Neekeari

Neekeari gives its name to the Nickerie country of western Suriname, where the river reaches the coastal lowlands near the Corantijn. Early European accounts recorded Indigenous peoples under similar names in this region. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the explorer Robert Harcourt reported Caribs on the Nickerie River; later accounts also mention Warao communities along the Nickerie and Maratakka. Rivers and wetlands formed the setting for these coastal societies.