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The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River and Mamberamo River. Fragmentation and Flow Regulation of the World’s Large River Systems The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepik) and East Sepik, with a small section flowing through the province of Papua.
The Sepik has a large catchment area, and landforms that include swamplands, tropical rainforests and mountains. Biologically, the river system is often said to be possibly the largest uncontaminated freshwater wetland system in the Asia-Pacific region. But, in fact, numerous fish and plant species have been introduced into the Sepik since the mid-20th century.
The word Sipik was first reported by A. FullFull, A. 1909. "Eine Fahrt auf dem Kaiserin Augustafluß". Deutsches Kolonialblatt: Amtsblatt für die Schutzgebiete in Afrika und in der Südsee 20 (15) 739-41; 744–745. as one of two names for the watercourse—the other being Abschima—used by the natives living at the mouth of the river. A few years later, Leonhard Schultze applied the term Sepik to the entire watercourse, and it took, although Schultze also noted another name for the river, Azimar.Schultz, Leonhard. 1914. Forschungen im Innern der Insel Neuginea: Bericht des Führers über die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse der deutschen Grenzexpedition in das westliche Kaiser-Wilhelmsland 1910. Berlin: E. S. Mittler. William Churchill, writing in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, said "These are not names of the river, they are but names for small stretches of the river as known to the folk of this or that hamlet. We cannot reckon how many such names there may be in the course of more than of the system." Since "there is no indigenous name for the whole stream", Churchill concluded that "This is clearly a case where a European designation may properly be applied." He advocated for Kaiserin-Augusta, but that name faded with the German loss of colonial control over the territory after World War I. The word Sepik henceforth became the official name of the river.
Of course, each language group had one or more names of its own for the river. For example, the Iatmul people call the river Avusett, a compound of "bone" ( ava) and "lake" ( tset).Silverman, Eric K. 2018. " The Sepik River, Papua New Guinea: Nourishing Tradition and Modern Catastrophe", in John R. Wagner and Jerry K. Jacka, eds., Island Rivers: Fresh Water and Place in Oceania, pp. 187–221, Canberra: ANU Press.
For most of the Sepik's length, the river winds in serpentine fashion, like the Amazon River, to the Bismarck Sea off northern Papua New Guinea. Unlike many other large rivers, the Sepik has no river delta whatsoever, but flows straight into the sea, about east of the town of Wewak. It is navigable for most of its length.
The Sepik basin is largely an undisturbed environment, with no major urban settlements, or mining and forestry activities, in the river catchment. April Salome Forest Management Area is located in Sepik River basin.
Its catchment is classified as type Af (tropical rainforest) according to Köppen climate classification, with a rainfall of 3,390 mm.
+Sepik River at gauged stations
! Year, period
! Min (m3/s)
! Mean (m3/s)
! Max (m3/s)
! Ref.
| ||||
| Estuary | ||||
| 1979—2015 | 4,565 | |||
| 1979/1980 | 7,000 | |||
| 1972/1973 | 4,363 | 7,663 | 10,963 | |
| 4,800 | ||||
| Angoram | ||||
| 1968—1980 | 5,000 | |||
| Ambunti | ||||
| 1980—1984 | 2,836.75 | 4,208 | 4,598.75 | |
| 1978—1987 | 3,099.7 | |||
| 1970—1992 | 934.7 | 3,643.5 | 8,938.8 | |
| 1966—1997 | 2,600 | 3,664 | 4,730 | |
| 1966—1994 | 1,702 | 3,615 | 5,448* | |
| 1963/1964 | 3,398 | 5,316 | 7,038 | |
| Kubkain | ||||
| 1994—1999, 2008—2015 | 1,274.3 | 3,338.7 | 6,022 | |
