August River

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August River
Yapsie
Data
location Sandaun ( Papua New Guinea )
River system Sepik
Drain over Sepik  → Bismarck Sea (Pacific Ocean)
Confluence of the source streams in the West Range
4 ° 47 ′ 20 ″  S , 141 ° 24 ′ 8 ″  E
Source height approx.  700  m
muzzle in the Sepik coordinates: 4 ° 6 '1.44 "  S , 141 ° 9' 2.2"  O 4 ° 6 '1.44 "  S , 141 ° 9' 2.2"  O
Mouth height approx.  80  m
Height difference approx. 620 m

The August River , also known as Yapsie , is a right tributary of the Sepik in New Guinea .

Location and course

The August River rises not far from the origin of the more than 1100 kilometers long Sepik and accompanies the main river along its entire length.

The headwaters are located on the Victor Emanuel mountain range , part of the Star Mountains of the highlands (central chain ) of New Guinea, about 10 km north of the Sepik headwaters. Sepik and August flow there west-northwest, August forms the northern side valley. About 40 km after the origin it takes the Yawu River from the right from the just grazing next northern neighboring valley. Not far away it leaves the mountains at Yapsie (August River landing strip) at about 200  m above sea level and enters the vast lowlands of the Upper Sepik (Great Depression) . Here August approaches the Sepik for 2 km, but then swings northwards past a hill formation to the east.

The August then meanders strongly at the foot of the West Range , the low northwestern foothills of the Bismarck Mountains, parallel to the Sepik and the border with Papua (Indonesia) , to the north. There are the villages of Bibiyun and Wusianam , where another major tributary flows from the West Range. Roughly 80 km as the crow flies after leaving the mountains, at about 80  m altitude near the village of Isu , August flows into the Sepik, which there has already taken its final direction of flow east.

Nature and inhabitants

The area is closed rainforest and largely untouched. Sepik and August form extensive floodplains on the lower reaches during the rainy season and can merge there.

In the plain ( Yapsie Rural Local-level Government of the Telefomin District of the Sandaun Province ) Abau (Up-River dialect), a subgroup of the Sepik-Ramu languages, live on the upper reaches in the mountains ( Telefomin Rural Local-level Government) Suganga and in the Mian headwaters , two Mianmin languages that belong to the Ok family ( trans New Guinea languages ) of the inner highlands.

literature

  • SJ Patersonac, WJ Perryb: The geology of the upper Sepik-August River Area, New Guinea . In: Journal of the Geological Society of Australia . Volume 11, Issue 2, 1964, pp. 199–211 , doi : 10.1080 / 00167616408728572 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b to map relief , Google Maps
  2. ↑ a b c d Information from the map in [1] , Upper Sepik-Central New Guinea Project and Papua New Guinea, Map 5 , ethnologue.com
  3. ↑ Barry Craig: Abau. In: Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement. 2002 (online Encyclopedia.com ; extensive article on the people, references).
  4. ↑ further villages of the Abau there: Ileis: 49; Imnai # 1: 167; Wauru # 1: 162; Wauru # 2: 42 (total residents 426, Yapsie CD / Census District); 1980 Census, Martin 1981, p. 211; quoted n. Abau . ( papuaweb.org [PDF] Collection of materials, typewritten; more detailed references are missing in the pdf). pdf ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.papuaweb.org