Lably
Skip to content

Sipaliwini District

  • 3 min read
  • 4 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Area, Tribe and Archaeology

LabAreaLab · Class 9Surface Areas & VolumesLab · Class 9–10Areas Related To CirclesLab · Class 8–9Areas of Parallelograms and Triangles

History

Sipaliwini was created in 1983 and has a population of 37,065 and an area of 130,567 km2 (50,412 sq mi). The district is nearly 4 times as large as the other 9 districts of Suriname combined; however, most of Sipaliwini is almost completely covered by rainforest. To create the district, the Nickerie District was reduced from around 65,000 km2 (25,000 sq mi) to 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi). Sipaliwini is the tribal area inhabited by Maroons and indigenous people. Various peace treaties starting in 1686 had recognised autonomy for the tribes over their own area; however, a specific delineation of the tribal area had been lacking. The name is of Indigenous origin, referring to the Sipaliwini River, and means "river of stones or rocks".

It is thought by archaeologists that hunter-gatherers lived in what is today Sipaliwini district during the Paleolithic period. The region was largely left alone during the colonial period, as the Dutch that controlled Suriname were fearful of the Portuguese in Brazil, and it was not until the 20th century that development projects began.

As of 2004, there were 41 schools in the areas. An increase in schools is planned, because some children have to travel long distances by foot or boat to neighbouring villages. As of 2004, there are 24 clinics in the district. Medical care is provided by Medische Zending. In the 1950s, Operation Grasshopper established many tiny airstrips in the district in order to make the territory accessible.

Sipaliwini district had seen occasional fighting in the late 1960s between Guyanese and Surinamese troops over border disputes in the south-west Tigri Area of the Coeroeni resort.

Sign in to keep reading

3 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Animals

Monotypic taxonTaxonomic group with only one subordinate taxonSpecies descriptionFormal description of a discovered speciesParaphylyType of taxonomic groupIUCN Red ListInventory of the global conservation status of biological speciesSubtropicsGeographic and climate zoneCommon nameName generally used for a taxon, group of taxa or organism(s)