Mamberamo River
Encyclopedia
The Mamberamo is a large river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 on the island of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, in the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n province of Papua
Papua (Indonesian province)
Papua comprises most of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. Its capital is Jayapura. It's the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea...

. It is the widest river in Indonesia.

The source of the river is formed from the confluences of its upper tributaries, the Tariku
Tariku River
The Tariku River is a river in the northern part of the Indonesian province of Papua. During the Dutch colonial era it was known as the Rouffaer River. The Tariku River flows generally eastward in the basin north of the island's central mountainous cordillera...

 and Taritatu
Taritatu River
The Taritatu River is a river in the northern part of the Indonesian province of Papua. During the Dutch colonial era it was known as the Idenburg River. The Taritatu River flows generally westward in the basin north of the island's central mountainous cordillera...

 Rivers. From there it flows northwards in a great valley through the Van Rees Range (Pegunungan Van Rees), to reach the lowland marshes of its broad river delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...

. The Mamberamo discharges into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 at the northern point of Point D'Urville (Tanjung D'Urville).

The river's huge valley is home to various uncontacted peoples
Uncontacted peoples
Uncontacted people, also referred to as isolated people or lost tribes, are communities who live, or have lived, either by choice or by circumstance, without significant contact with globalized civilisation....

 and incredible biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

. In the 1990s, the Indonesian Government had plans to construct a large hydroelectric dam on the Mamberamo that would have submerged much of the area. This plan was shelved after the Indonesian financial crisis from 1998–1999, but there are concerns by environmental groups that it could be resurrected sometime in the future.

The Mamberamo area also broadly refers to several nearby mountain ranges, including the Van Rees and Foja Mountains
Foja Mountains
The Foja Mountains are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometres of old growth tropical rainforest in the interior part of the range...

 (also known as Foya), which were the subject of a recent rapid biological assessment conducted by Conservation International
Conservation International
Conservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...

, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
Indonesian Institute of Sciences
The Indonesian Institute of Sciences is the governmental authority for science and research in Indonesia...

, and Cenderawasih University
Cenderawasih University
Universitas Cenderawasih is a university in Jayapura, in the province Papua, Indonesia. The university is the leading educational institution in the province....

. The scientific team discovered the first new bird species from New Guinea in 60 years, and a wealth of other new plants and animals. The Foya Mountains appear to be a globally outstanding repository of biodiversity.

History

In 1545, the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 navigator Yñigo Ortiz de Retez
Yñigo Ortiz de Retez
Yñigo Ortiz de Retez was a 16th-century Spanish maritime explorer, who navigated the northern coastline of the Pacific - Melanesian island of New Guinea, and is credited with bestowing the island's name .-Spanish discovery:...

 sailed along the northern coastline of the island as far as the mouth of this river. At this spot he claimed the territory for the Spanish Crown, and in the process bestowing the name to the island (Nueva Guinea) by which it is known today.

The first European to enter the mouth of the Mamberamo was Dutchman Dr D. F. van Braam Morris in 1883. The resident doctor from the northern Moluccas rowed up the river to ascertain that it was navigable by steamer. The following year in 1884 van Bram Morris returned in the steamship Harvik and travelled 50 mi (80 km) along its course.

Mamberamo Bridge

The Mamberamo Bridge is the second longest cable stayed span in Indonesia after Kutai Kartanegara Bridge
Kutai Kartanegara Bridge
-References:...

with 235 meters and 270 meters respectively, but the latest bridge has collapsed in November 2011.
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