Courantyne River

Wonotobo Waterfall, 2005

The Corantijn ( Engl: Courantyne ) is a river in South America. It forms the border between Guyana and Suriname, but heard loud arbitration award to a complete Surinamese territory.

River course

The Corantijn rises in Acaraí Mountains on just under 2 ° north of the equator, on the border with Guyana and Brazil, and receives in its course the first Oronoque and the King Edward River on. In the waterfall complex, of which the Barrington Brown Falls are the most famous, is from Guyana Barrington - Brown as inflow. Further north the Coeroeni and after the Frederik Willem IV Falls are happening, the Lucie River is then added. Behind the mighty Wonotobo cases leaves the Corantijn the hill and mountain country. He flows in the range of 5 ° latitude a time and turns eastward again after receiving the Kabalebo and Matapi River to the north. Just before it flows into the Atlantic the Corantijn takes on the Nickerie. The mouth width in Nieuw Nickerie - is about 7 km. He has from the source to the mouth of a total length of about 700 km.

Special

The Corantijn is rich in waterfalls, such as, inter alia, the Oronoque, Barrington Brown, Wonotobo, Tijger and the Tramway case. Noteworthy are also the many river islands, such as, inter alia, the Bisschop, Baviaan, Drie Gezuster and Papegaai Island. The river is very wide, however, difficult to navigate through the many shoals and sandbars.

Border problems

Between the upper reaches of the Corantijn called in Guyana New River, the Coeroeni and the Koetari is an area which has been claimed by both Suriname and Guyana. The maps available here this controversial area of ​​Guyana was slammed. In addition, Suriname looked at the left bank of the Corantijn as the boundary, while in contrast, Guyana regarded the middle of the river as a border. This has been simmering since the colonial era territorial dispute was resolved in 2007 by a verdict of the Hague tribunal, to be by the border between Guyana and Suriname on the left bank runs, making it one of the river in full width to the eastern Suriname. This has Suriname control over the entire waterway from the mouth to the Corantijn.