| Iniok | ||||
| 1994—1999, 2008—2015 | 707.1 | 2,367.9 | 4,524.1 | |
| May River | ||||
| 1994—1999, 2008—2015 | 514.7 | 1,559.4 | 3,047.8 | |
| Green River | ||||
| 1971—2000 | 1,119.4 | |||
| 1970—1993 | 436 | 1,297 | 3,573 | |
| 1969—1996 | 841 | 1,191 | 1,550 | |
| 1963/1964 | 2,117 | 2,505 | 3,144 | |
| Telefomin | ||||
| 1975—1994 | 40 | 54.4 | 66.8 | |
| 1970—1993 | 15 | 51 | 1,576 | |
| 1963/1964 | 235 | 636 | 1,538 | |
+Sepik River discharge (m3/s) at Ambunti station (period from 1963—1994):
! Water year
! Min
! Mean
! Max
! rowspan="17" | ! Water year
! Min ! Mean ! Max | |||||||
| 1963/64 | 3,398 | 5,316 | 7,038 | 1979/80 | 2,009 | 4,080 | 5,509 | |
| 1964/65 | 1980/81 | 1,632 | 3,850 | 5,602 | ||||
| 1965/66 | 1981/82 | 1,142 | 3,310 | 5,465 | ||||
| 1966/67 | 2,429 | 3,390 | 4,331 | 1982/83 | 1,509 | 4,060 | 5,999 | |
| 1967/68 | 1,242 | 3,080 | 4,883 | 1983/84 | 1,828 | 3,360 | 4,703 | |
| 1968/69 | 1,821 | 3,740 | 5,606 | 1984/85 | 2,111 | 3,680 | 5,232 | |
| 1969/70 | 2,696 | 4,950 | 8,964 | 1985/86 | 999 | 3,190 | 4,808 | |
| 1970/71 | 1,822 | 3,040 | 4,240 | 1986/87 | 932 | 3,080 | 5,502 | |
| 1971/72 | 1,074 | 3,320 | 4,757 | 1987/88 | 2,736 | 3,880 | 5,008 | |
| 1972/73 | 2,326 | 4,540 | 7,081 | 1988/89 | 1,448 | 3,790 | 6,203 | |
| 1973/74 | 1,082 | 3,010 | 4,893 | 1989/90 | 1,907 | 3,870 | 5,809 | |
| 1974/75 | 1,452 | 3,730 | 5,989 | 1990/91 | 1,482 | 3,210 | 4,926 | |
| 1975/76 | 1,183 | 3,220 | 5,164 | 1991/92 | 1,747 | 3,350 | 4,938 | |
| 1976/77 | 2,205 | 4,030 | 5,622 | 1992/93 | 1,320 | 3,180 | 5,017 | |
| 1977/78 | 1,538 | 3,830 | 5,636 | 1993/94 | 2,825 | 4,020 | 5,061 | |
| 1978/79 | 1,153 | 3,450 | 5,606 | |||||
| Source: | ||||||||
+The main tributaries from the mouth:
! Left tributary ! Right tributary ! Length (km) ! Basin size (km2) ! Average discharge (m3/s) | |||||
| ''Sepik'' | ''1,126'' | 80,386.2 | ''5,000'' | ||
| Lower Sepik | |||||
| > | Bien | 1031,344.8 | 67.7 | ||
| | colspan="5" Middle Sepik | |||||
| Keram River | 3355,598.7 | 306.9 | |||
| Nagam | 1951,757.2 | 41.9 | |||
| Yuat River]] | 373.4 | 11,952.5 | 625.4 | ||
| Pasik | 655.1 | 15.1 | |||
| Karawari | 2097,565.9 | 376.3 | |||
| Hambili | 132
| 1,036.7 | 31.1 | ||
| Atilem | 84 | 954.6 | 23.1 | ||
| Kwatit (Parchee) | 112 | 611.3 | 15 | ||
| Upper Sepik | |||||
| >Screw | 1913,204.3 | 87.8 | |||
| Black River—Huastein | 94917 | 64.4 | |||
| Sanchi | 1051,468.3 | 77.4 | |||
| Namblo | 122663.4 | 36.5 | |||
| Wagasu | 1,068.8 | 59.4 | |||
| April | 1522,552.2 | 226.8 | |||
| Wagamush
| 74964.7 | 81.6 | |||
| Wario
| 1,893.6
| 279.9 | |||
| Nopan | 992.5 | 60.1 | |||
| Frieda River]] | 120 | 1,466 | 271.9 | ||
| Seniap
| 42538.9 | 57.7 | |||
| May
| 1803,301.4 | 405.5 | |||
| Wanibe Creek | 1,618.4 | 98 | |||
| Yula | 479.5 | 31.4 | |||
| Yellow | 1311,769.8 | 111.2 | |||
| North | 1151,995.8 | 123.7 | |||
| Horden | 1652,103.1 | 124.1 | |||
| Fanngi (Green River) | 61750.8 | 41.4 | |||
| Idam | 65440.4 | 35.2 | |||
| Hauser | 601,149.3 | 74.1 | |||
| August (Yapsiei) | 1091,838 | 208.5 | |||
| October | 129604.3 | 44.5 | |||
| West | 529.4 | 46.8 | |||
| Raadsel | 269 | 39.7 | |||
| Hollander | 269.4 | 40.4 | |||
| Oklip | 541,042 | 193.4 | |||
| Brucken | 465.8 | 76.4 | |||
| Iugum (Casuarina) | 201.4 | 32 | |||
| Hak (East) | 43464.3 | 54.7 | |||
| Elip (Donner)
| 227.6
| 26.6 | |||
| Iram | 388.7 | 64.9 | |||
| Nong | 176.6 | 23.8 | |||
| Source: | |||||
The Sepik-Ramu basin is home to the Torricelli, Sepik languages, Lower Sepik-Ramu, Kwomtari, Leonhard Schultze, Upper Yuat, Yuat languages, Left May, and Amto-Musan language family, while local are Busa, Taiap language, and Yadë. Torricelli, Sepik languages, and Lower Sepik-Ramu are by far the three most internally diverse language families of the region.
