Nieuw Nickerie. Retrieved 17 November 2009. is the third largest city in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

with a population estimated at . It is the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

of the

Nickerie district Nickerie is a predominantly rural district of Suriname located on the north-west coast. Nickerie's capital city is Nieuw-Nickerie. The district borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Coronie to the east, Sipaliwini District, Sipaliwini to the so ...

, and the terminus of the East-West Link. Nieuw Nickerie lies on the mouth of the

Nickerie river The Nickerie River is a river in the northwestern part of Suriname. The river originates in the Bakhuis Mountains and then flows to the North where it forms part of the border between the Coronie and Nickerie districts. The river then turns W ...

on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast, opposite the mouth of the Corantijn river (Courantyne) and the Guyanese town of

Corriverton Corriverton is the easternmost town in Guyana. It lies at the mouth of the Corentyne River, opposite Nieuw Nickerie, Suriname, to which it is linked by ferry from South Drain. Corriverton is located about 195 mi/313 km from Georgeto ...

(Springlands), to which a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service operates. A bridge between Suriname and Guyana is still being planned. Major Henk Fernandes Airport, also known as ''Nieuw Nickerie Airport'', is located near the city.

History

In 1718, Dietzel became the first known person to settle in the area. In 1797, governor Jurriaan de Friderici approved the first plantation in Nickerie. A large number of Scottish and English settlers arrived in the area during the British Occupation, and primarily grew

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

. Nieuw Nickerie was built in 1879 after the former center of the district,

Nieuw Rotterdam Nieuw Rotterdam was the capital of the Nickerie District in Suriname, built on the right bank of the Nickerie River. Around 1875, this town got flooded by the sea. In 1879, on the left bank of the Nickerie River, the current capital Nieuw Nickerie ...

, was destroyed by floods. Nieuw Nickerie was originally planned on a

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

created in 1869, but was moved further in land. In 1940s a sea dike was built to protect the area. The name Nickerie is probably based on ''Neekeari'' which was first reported by Teenstra in 1596 for an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

tribe living the area. The name also appears in Robert Dudley's ''The Voyage of Robert Dudley to the West-Indies, 1594-1595''.

Economy

The main industries are

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. Nickerie is the largest rice producer of Suriname. The town contains a market and several hotels, including the Hotel Ameerali, Hotel de President, Hotel Tropical, Hotel de Vesting and Residence Inn. The first Surinamese hospital outside of Paramaribo, Mungra Medical Centre, is located on the Annastraat in Nieuw-Nickerie. Nickerie has a harbour, but the entrance depth is 3.7 metres and can carter to ships up to 6,000

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

. The harbour has been upgraded in 2012, but will be upgraded further. Nieuw Nickerie is started to develop as a tourist area. There are quite a number of

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s in the city, and the nearby Bigi Pan Nature Reserve opened opportunities for

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

Notable people

* Clarence Breeveld (1948-2017), singer and musician. * Ronald Hoop (1967), football player. * Benito Kemble (1968), footballer. *

Jagernath Lachmon Jagernath Lachmon, also Jaggernath Lachmon, (21 September 1916 – 19 October 2001) was a Surinamese politician. He was one of the founders of the Progressive Reform Party (VHP), an Indo-Surinamese party founded in 1947 of which he served as Pre ...

(1916-2001), politician. * Ken Monkou (1964), footballer. *

Mellisa Santokhi-Seenacherry Mellisa Santokhi-Seenacherry (, ; ; born 27 October 1980) is a Surinamese lawyer, who is currently the First Lady of Suriname as the wife of Chan Santokhi. Personal life Seenacherry studied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Anton d ...

(1980), lawyer and First Lady of Suriname * Ramkisoen Dewdat Oedayrajsing Varma (1907–1968), politician and Hindu priest. * Ulrich Wilson (1964), football player.

Climate

Nieuw Nickerie has a borderline

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Af'') just short of being a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(''Am''). A distinctly drier period occurs from September to November, whilst May to July are the wettest months, although the weather is persistently uncomfortable, hot and humid throughout the year.

References

External links

Nickerie.net
{{Authority control 1879 establishments in South America Guyana–Suriname border crossings Populated coastal places in Suriname Populated places established in 1879 Populated places in Nickerie District Ports and harbours of Suriname Resorts of Suriname