The Canje River, located in northeastern Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

, is the main tributary of the Berbice River

Berbice River

The Berbice River, located in eastern Guyana, rises in the highlands of the Rupununi region. The Berbice flows northward for 370 miles through dense forests to the coastal plain...

. It runs roughly parallel to the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 coast.

The Dutch

Dutch Empire

The Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...

 established an outpost, Concordia Post on the river. In 1763 a slave revolt began on two plantations on the Canje River.

The Canje River supplies water to the Guyana Sugar Corporation

Guyana Sugar Corporation

The Guyana Sugar Corporation, best known by its acronym GuySuCo, is a Guyanese sugar company owned by the government. It is the country's largest cultivator and producer of sugar, a commodity which is responsible for approximately 20% of Guyana's annual revenue and 40% of all agricultural production...

's Skeldon Estate (c. 12,000 acres (49 km²)); Albion Estate (20,000 acres (80 km²)); and Rose Hall Estate (12,000 to 14,000 acres (49 to 51 km²)). The Manarabisi Rice Cultivation (17,000 acres (69 km²)) and Black Bush Polder (17,000 acres (69 km²)) also depend on this river.

Pumps have been placed along the Canje River that lead to the cultivation area. There are two pumps at Skeldon. These push the water to the 8 miles (12.9 km) long Sandaka Canal then into the sugarcane cultivation area.

At the 7 miles (11.3 km) long Manarabisi Canal there are two pumps and three pumps at the 7 mile (10 km) long Black Bush Polder.

When all these pumps are in operation during the irrigation season, the level of water in the Canje River drops and a sufficient volume of water cannot be supplied. At this point, the gate on the Berbice River end of the Torani Canal

Torani Canal

The Torani Canal in northeastern Guyana was constructed to transfer water from the Berbice River to the Canje River. The canal is 19 kilometres long....

 is opened to allow for flow into the Canje Creek.

The Hoatzin

Hoatzin

The Hoatzin , also known as the Hoactzin, Stinkbird, or Canje Pheasant, is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riverine forest and mangrove of the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America...

 is known in Guyana as the Canje Pheasant, relating to its presence in the river.