river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
on the island of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, and the third largest in
Oceania
Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
by discharge volume after the Fly and Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
(PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepik) and East Sepik, with a small section flowing through the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n province of Papua.
The Sepik has a large catchment area, and landforms that include swamplands,
tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...
s and mountains. Biologically, the river system is often said to be possibly the largest uncontaminated freshwater wetland system in the Asia-Pacific region. But, in fact, numerous fish and plant species have been introduced into the Sepik since the mid-20th century.
Name
In 1884, Germany asserted control over the northeast quadrant of the island of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, which became part of the
German colonial empire
The German colonial empire () constituted the overseas colonies, dependencies, and territories of the German Empire. Unified in 1871, the chancellor of this time period was Otto von Bismarck. Short-lived attempts at colonization by Kleinstaat ...
. The colony was initially managed by the Deutsche Neuguinea-Kompagnie or German New Guinea Company, a commercial enterprise that christened the territory Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. The first European ship to enter the Sepik estuary was the ''Samoa'' in May 1885. But the river, in fact, did not yet have a European name. It was thus termed ''Kaiserin Augustafluß'' by the explorer and scientist
Otto Finsch
Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earne ...
, after the German Empress Augusta.
The word ''Sipik'' was first reported by A. Full as one of two names for the watercourse—the other being ''Abschima''—used by the natives living at the mouth of the river. A few years later, Leonhard Schultze applied the term ''Sepik'' to the entire watercourse, and it took, although Schultze also noted another name for the river, ''Azimar''. William Churchill, writing in the ''Bulletin of the American Geographical Society'', said "These are not names of the river, they are but names for small stretches of the river as known to the folk of this or that hamlet. We cannot reckon how many such names there may be in the course of more than of the system." Since "there is no indigenous name for the whole stream", Churchill concluded that "This is clearly a case where a European designation may properly be applied." He advocated for Kaiserin-Augusta, but that name faded with the German loss of colonial control over the territory after World War I. The word ''Sepik'' henceforth became the official name of the river.
Of course, each language group had one or more names of its own for the river. For example, the Iatmul people call the river ''Avusett'', a compound of "bone" (''ava'') and "lake" (''tset'').
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. From its mountain headwaters near Telefomin, it travels north-west and leaves the mountains abruptly near ''Yapsei''. From there it flows into Indonesian Papua, before turning back north-east, for the majority of its journey following the great ''Central Depression''. Along its course it receives numerous tributaries from the Bewani and Torricelli Mountains to the north and the Central Range to the south, including the Yuat River formed by the ''Lai'' and the ''Jimmi''.
For most of the Sepik's length, the river winds in serpentine fashion, like the
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
, to the
Bismarck Sea
The Bismarck Sea (, ) lies in the south-western Pacific Ocean within the Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinean exclusive economic zone. It is located north-east of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines i ...
off northern Papua New Guinea. Unlike many other large rivers, the Sepik has no
delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...
whatsoever, but flows straight into the sea, about east of the town of Wewak. It is navigable for most of its length.
Hydrology
The river has a total length of over and has a drainage basin of over . Its meandering bed is wide and averages deep. There is a belt of active meanders along most of its course, that has created a floodplain up to wide, with extensive backwater swamps. There are around 1,500
oxbow
__NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or wikt:bullock, bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meand ...
and other lakes in the floodplain, the largest of which are the Chambri Lakes. Its annual sediment load is estimated at 115 million tonnes.
The Sepik basin is largely an undisturbed environment, with no major urban settlements, or
mining
Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
and
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...
activities, in the river catchment. April Salome Forest Management Area is located in Sepik River basin.
Its catchment is classified as type ''Af'' (
tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...
) according to
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
, with a rainfall of 3,390 mm.
Discharge
*1969/1970 water year 8,964 m3/s.
Sepik River discharge (m3/s) at
Ambunti
Ambunti is a town in Ambunti-Dreikikier District of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea. It has a population of 2,110.
The town serves as a gateway to April Salome Forest Management Area.
Sepik languages
The Sepik or Sepik River languages are a language family, family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik River, Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea, proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 in a somewhat more limited form than prese ...
, each corresponding to one or more culture regions of related villages that exhibit similar social characteristics. The largest language and culture group along the river is the Iatmul people.
The Sepik-
Ramu
The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea.
Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...
Sepik
The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...
language families
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ana ...
, while local
language isolate
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
Sepik
The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...
, and Lower Sepik-Ramu are by far the three most internally diverse language families of the region.
History
Local villagers have lived along the river for many millennia and the river has formed the basis for food, transport and culture. There are at least 100 distinct villages and hamlets along the river, and most likely more.
Early exploration
European contact with the river started in 1885, shortly after
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
established colonial control over
German New Guinea
German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...
or Kaiser Wilhelmsland. The river was named by
Otto Finsch
Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earne ...
, ''Kaiserin Augusta'', after the German Empress Augusta. The colony was initially managed by the German New Guinea Company (Neuguinea-Kompagnie). Finsch, in the ship ''Samoa'', entered only the estuary. He returned a year later, and the ''Samoa'' launched a smaller vessel that navigated about upstream from its mouth. For the most part, German interest in the river was mainly to explore its economic potential, to collect artifacts, and to recruit native laborers to work on coastal and island copra plantations.
