Para Creek ('' nl, Parakreek'' also Para River) is a blackwater creek in the

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 ...

Para District Para is a district of northern Suriname. Para's capital city is Onverwacht, with other towns including Paranam, and Zanderij. Para has a population of 24,700 and an area of 5,393 km2. The district is the mining and forestry centre of Surin ...

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 a tributary 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 ...

, and was home to many plantations. The area around the creek has been cultivated since the English period. The

has been named after the creek in 1966.

Overview

The Para Creek is fed by many small creeks from the savanna area, and has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of . During the colonisation of Suriname, most plantations were built along the Suriname River and the Para Creek, because the ground was fertile, and no additional infrastructure was required. In the 20th century, many holiday resorts were built on the Para Creek and its tributaries. The northern part of Para Creek near the mouth experiences minor

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

movements, but has no salinity. The southern part of the creek used to be home to many wood plantations. The last of the Para Creek are parallel to the Suriname River, therefore, the Paradoorsnede, an artificial canal, was dug in the 18th century to provide better access. The canal is long.

Fort Para

In 1685, Fort Para was constructed on the Para Creek near

Houttuin Houttuin is a resort in Suriname, located in the Wanica District. Its population at the 2012 census was 15,656. The largest ethnic group are the Indo-Surinamese. The resort is named after the sugar plantation Houttuyn which was founded in 1737. ...

to protect the plantations against attacks by the

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

s, however in 1686 a peace treaty was signed between the tribes and Governor

van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck (also: Sommelsdijk) (The Hague, 20 August 1637 - Paramaribo, 19 July 1688) was the first governor of Suriname (Dutch colony), Suriname after the establishment of the Society of Suriname in 1683. He was governo ...

. In 1740, the fort was demolished.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Forts in Suriname Rivers of Suriname Para District Wanica District