Commewijne is a district of

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 ...

, located on the right bank 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 ...

. Commewijne's

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

is Nieuw Amsterdam.

Tamanredjo Tamanredjo ( Javanese : ꦠꦩꦤꦽꦗ lit. meaning : Prosperous Garden Village) is a resort and town in Suriname, located in the Commewijne District. Its population at the 2012 census was 6,601. Tamanredjo was founded in 1937 as village for ...

is another major town, while

Meerzorg Meerzorg (Sranan Tongo: Ansu) is a town and resort (municipality) in Suriname, located on the eastern bank of the Suriname River, directly opposite the capital Paramaribo. Its population at the 2012 census was 12,405. Since 2000 it has been connect ...

is the most populated. The district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 31,420 and an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of 2,353 km². One of the most populated of Suriname's districts, Commewijne relies primarily on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

for its income, with

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s dating back to the first

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

colonisation of the area in the 17th century. In the 21st century, Meerzorg has been designated as a regional centre, and suburban area for Paramaribo, and is the site of many building projects. Nieuw Amsterdam has been steadily growing as well.

History

In 1621, the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...

started to explore

the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

, and traded with the

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. When a force reporting to Francis Willoughby landed on Commewijne, there was already a small Dutch settlement who were trading with the indigenous people, and a group of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

had arrived in Suriname in 1632. Surinam was conquered in 1667 by

Abraham Crijnssen Abraham Crijnssen (died 1 February 1669) was a Dutch naval commander, notable for capturing the English colony in Suriname in 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, resulting in the establishment of a long-term colony under Dutch control. Th ...

for the Dutch West India Company. Commewijne became the main location for plantations during the 18th century. A monument to the

independence of Suriname The early history of Suriname dates from 3000 BCE when Native Americans first inhabited the area. The Dutch acquired Suriname from the English, and European settlement in any numbers dates from the 17th century, when it was a plantation colony ...

is located in Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam.

Forts

Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam is located in Nieuw Amsterdam. On 10 October 1712,

Jacques Cassard Jacques Cassard (30 September 1679 – 1740) was a French naval officer and privateer. Biography Born on 30 September 1679 to a family of merchants of Nantes, Cassard began a career as a sailor at age 14 on the merchantmen owned by his fa ...

captured the plantation Meerzorg for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and threatened

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

across the Suriname river. To protect Paramaribo and Commewijne from future attacks, Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam was constructed, and opened in 1747. Several other small colonial forts were constructed. The

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although some are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldi ...

s Frederiksdorp,

Braamspunt Braamspunt is a nature reserve, fishing village, and a former military outpost in the Johan & Margaretha resort of the Commewijne District of Suriname. Braamspunt is the most western point of the Commewijne District at the combined mouth of the ...

, and Leiden were the first towns connected to a

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

line after Paramaribo to Nieuw-Amsterdam in 1888. The scale of the other forts was small, because when

August Kappler August Kappler (11 November 1815 – 20 October 1887) was a German researcher, naturalist and explorer who was a native of Mannheim. He is credited as the founder of Albina, Suriname. From January 1836, Kappler was stationed in Suriname as ...

visited Frederiksdorp in 1854, three soldiers were stationed there.

Resorts

Commewijne is divided into 6 resorts (''ressorten''): *

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

* Bakkie *

Margaretha Margaretha is the standard Dutch form of the feminine given name Margaret as well as a common form of it in Sweden. In daily life, many use a short form, like ''Gré'', '' Greet'', ''Greta'', '' Grietje'', '' Marga'', ''Margo'', ''Margot'', ''Margre ...

* Nieuw Amsterdam *

Villages

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

Ephrata Ephrata may refer to: Places * Ephrata, Suriname * Ephrata, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Ephrata, Washington, U.S. * Ephrata Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. Other uses *Ephrata Cloister, a religious community in Ephrata, Pennsylvania See also * * Efrata or E ...

Katwijk Katwijk (), also spelled Katwyk, is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and into the North Se ...

* Kronenburg *

Laarwijk Laarwijk is a settlement and a former sugar plantation in the Commewijne District in Suriname. Laarwijk is situated along the Suriname River and can only be reached by boat (via Domburg). History Laarwijk was founded in 1737. The government bou ...

Mariënburg Mariënburg is a former sugarcane plantation, factory and village, situated in the district of Commewijne, in northern Suriname. History In 1745, Mariënburg was founded as a sugar plantation by Maria de la Jaille. After several owner changes, ...

Stolkertsijver Stolkertsijver is a town in the Commewijne District of Suriname. It is situated on the East-West Link. At Stolkertsijver, a bridge spanning the Commewijne River was built in 1970s. The village was named after the Stolkertsijver plantation, also ...

Nature and tourism

The

Nature Reserve is located in Commewijne, because it is an important nesting ground for the

leatherback sea turtle The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to and weights ...

s, and the

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

s. The former plantation of Frederiksdorp is located near Johan & Margaretha, and has in 2004 been designated at as a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

Transport

Commewijne used to be isolated from Paramaribo, In 1931, a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

opened between Meerzorg en Paramaribo, but to improve access to the eastern part of Suriname, the

Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge The Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge (Dutch: ''Jules Wijdenboschbrug''), also called Suriname bridge and known locally as Bosje Brug, is a bridge over the Suriname River between the capital city Paramaribo and Meerzorg in the Commewijne District. The bri ...

was opened on 20 May 2000 replacing the ferry. The bridge is part of the East-West Link. In 2020, plans were announced to build a bridge between

and

Domburg Domburg is a seaside resort on the North Sea, on the northwest coast of Walcheren in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 11 km northwest of the city of Middelburg, the provincial capital. ...

in order to develop the area, and relieve traffic congestion between

Wanica Wanica is a district of Suriname located in the north of the country. Wanica's capital city is Lelydorp, the second-largest city in Suriname. Wanica has a population of 118,222 and an area of 443 km2. Following neighbouring Paramaribo, Wani ...

and Commewijne.

Economy

The economy is still largely built around agriculture, and the industry in the district are mainly related to agriculture as well. The closure of the sugarcane factory

in 1986 caused a regional decline. Meerzorg is becoming a centre for trade. Companies and banks have started to open offices or moved to the town.

References

External links

District Commewijne at Suriname.nu
(in Dutch) {{Authority control Districts of Suriname