Uitkijk is a village in the

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

of Kampong Baroe in the Saramacca District of

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 ...

. The village is located on the

Saramacca River Saramacca River is a river in Suriname. The Arawaks named this river "Surama", and today's name "Saramacca" is probably derived from it. It originates in the Wilhelmina Mountains and flows northwards and enters the Atlantic Ocean together with t ...

History

The village started as a wood plantation, In 1778, a military outpost was established at Uitkijk, because of its strategic importance: all river traffic from

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

heading west had to pass through Uitkijk. Between 1789 and 1793, the Boni War was fought against runaway slaves. 44 of the captured slaves were born in the forest, and resettled in Uitkijk. The military outpost does not exist any more, however the police station for the region is located in Uitkijk. In 1936, a road was constructed between Hamburg and

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

which allowed cars to travel west from Paramaribo, however at Uitkijk, a ferry was needed across the Saramacca River. In 2011, a bridge was opened.

References

Populated places in Saramacca District {{Suriname-geo-stub