Onverwacht (
Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
for "unexpected".) is the capital town of
Para District
Para is a district of northern Suriname. Para's capital city is Onverwacht, with other towns including Paranam, and Zanderij. Para has a population of 24,700 and an area of 5,393 km2. The district is the mining and forestry centre of Sur ...
,
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
.
Onverwacht started as a wood plantation with the same name and has existed as early as 1667.
On 18 May 1881, the plantation was sold to eight former slaves.
In 1910 the
Lawa Railway
The Lawa Railway (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Lawaspoorweg'' or later ''Landsspoorweg'') was a single-track metre gauge railway in Suriname. It was built during the gold rush in the early 20th century, from the harbour town Paramaribo to Dam at the ...
passed through the area and a station was opened.
In 1936, a road, currently named Indira Gandhiweg, was built parallel to the railway line to connect Paramaribo with Onverwacht. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the road was extended to
Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport
Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Suriname Airways, Surinam Airway ...
. In 1968, Onverwacht became the capital of the newly formed Para District. In 1987, the last train departed and the station at Onverwacht closed.
Notable people
*
Humbert Boerleider (1935-2016), football manager and player.
References
External links
Populated places in Para District
{{Suriname-geo-stub