The Suriname River ( Dutch : Surinamerivier ) is 480 kilometres (300 mi) long and flows through the country of Suriname . Its sources are located in the Guiana Highlands on the border between the Wilhelmina Mountains and the Eilerts de Haan Mountains (where it is known as the Gran Rio ). The source of the Upper Suriname River is at the confluence of the Gran Rio and Pikin Rio near the village of Goddo . The river continues shortly after the reservoir along Brokopondo as the Lower Suriname River. Than it flows Berg en Dal , the migrant communities Klaaskreek and Nieuw-Lombé , Jodensavanne , Carolina , Ornamibo and Domburg , before reaching the capital Paramaribo on the left bank and Meerzorg on the right bank. At Nieuw-Amsterdam it is joined by the Commewijne and immediately thereafter at the sandspit Braamspunt it flows into the Atlantic Ocean .
19-748: The river has several sets of rapids as well as a few dams, the largest of which is the Afobaka Dam. The river's flow is interrupted by the Brokopondo Reservoir , which therefore divides the river into two sections. The upstream section runs almost entirely through the Sipaliwini district , and the downstream section runs through the Brokopondo , Para , Commewijne , Wanica and Paramaribo districts. The name Suriname may derive from an indigenous people called Surinen, who inhabited
38-510: A Dutch trading post had existed three years earlier as " Surrenant ". The Dutch navigator David Pietersz. de Vries wrote of traveling up the " Sername " river in 1634 until he encountered the English colony there; the terminal vowel remained in future Dutch spellings and pronunciations. In 1640, a Spanish manuscript entitled "General Description of All His Majesty's Dominions in America" called
57-582: A result of this and associated recreation facilities, White Beach is a popular weekend destination. [REDACTED] Media related to Suriname River at Wikimedia Commons Brokopondo Reservoir The Brokopondo Reservoir, officially named Professor Doctor Ingenieur W. J. van Blommestein Meer , and also called the Brokopondostuwmeer , is a large reservoir in Suriname . It is named after
76-525: Is 12 km ( 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi). The watershed which feeds the reservoir is 12,200 km (4,700 sq mi) in area. The reservoir was put into service in 1965, but did not reach its optimal water level until 1971. Due to the great area of the reservoir, villages home to approximately 5,000 people had to be abandoned. The largest of these, the village of Ganzee , had approximately 1,200 residents. Most displaced residents were moved to new villages (Dutch: transmigratiedorpen) downstream from
95-556: The Surakarta -born Dutch hydrological engineer Willem Johan van Blommestein [ nl ] . With a surface area of approximately 1,560 km (600 sq mi), depending on the current water level, it is one of the largest reservoirs in the world, covering nearly one percent of the country. The reservoir was created by constructing Afobaka Dam across the Suriname River between 1961 and 1964. The dam spanning
114-479: The Suriname Aluminum Company , which is a daughter company of Alcoa . About 75% of the dam's electricity was used to power these plants, and the portion of the electricity produced by the dam was used to power Suriname's capital city, Paramaribo . Other advantages of the dam's construction, besides a boost to the aluminum industry, have included the development of the country's inland areas and
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152-535: The Suriname is by far the most important river in the country. Not only do all vessels carrying bauxite , aluminum oxide and aluminum depart from Suriname via the river, nearly all vessels carrying materials vital for Suriname enter the country at Braamspunt in order to offload their cargoes in the harbours of Paramaribo (immediately south of the city centre), or the harbours of Smalkalden and Paranam – approximately 30 km from Paramaribo – which are vital for
171-613: The aluminum industry. During the Second World War , the 6,000 tonne North German Lloyd cargo ship Goslar was scuttled in the Suriname in order to prevent it from falling into Allied hands. The wreck has never been removed and remains visible in the middle of the river. In 2000, the Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge at Paramaribo was officially opened by the President , who had commissioned construction of
190-527: The area at the time of European contact. The earliest European sources give variants of "Suriname" as the name of the river. Lawrence Kemys wrote in his Relation of the Second Voyage to Guiana of passing a river called " Shurinama ". In 1598, a fleet of three Dutch ships visiting the Wild Coast mention passing the river " Surinamo ". In 1617, a Dutch notary spelled the name of the river on which
209-467: The bridge and after whom it is named. The bridge permits access to the eastern part of the country. At Carolina , approximately 50 km South of Paramaribo, a wooden bridge crosses the river. Near Domburg , an artificial white sand beach has been created along the Suriname River. The adjoining strip of water has been protected with nets to allow swimming in the piranha -infested waters. As
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#1732765546289228-472: The controversial Three Gorges Dam in China flooded 6 hectares per megawatt, providing 18,000 megawatts while flooding an area smaller than Brokopondo. The global average for all large hydroelectric dams constructed to date is about 60 ha/MW, according to the same report. As a cost reducing measure, the trees of the area were not cut before they started to submerge. This caused problems for shipping activity in
247-496: The dam, in many cases with the same names as the previously abandoned hamlets. The most important being Klaaskreek , Nieuw Ganzee , and Marshallkreek . A separate government operation, "Operation Gwamba," was conducted to save animals from the soon-to-be lake bed. The dam was constructed in order to provide electricity to plants involved in the processing of bauxite into alumina , and later into purer aluminum metal. These plants were operated by Suralco [ nl ] ,
266-711: The first shipment of wood from the lake to Europe and the United States in June 2005. The Brokopondo lake wood is marketed in Germany as "Stauseeholz" (English: Reservoir wood). In November 2010, Jens Hahne filmed a documentary about the harvesting activities for the Franco-German channel Arte . This documentary was broadcast on Arte on 22 January 2011. Willem Johan van Blommestein From Misplaced Pages,
285-933: The 💕 Look for Willem Johan van Blommestein on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Willem Johan van Blommestein in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use
304-525: The lake. In 2002, Brokopondo Watra Wood International N.V. (BWWI) was given permission by Suralco to a start a pilot investigating the possibility to harvest the remaining trees from the lake. The idea came from the late Paramaribo entrepreneur Orlando Lee On, who read about similar harvesting efforts in the Tucuruí Lake in Brazil when on a plane to Miami. In 2004 harvesting began, which resulted in
323-467: The river " Soronama ". In 1653, instructions given to a British fleet sailing to meet Lord Willoughby in Barbados , which at the time was the seat of English colonial government in the region, spelled the name of the colony " Surinam "; this would remain the standard spelling in English. A 1663 royal charter said the region around the river was "called Serrinam also Surrinam". For import and export ,
342-400: The river is 54 m (177 ft) tall, and is built near the small town of Afobaka . Contrary to the reservoir's long official name, it was quickly rechristened Brokopondomeer by Dutch-speaking locals, after the town of Brokopondo 3 km (2 mi) further downstream from where the dam was constructed. The length of the dam, including secondary dams along the margins of the reservoir,
361-698: The surrounding forests, the pushing back of the saltwater boundary in the Suriname River, better irrigation capabilities during times of drought , an increase in tourist activity, and an increase in ease of fishing. According to the 2003 World Bank report Good Dams, Bad Dams , the Brokopondo dam ( Afobaka Dam ) flooded significantly more hectares of land per megawatt generated than any other large hydropower project analyzed. The report notes that Brokopondo inundated roughly 160,000 hectares of biologically valuable tropical rainforest, while providing only 180 megawatts of capacity, equivalent to 889 ha/MW. For comparison
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