Ortoire River

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Ortoire River
Ortoire River, 1910

Ortoire River, 1910

Data
location Trinidad and Tobago
River system Ortoire River
source At New Grant, Princes Town
10 ° 16 ′ 8 ″  N , 61 ° 19 ′ 8 ″  W.
muzzle At Ortoire in the Atlantic Coordinates: 10 ° 20 ′ 11 ″  N , 60 ° 59 ′ 30 ″  W 10 ° 20 ′ 11 ″  N , 60 ° 59 ′ 30 ″  W.
Mouth height 0  m

length 42 km
Left tributaries Poole River, Balata River
Communities New Grant, Hindustan, Tableland, Mafeking, Ortoire
Ports Ortoire

The Ortoire River is a river on Trinidad in the Caribbean island state of Trinidad and Tobago . At 42 km, it is the longest river in the country.

etymology

The name comes from the language of the Trinidadian Arawak . Under Spanish colonial rule, the river was known as the Rio de Guacharo , after the Spanish word for the fat swallow that lived in caves by the river. Ortoire, at the mouth of the river, is named after him. The Ortoiroid culture, originally from the Orinoco basin, hunters and gatherers whose presence in Trinidad and Tobago between 5000 BC BC and 1000 BC BC is documented by finds in a total of 25 archaeological sites, is again named after a site near Ortoire.

course

The Ortoire River has its source near New Grant in the Princes Town region . It initially flows in numerous turns to the east, passing the towns of Hindustan and Tableland and then runs through dense rainforest, crossing the border to the Mayaro-Rio Claro region . In this inaccessible area, the Poole River, which rises near Fonrose, and the Balata River, which rises near Bristol Village, flow into the Ortoire. About ten kilometers before reaching the east coast, the river turns to the northeast, passes the town of Mafeking and flows into the L'Anse Chausee Bay, which opens up to the Atlantic Ocean , at the town of Ortoire, which is named after the river .

fauna

Catfish , tarpon and salmon live in the river and are fished. Specimens of the endangered Caribbean manatee live in the lower reaches of the river . The South American otter has been spotted sporadically. Bioluminescent plankton ensures at irregular intervals that the water of the Ortoire River glows blue in certain places at night when it is churned. A mythical creature is the Huillia, a snake-like, oversized creature, to whom numerous attacks on humans and animals have been alleged and which were presumably sightings of anacondas native to Nariva Swamp north of the Ortoire .

Economic use

The catchment area of ​​the Ortoire River consists of 60% rainforest. The remaining 40% is largely used as agricultural land and by the oil and natural gas industry, with urbanization in the river basin increasing in the Princes Town region in particular, which is accompanied by an expansion of areas for trade and services. In the small town of Ortoire with its large natural harbor, fishing plays a role, as does along the lower reaches of the Ortoire, where oysters and other mussels and crabs are caught. In the estuary, tourism plays a minor role in the form of kayak tours from various providers. The high degree of pollution of the river from untreated sewage is a threat to its economic use. In 2014, an 18,000 hectare piece of land south of the central reaches of the Ortoire, the so-called Ortoire Block , was used for the production of oil and gas for up to 31 Leased for years to the Canadian company Touchstone Exploration.

history

Ferry across the Ortoire River, 1910

The mouth of the Ortoire was already around 5000 BC. Settled. South of the river mouth on the east coast there were plantations from the end of the 18th century, but they were cut off from the rest of Trinidad by land. In 1818 the region was connected to the Trinidadian coastal steam network. A survey of the river was carried out in 1850 in the hope of finding a passage to the Gulf of Paria in order to be able to conveniently transport agricultural products to the commercial centers of Port of Spain and San Fernando . There was no such passage, but it turned out that the Ortoire River is largely navigable. In the 1880s , a ferry service across the Ortoire River was installed using a pontoon that was pulled across the river on a rope. In 1928 the coastal steam system was discontinued.

The 1967 novel Green Days by the River by the Trinidadian author Michael Anthony is set in the plantations, villages and towns on the Ortoire River.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Trinidad Express of March 30, 2014: When the Ortoire River glows. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 26, 2016 ; accessed on March 26, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Michael Anthony: Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago . Scarecrow Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3173-2 , pp. 270 .
  3. ^ Zara Ali: Marine Subsistence at St. John Site in Trinidad: A Preliminary Study . In: History in Action . 3, No. 1, September 2012.
  4. ↑ a b c Samantha G. Noel: Improving Wastewater Management in Ortoire, Mayaro. Retrieved March 28, 2016 . Report for the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) (PDF, 475 kB)
  5. ↑ EMA.co.tt: The Manatee in Trinidad. Retrieved March 30, 2016 . (PDF, 520 kB)
  6. ↑ TTNatureLink.com: A different kind of duck hunt. Retrieved March 30, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Harold T. Wilkins: Secret Cities of Old South America . Cosimo, New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-60520-321-8 , pp. 320 .
  8. ^ JH Collens: A Guide to Trinidad a Hand-Book for the Use of Tourists and Visitors . General Books, Memphis 2010, ISBN 978-1-151-85087-4 , pp. 177 . (Reprint from 1888)
  9. ↑ Energy-Pedia.com: Touchstone awarded Ortoire Block in Southern Trinidad. Retrieved March 30, 2016 .
  10. ^ ArcheologyDaily.com: Rewriting History: There were people before the Caribs and Arawaks. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012 ; accessed on March 30, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Nalis.gov.tt: Ortoire. Retrieved March 26, 2016 .