In 1886 and 1887, further expeditions by
steam boat
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels working on lakes, rivers, and in short-sea shipping. The ...
were conducted by the Germans and over were explored. In 1887, the Samoa returned with another scientific expedition as well as a dozen Malays, eight men from the island of
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
, and two members of the
Rhenish Missionary Society
The Rhenish Missionary Society (''Rhenish'' of the river Rhine; , ''RMG'') was one of the largest Protestant missionary society, missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamate ...
. In the 1890s, missionaries from the Society of the Divine Word or SVD begin to proselytize along the river.
Europeans now increased their travels and presence along the river. In the early twentieth century, several major expeditions to the river include the Südsee-Expedition sponsored by the Hamburg Academic of Science, the German-Dutch Border Expedition and the Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss-Expedition These expeditions, mainly German, collected flora and fauna, studied local tribes, and produced the first maps. The station town of Angoram was established in 1913 as a base on the lower Sepik for explorations, but with the beginning of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the explorations ceased.
After the first World War the Australian government took trusteeship of the German colony, creating the
Territory of New Guinea
The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered League of Nations and then United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an adm ...
, and the Sepik region came under their jurisdiction. During this period the Australians established a station on the middle Sepik at
Ambunti
Ambunti is a town in Ambunti-Dreikikier District of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea. It has a population of 2,110.
The town serves as a gateway to April Salome Forest Management Area.Beatrice Grimshaw attached herself to an expedition, and claimed to be the first white woman to ascent the Sepik, commenting on the widespread use of " pidgen-English" as a ''
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
''. In 1935 Sir Walter McNicoll, the new administrator of the Territory of New Guinea, travelled up length of the Sepik to "have a look at the river people and the kind of country along the banks".
Modern 'explorers'
Despite the thorough exploration of the Sepik and the river basin by Europeans starting with the 1880s, and the extraordinarily keen knowledge of the region by local people and communities, many travelers today still see their tourism in the area as heroic efforts.
Part of this fantasy is that the river tribes are often said to have "little contact with the modern world," as the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' put it as late as 2017. But that is just not true, and certainly not for a sizable tourist vessel operated b Coral Expeditions Traveling the river is said to be "one of the last great adventures on earth".
For example, in 2010 Clark Carter and Andrew Johnson traveled the length of the Sepik River from source to sea. They hiked to the source from Telefomin and kayaked down the upper reaches in an inflatable kayak. After nearly drowning in a section of rapids near Telefomin, they decided to walk through the jungle, following the river until it was calm enough to take a
dugout canoe
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...
the remaining to the
Bismarck Sea
The Bismarck Sea (, ) lies in the south-western Pacific Ocean within the Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinean exclusive economic zone. It is located north-east of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines i ...
. The expedition took six weeks. "The Sepik really appealed to me," said Carter, "because it conjures up images of remote tribes and wild animals. Probably the most alluring thing for me though, is just how un-travelled the area is."
Also in 2010, the painter Ingo Kühl, accompanied by the local artist Tomulopa Deko, traveled from Goroka via
Madang
Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.
History
Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai was probably the first Eur ...
, Wewak and Maprik to Pagwi and from there on the Sepik upriver to
Ambunti
Ambunti is a town in Ambunti-Dreikikier District of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea. It has a population of 2,110.
The town serves as a gateway to April Salome Forest Management Area.Yessan. He described his experiences in an illustrated book. In 2012 he repeated this expedition together with his wife and Tom Deko. They reached the settlements of Oum Number 1 and Oum Number 2 and the April River, a tributary of the Sepik.
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. By the end of the war, though, the Japanese had been completely surrounded after Hollandia and Aitape in
Netherlands New Guinea
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea (, ) was the Western New Guinea, western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas administrative territorial entity, overseas territory of ...
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...
, was hard-fought and drawn out due to the terrain, lasting until the end of the war in August 1945.
The Australians eventually pushed the Japanese back to the village of Timbunke on the middle Sepik in July 1945. After an Australian
RAAF
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...
plane landed from Timbunke the Japanese suspected that the villagers had collaborated with the Australians and proceeded to massacre 100 of the villagers.
Artwork
The Sepik is one of the most profuse and diverse art-producing regions of the world. The numerous different tribes living along the river produce magnificent wood carvings, clay pottery and other art and craft. Different areas along the Sepik produce distinct art styles so an experienced curator will be able to visually distinguish individual styles. The Sepik area is well known for its sculptures, masks, shields and other artifacts. Many tribes use ''garamut'' drums in rituals; the drums are formed from long hollowed-out tree trunks carved into the shape of various totem animals.
Gallery
Image:Sepik River chief 1975.JPG, Korogo Village, Sepik River, PNG, 1975. Franz Luthi
Image:Sepik 0269.jpg, A black-capped lory perching on a boy's head at Kaminabit village, Middle Sepik
Image:Sepik 0203.jpg, A warm welcome to foreign visitors
Image:Sepik 0057.jpg, Snapshot of the daily life of the villagers
List of rivers of Indonesia
This is a list of rivers in Indonesia.''Map of Indonesia''. Peta Indonesia. Wawasan Nusantara. CV. Indo Prima Sarana. Accessed 29 Juli 2017.
By island
This list is arranged by island in alphabetical order, with respective tributaries indented un ...
*
List of rivers by discharge
file:Rivers of the world by discharge volume.png, upright=1.5, Rivers with an average discharge of 5,000 m3/s or greater, as a fraction of the estimated global total.
This article lists rivers by their average discharge (hydrology), discharge measu ...