The Bensbach River is a river in southwestern
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. It is located just to the east of the
Maro River
The Maro River also known as Sungai Merauke and Merauke-rivier, Merauki River flows in Merauke Regency, Papua, Indonesia. It is located just to the west of the Bensbach River of Western Province, Papua New Guinea.
Hydrology
The Maro flows fr ...
in
Merauke Regency
Merauke Regency is a regency in the far south of the Indonesian province of South Papua. It covers an area of 46,791.63 km2, and had a population of 195,716 at the 2010 Census and 230,932 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2 ...
, Indonesia, and just to the west of the
Morehead River in Papua New Guinea.
The mouth of the river,
Torasi Estuary, marks part of the extreme southern
boundary
Boundary or Boundaries may refer to:
* Border, in political geography
Entertainment
* ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film
* ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film
*Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...
between Papua New Guinea and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
The river is strongly meandering and rather narrow. From the rivermouth, it stretches in a roughly northeasterly direction, and so is entirely located in PNG territory. It flows through the
Trans-Fly savanna and grasslands
The Trans Fly savanna and grasslands are a lowland ecoregion on the south coast of the island of New Guinea in both the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean sides of the island. With their monsoon and dry season climate these grasslands are quite di ...
, including the
Tonda Wildlife Management Area.
Europeans first discovered the river on 27 February 1893, and it was named after Jacob Bensbach, Dutch Resident at
Ternate
Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...
, by
Sir William MacGregor. The local people call it the Torassi (sometimes spelled Torasi).
Tonda languages
The Tonda languages form a branch of the Yam language family of southern New Guinea. There are over 10 languages.
Tonda languages share some areal features are shared with the Kolopom languages.
Languages
The Tonda languages are:
;Tonda / West ...
are spoken in the Bensbach River area.
See also
*
List of rivers of Papua New Guinea This is a list of rivers of Papua New Guinea.
In alphabetical order
New Britain
* Aemoi River
* Apmi River
* Balima River (Papua New Guinea)
* Johanna River (New Britain)
* Warangoi River
New Ireland
* Aparam River
* Lossuk River
* Lumis Rive ...
*
Western Province (Papua New Guinea)
Western Province is a coastal province in southwestern Papua New Guinea, bordering the Indonesian province of Papua. The provincial capital is Daru. The largest town in the province is Tabubil. Other major settlements are Kiunga, Ningerum, Ol ...
*
Tonda Wildlife Management Area
*
Trans-Fly savanna and grasslands
The Trans Fly savanna and grasslands are a lowland ecoregion on the south coast of the island of New Guinea in both the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean sides of the island. With their monsoon and dry season climate these grasslands are quite di ...
*
Morehead River
References
Rivers of Papua New Guinea
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