In 1886 and 1887, further expeditions by steam boat were conducted by the Germans and over were explored. In 1887, the Samoa returned with another scientific expedition as well as a dozen Malays, eight men from the island of New Britain, and two members of the Rhenish Missionary Society.For a diary of the voyage, see Claas, Ulrike and Paul Rosco. 2009. Manuscript XXI: A Journey Up The Sepik River in 1887. The Journal of Pacific History 44 (3) 333-43. In the 1890s, missionaries from the Society of the Divine Word or SVD begin to proselytize along the river.Huber, Mary Taylor. 1988. The Bishops’ Progress: A Historical Ethnography of Catholic Missionary Experience on the Sepik Frontier. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Europeans now increased their travels and presence along the river.Bragge, Lawrence, Ulrike Claas, and Paul Roscoe. 2006. On the edge of empire: Military brokers in the Sepik “tribal zone.” American Anthropologist 33 (1) 100-113. In the early twentieth century, several major expeditions to the river include the Südsee-Expedition sponsored by the Hamburg Academic of Science, the German-Dutch Border Expedition and the Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss-ExpeditionSee Reche 1913, Schultz 1914, Behrmann 1922, Schindlbeck 1997. These expeditions, mainly German, collected flora and fauna, studied local tribes, and produced the first maps. The station town of Angoram was established in 1913 as a base on the lower Sepik for explorations, but with the beginning of World War I, the explorations ceased.
After the first World War the Australian government took trusteeship of the German colony, creating the Territory of New Guinea, and the Sepik region came under their jurisdiction. During this period the Australians established a station on the middle Sepik at Ambunti to conduct further explorations.
In 1923 journalist Beatrice Grimshaw attached herself to an expedition, and claimed to be the first white woman to ascent the Sepik, commenting on the widespread use of "Tok Pisin" as a lingua franca.Hoehn, Matthew, ed., 1948, Catholic Authors Contemporary Biographical Sketches, 1930-1947: Newark, NJ, St. Marys Abbey, p. 293-295, cited on "Grimshaw Origin" [5] accessed 6 August 2016 In 1935 Walter McNicoll, the new administrator of the Territory of New Guinea, travelled up length of the Sepik to "have a look at the river people and the kind of country along the banks".
Part of this fantasy is that the river tribes are often said to have "little contact with the modern world," as the Los Angeles Times put it as late as 2017. But that is just not true, and certainly not for a sizable tourist vessel operated by Coral Expeditions. Traveling the river is said to be "one of the last great adventures on earth".
For example, in 2010 Clark Carter and Andrew Johnson traveled the length of the Sepik River from source to sea. They hiked to the source from Telefomin and kayaked down the upper reaches in an inflatable kayak. After nearly drowning in a section of rapids near Telefomin, they decided to walk through the jungle, following the river until it was calm enough to take a dugout canoe the remaining to the Bismarck Sea. The expedition took six weeks. "The Sepik really appealed to me," said Carter, "because it conjures up images of remote tribes and wild animals. Probably the most alluring thing for me though, is just how un-travelled the area is.""Interview/debrief: Papua New Guinea Sepik River, hard as it comes,"
Also in 2010, the painter Ingo Kühl, accompanied by the local artist Tomulopa Deko, traveled from Goroka via Madang, Wewak and Maprik District to Pagwi and from there on the Sepik upriver to Ambunti and to the villages of Maliwai, Yambon and Yessan language. He described his experiences in an illustrated book. In 2012 he repeated this expedition together with his wife and Tom Deko. They reached the settlements of Oum Number 1 and Oum Number 2 and the April River, a tributary of the Sepik.
The Australians eventually pushed the Japanese back to the village of Timbunke on the middle Sepik in July 1945. After an Australian RAAF plane landed from Timbunke the Japanese suspected that the villagers had collaborated with the Australians and proceeded to massacre 100 of the villagers.
Modern 'explorers'
Despite the thorough exploration of the Sepik and the river basin by Europeans starting with the 1880s, and the extraordinarily keen knowledge of the region by local people and communities, many travelers today still see their tourism in the area as heroic efforts.
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World War II
The Japanese held the area throughout most of the Second World War. By the end of the war, though, the Japanese had been completely surrounded after Jayapura and Aitape in Netherlands New Guinea were captured by Allied forces in April 1944 during Operations Reckless and Persecution. The Aitape-Wewak campaign, the battle to defeat the remaining forces by the Australian Army, was hard-fought and drawn out due to the terrain, lasting until the end of the war in August 1945.
Artwork
The Sepik is one of the most profuse and diverse art-producing regions of the world. The numerous different tribes living along the river produce magnificent wood carvings, clay pottery and other art and craft. Different areas along the Sepik produce distinct art styles so an experienced curator will be able to visually distinguish individual styles. The Sepik area is well known for its sculptures, masks, shields and other artifacts. Many tribes use garamut drums in rituals; the drums are formed from long hollowed-out tree trunks carved into the shape of various totem animals. (2025). 9780792274179, National Geographic. ISBN 9780792274179
Gallery
See also
External links
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