Lorentz River

The Lorenz during the third South New Guinea Expedition ( 1912-13 )

The Lorentz ( Lorentz Sungai ), and North River, Unir or Undir, is a river in Papua, the easternmost province of Indonesia on the island of New Guinea.

The river flows south of the vast jungles and vast marshy lowlands and has its origin in the highlands of the island. The Lorentz flows into the Arafura Sea to the corresponding Flamingo Bay ( Teluk Flamingo ), an estuary of several rivers.

Beginning of the 20th century played the navigable part of the river an important role in the exploration of Dutch New Guinea to West Papua. Three large Dutch expeditions led from the mouth upstream to the - then still unexplored - central snowy mountains. The aim of the expedition was to climb from " eternal snow " covered Wilhelmina Summit, which can be found on today's maps as Puncak TRIKORA. The first of the three southern New Guinea expeditions failed before the mountain could be achieved. The second expedition reached the snowy foot of Wilhelmina, but only during the third expedition to the mountain on February 21, 1913 could be defeated.

The river's name was changed three times in the 20th century. At the time of the first two expeditions (1907-1910), he was referred to as North River, a name he received during the first Dutch exploration of the south coast of New Guinea. After 1910 the name was changed to Lorentz, as a tribute to Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz, the head of two of these expeditions; this name was more than half a century. After the transfer, Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia many topographical indications of the Dutch colonial past have been renamed and the river has been called since the Unir. Unir arises from the language of the Asmat - the ethnic group of Papua. On many maps of the river has continued to the Dutch term Lorentz.