also assisted local communities in constructing dikes for swampland water drainage. The Lijia (里甲) self-monitoring system of 110 households under a lizhang (里长) headman was used for the purposes of service administration and tax collection in

392-440: The blacksmith Prins. When the revolutionaries were forced to retreat upriver in 1764, New Amsterdam was torched under the supervision of Prins, and only the brick Lutheran church survived. After the uprising was crushed, he was charged with arson and executed. While the village was rebuilt afterwards, by the 1770s it was already becoming apparent that it had ceased to be the centre of the colony. The planters had begun to move to

420-542: The 11th century. The oldest extant polder is the Achtermeer polder, from 1533. As a result of flooding disasters, water boards called waterschap (when situated more inland) or hoogheemraadschap (near the sea, mainly used in the Holland region) were set up to maintain the integrity of the water defences around polders, maintain the waterways inside a polder, and control the various water levels inside and outside

448-620: The Dutch, New Amsterdam was first named Fort Sint Andries. It was made seat of the Dutch colonial government in 1790. In 1803 it was taken over by the British . The little township was a pioneer in several by-laws; it boasted the first sanitation regulations on record (no privies near the public path, drains to be dug and places kept weeded) and the first price controls in the only hostelry in town as well as alcoholic beverages, including madeira , jenever , kilthum (the forerunner of rum) and even

476-428: The air. Polders are at risk of flooding at all times, and care must be taken to protect the surrounding dikes. Dikes are typically built with locally available materials, and each material has its own risks: sand is prone to collapse owing to saturation by water; dry peat is lighter than water and potentially unable to retain water in very dry seasons. Some animals dig tunnels in the barrier, allowing water to infiltrate

504-519: The lower river, and in 1785 they took a decision to relocate the town to the mouth of the Canje. By June 1790, the authorities were ready for private residents, and in January of the following year they published an ordinance laying down the conditions for the granting of house lots in the present New Amsterdam. Each resident had to empolder his land and dig drainage ditches, and anyone who had not built

532-527: The more fertile soils of the lower river, leaving the township somewhat isolated upstream. At first the Dutch authorities had some grandiose plans to construct imposing government buildings there - plans which can still be seen in the State Archives in The Hague. However, eventually they had to recognize that such development would be futile in a context where Berbice's economic activity was centred on

560-551: The polder, with a liangzhang (粮长, grain chief) responsible for maintaining the water system and a tangzhang (塘长, dike chief) for polder maintenance. In Germany, land reclaimed by diking is called a koog . The German Deichgraf system was similar to the Dutch and is widely known from Theodor Storm 's novella The Rider on the White Horse . In southern Germany, the term polder is used for retention basins recreated by opening dikes during river floodplain restoration ,

588-485: The polder. Water boards hold separate elections, levy taxes, and function independently from other government bodies. Their function is basically unchanged even today. As such, they are the oldest democratic institutions in the country. The necessary cooperation among all ranks to maintain polder integrity gave its name to the Dutch version of third-way politics —the Polder Model . The 1953 flood disaster prompted

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616-859: The polders into an inaccessible swamp, which allowed the Allied armies to stop the German army . The Netherlands has a large area of polders: as much as 20% of the land area has at some point in the past been reclaimed from the sea, thus contributing to the development of the country. IJsselmeer is the most famous polder project of the Netherlands. Some other countries which have polders are Bangladesh , Belgium , Canada and China . Some examples of Dutch polder projects are Beemster , Schermer , Flevopolder and Noordoostpolder . The Dutch word polder derives successively from Middle Dutch polre , from Old Dutch polra , and ultimately from pol- ,

644-464: The population of East Berbice-Corentyne was recorded at 109,431 people. Official census records for the population of East Berbice-Corentyne are as follows: (including name variants): [REDACTED] Media related to East Berbice-Corentyne at Wikimedia Commons 4°06′29″N 58°11′00″W  /  4.107943°N 58.18337°W  / 4.107943; -58.18337 New Amsterdam, Guyana New Amsterdam ( Dutch : Nieuw Amsterdam )

672-569: The structure; the muskrat is known for this activity and hunted in certain European countries because of it. Polders are most commonly, though not exclusively, found in river deltas, former fenlands , and coastal areas. Flooding of polders has also been used as a military tactic in the past. One example is the flooding of the polders along the Yser River during World War I . Opening the sluices at high tide and closing them at low tide turned

700-543: The surrounding water level some or all of the time. Water enters the low-lying polder through infiltration and water pressure of groundwater , or rainfall, or transport of water by rivers and canals. This usually means that the polder has an excess of water, which is pumped out or drained by opening sluices at low tide . Care must be taken not to set the internal water level too low. Polder land made up of peat (former marshland) will sink in relation to its previous level, because of peat decomposing when exposed to oxygen from

728-594: The world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands". The Dutch have a long history of reclamation of marshes and fenland, resulting in some 3,000 polders nationwide. By 1961, about half of the country's land, 18,000 square kilometres (6,800 sq mi), was reclaimed from the sea. About half the total surface area of polders in northwest Europe is in the Netherlands. The first embankments in Europe were constructed in Roman times. The first polders were constructed in

756-501: Was also launched in 2014 by Little Rock and broadcasts on FM 88.5 MHz. New Amsterdam has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round. Polder A polder ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɔldər] ) is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes . The three types of polder are: The ground level in drained marshes subsides over time. All polders will eventually be below

784-571: Was made easier by the opening of the Berbice Bridge providing a direct connection to Georgetown . New Amsterdam has three television stations: DTV-8, located in the heart of the town, Little Rock Television Station (LRTVS) Channel 10 located in Vryman's Erven, TVG located in St. Ann Street. LRTVS was the first television station in Berbice. The first radio station broadcasting from New Amsterdam

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