Benzdorp is a village in the

Sipaliwini District Sipaliwini is the largest district of Suriname, located in the south. Sipaliwini is the only district that does not have a regional capital, as it is directly administered by the national government in Paramaribo. History Sipaliwini was created i ...

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 named after the English consul and bullion dealer H.J.W. Benz.

Geography

The village lies in the jungle of the Tapanahony resort, near the Lawa River that forms the border with

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

, an overseas region and further north, in the Marowijne. Near Benzdorp is the rapids of Oemankrassiabra. Downstream (to the North) lies the town of

Cottica Cottica Lawa (often called Cottica) is a village in the district of Sipaliwini, Suriname. It is located in the east, along the Marowijne River and the border with French Guiana. The village has a school, and a clinic. History During the 18th ce ...

and upstream is

Anapaike Kawemhakan, formerly also known as Anapaikë, is a Wayana village in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The village lies on the banks of the Lawa River, which forms the border with French Guiana. Name The indigenous name of the village is Ka ...

. To the east is

Nouveau Wakapou Nouveau Wakapou, also Nouveau Wacapou, is an Aluku maroon village situated on the Lawa River in French Guiana. The village is located across the Surinamese gold mining village of Benzdorp. Overview In the early 20th century gold was discovered ...

. To the Southeast, across the Lawa River is the French Guyanese place

Maripasoula Maripasoula, previously named Upper Maroni, is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. With a land area of , Maripasoula is the largest commune of France. Geography The Lawa and Maroni ...

Notable landmark

Southwest of the village is

Fatu Switie Fatoe Switie Mountains ( nl, Fatoe Switiegebergte) is a mountain range in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The highest peak is about 375 metres. In 1902, Governor Cornelis Lely of Suriname decided that the Lawa Railway would be built by the g ...

, a mountain ridge with an altitude of about 375 meters.

History

Around 1885, gold was found in this area between the Lawa and the

Tapanahony Tapanahoni is a resort in Suriname, located in the Sipaliwini District. Its population at the 2012 census was 13,808. Tapanahoni is a part of Sipaliwini which has no capital, but is directly governed from Paramaribo. Tapanahony is an enormous r ...

rivers, but because there was a disputed border between the Dutch and the French colony, the case was submitted to Russian Tsar Alexander III who in May 1891 awarded the area to Suriname. In 1902, then-Governor

Cornelis Lely Cornelis Lely (; 23 September 1854 – 22 January 1929) was a Dutch politician of the Liberal Union (LU) and civil engineer. He oversaw the passage of an act of parliament authorising construction of the Zuiderzee Works, a huge project – desi ...

in Suriname, decided that the

Lawa Railway The Lawa Railway (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Lawaspoorweg'' or later ''Landsspoorweg'') was a single-track metre gauge railway in Suriname. It was built during the gold rush in the early 20th century, from the harbour town Paramaribo to Dam at the ...

would be built by the government. The railway line would transport gold from the Lawa area to Paramaribo. The proposed railway line was only half completed from Paramaribo due to disappointing gold finds. Around 1974, the population of the village shrunk to about 10 inhabitants. More recently, gold seekers have returned to the village, including a relatively large number of ''

garimpeiros Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

'' (Brazilian gold miners), and it became a gold extraction area since the early 1990s. The ''garimpeiros'' and ''gowtuman'' (Surinamese gold miners) moved inland, founding a new village referred to as Benzdorp, though it is kilometers away from the original village Benz founded on the banks of the Lawa River (which is now called "the landing"). An estimated 600 people live in the contemporary Benz village, of which two thirds come from Brazil and the others are

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 ...

. Benzdorp is originally an

Aluku The Aluku are a Bushinengue ethnic group living mainly on the riverbank in Maripasoula in southwest French Guiana. The group are sometimes called Boni, referring to the 18th-century leader, Bokilifu Boni. History The Aluku are an ethnic gro ...

(or Aloekoe or Boni) village; both banks (but especially the French) of the Lawa on this height have been inhabited by the Aluku Maroons for hundreds of years. These people have been active as gold miners in this part of their habitat. The Surinamese government has the rights to gold mining in the Benz village and surroundings and has issued a concession to Grassalco, which provides contracts to the (Brazilian, Surinamese and French) gold miners for a monthly fee.

Notable disasters

In May 2006, the village was flooded when the water of the Lawa reached far beyond the banks as a result of heavy rainfall, where also many other Surinamese villages suffered from then. On April 3, 2008, an airplane operated by

Blue Wing Airlines Blue Wing Airlines n.v. is an airline with its head office on the grounds of Zorg en Hoop Airport in Paramaribo, Suriname.

crashed upon landing at

Lawa Antino Airport Lawa Antino Airstrip is an airstrip serving the gold mining concessions near the town of Benzdorp in Suriname. The runway is southwest of the town. Charters and destinations Charter Airlines serving this airport are: Notable disasters On ...

near Benzdorp in which 19 people were killed. The Lawa Antino airport is west of Benzdorp. On May 17, 2013, a private helicopter from

, tasked with transporting gold during an unregistered flight in the interior of

, crashed near Benzdorp gold mining settlement of Boewese, in the concession of

NaNa Resources Nana, Nanna, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People and fictional characters * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana ( ...

. The pilot got injured with a leg fracture and was transferred for treatment to

in French Guiana.

References

{{coord, 3, 40, 26, N, 54, 5, 6, W, region:SR_type:city, display=title Populated places in Sipaliwini District Gold mines in Suriname