The Suriname River (Dutch: Surinamerivier) is 480 km long and flows through the country Suriname. Its sources are located in the Guiana Highlands on the border between the Wilhelmina Mountains and the Eilerts de Haan Mountains (where it is known as the Gran Rio). The river flows below the reservoir along Brokopondo, Berg en Dal, the migrant communities Klaaskreek and Nieuw-Lombé, Jodensavanne, Carolina, Ornamibo and Domburg, before reaching the capital Paramaribo on the left bank and Meerzorg on the right bank. At Nieuw-Amsterdam it is joined by the Commewijne and immediately thereafter at the sandspit Braamspunt it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The river has several sets of rapids as well as a few dams, the largest of which is the Afobaka Dam. The river's flow is interrupted by the Brokopondo Reservoir, which therefore divides the river into two sections. The upstream section runs almost entirely through the Sipaliwini district, and the downstream section runs through the Brokopondo, Para, Commewijne, Wanica and Paramaribo districts. Etymology The name Suriname may derive from an indigenous people called Surinen, who inhabited the area at the time of European contact. The earliest European sources give variants of "Suriname" as the name of the river. Lawrence Kemys wrote in his Relation of the Second Voyage to Guiana of passing a river called "Shurinama". In 1598, a fleet of three Dutch ships visiting the Wild Coast mention passing the river "Surinamo". In 1617, a Dutch notary spelled the name of the river on which a Dutch trading post had existed three years earlier as "Surrenant". The Dutch navigator David Pietersz. de Vries wrote of traveling up the "Sername" river in 1634 until he encountered the English colony there; the terminal vowel remained in future Dutch spellings and pronunciations. In 1640, a Spanish manuscript entitled "General Description of All His Majesty's Dominions in America" called the river "Soronama". In 1653, instructions given to a British fleet sailing to meet Lord Willoughby in Barbados, which at the time was the seat of English colonial government in the region, spelled the name of the colony "Surinam"; this would remain the standard spelling in English. A 1663 royal charter said the region around the river was "called Serrinam also Surrinam". Navigation For import and export, the Suriname is by far the most important river in the country. Not only do all vessels carrying bauxite, aluminum oxide and aluminum depart from