Ramu
Ramu | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Papua New Guinea |
Region | Madang Province |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Kratke Range, Papua New Guinea |
Mouth | |
• location | Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea |
• coordinates | 4°1′S 144°40′E / 4.017°S 144.667°E |
Length | 640 km (400 mi) |
Basin size | 18,720 km2 (7,230 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• average | 1,500 m3/s (53,000 cu ft/s) |
• maximum | 5,000 m3/s (180,000 cu ft/s) |
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 640 km (398 mi) northwest to the Bismarck Sea.
Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries from the Bismarck Range to the south and the Finisterre and Adelbert.
History
For many millennia, people have lived along the river, and the river has formed the basis for food, transport, and culture.
German exploration
The area encompassed by the Ramu was part of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland when Germany established German New Guinea in 1884. The Germans were quick to explore their territory, and the mouth of the Ramu was discovered in 1886 by Vice-Admiral Freiherr von Schleinitz after returning to Finschhafen from an expedition to the nearby Sepik.[1] Schleinitz called the Ramu, Ottilien after his ship the Ottilie.[1]
The course of the river was first discovered 10 years later in 1896 after Dr
Another German explorer, Ernst Tappenbeck, who had accompanied Lauterbach previously, led the first expedition to ascend the Ramu in 1898. Tappenbeck was charged with discovering whether the Ottilien found in 1886 was the same river Lauterbech had found. He was accompanied by former Prussian Army officers, a Kompagnie official and an Australian gold prospector Robert Phillip, and travelled in the Neu Guinea Kompagnie steamer Herzog Johann Albrecht.[3]
After five days of journey up the Ramu, Tappenbeck left his companions at a well-stocked camp when river water levels fell. He returned four and half months later in another steamer, Herzogin Elisabeth, and the party managed to navigate 190 mi (310 km) upstream and go farther still by canoe.[3] By the end of 1898, the expedition had established a station on the river, mapped it and tributaries, and made a large botanical collection.[3]
Further explorations for gold and botanical specimens were conducted by the Germans. In 1902, Hans Klink and J. Schlenzig established a new Ramu station that was later connected by a bridle track to the coast.[4] Dr R. Schlecter led another expedition in 1902 in search of gutta-percha trees.[4] Then in 1907, Austrian explorer Wilhelm Dammköhler led an expedition up the Markham Valley and linked the headwaters of the Markham River with the Ramu for the first time.[4]
Australian administration and Second World War
After the
In 1936,
During the
Hydroelectric plant
The Ramu flows into
A hydroelectric plant was under construction on the toe of the Yonki Dam, however, construction is currently (May 2011) suspended.
Image gallery
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The last 300 or so kilometres of the Ramu as it winds towards the Bismarck
-
Ramu and Sepik sediment plumes
References
- Souter, Gavin (1963). New Guinea: The Last Unknown. Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0-207-94627-2.