Brokopondo is the capital town of the

Brokopondo District Brokopondo is a district of Suriname. Its capital city is Brokopondo; other towns include Brownsweg and Kwakoegron. The district has a population of 15,909, and an area of 7,364 square kilometres. History The Brokopondo district was establi ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. It is located on the west shore of the

Suriname river The Suriname River (Dutch: ''Surinamerivier'') is 480 km long and flows through the country Suriname. Its sources are located in the Guiana Highlands on the border between the Wilhelmina Mountains and the Eilerts de Haan Mountains (where it i ...

, just north of the

Afobaka dam The Afobaka Dam is an embankment dam with a main gravity dam section on the Suriname River near Afobaka in Brokopondo District of Suriname. The primary purpose of the dam is to generate hydroelectric power and it supports a 180 MW power stati ...

. Brokopondo can be reached via the

Afobakaweg The Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname) has a number of forms of transport. Transportation emissions are an increasing part of Suriname's contributions to climate change, as part of the Nationally Determined Contributions for the Par ...

from

Paranam Paranam is a town in the Para District, Suriname. Paranam was created in 1938 for a bauxite factory. In 1965, an aluminium smelter was added. The factories closed down in 2017. History There used to be a little hamlet called ''Klein Curaçao'' at ...

Afobaka Afobaka is a village in the Brokopondo District of Suriname. Between 1960 and 1964, the 1913 meter-long Afobaka Dam was built on the Suriname River, creating the Brokopondo Reservoir. The Afobaka Airstrip is nearby. Healthcare Afobaka is home ...

. Nearby is a granite monument made by sculptor Jo Rens, displaying two men: one standing with a parrot and one sitting and writing. It is meant to symbolize the past and the future. There is also a large beach next to the Suriname river near the city centre. Demographically, the largest ethnic group of Brokopondo are the

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

. The Brokopondo Development Plan has designated the town of Brokopondo as one of the two major centres in the region - the other being

Brownsweg Brownsweg is a town and resort in Suriname in the Brokopondo District. Its population at the 2012 census was 4,793. History The town was named after the road that leads to the Brownsberg, and the Brownsberg Nature Park. It is situated near the ...

- with a focus on tourism. There is a large beach next to the Suriname river near the city centre called Anani Beach. Additional developments will be a proper city centre, a bus station, a large hotel with at least 200 beds, and a centre for cultural studies. Brokopondo is home to a

Medische Zending Medische Zending Primary Health Care Suriname, commonly known as Medische Zending (Dutch for "medical mission") or MZ is a Surinamese charitable organization offering primary healthcare to remote villages in the interior of Suriname. History The ...

healthcare centre, hotel, school, and police station. In 2014, multi functional centre was opened. On 10 January 2020, a

waste incinerator Incineration is a list of solid waste treatment technologies, waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-ene ...

was installed. A growing concern is the activity of

gold prospectors Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

who not only poison the rivers with

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

, but are digging away the edge of the town.

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places in Brokopondo District