Torarica is the original capital of Suriname. It was settled by

Portuguese Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the i ...

in 1629. One origin offered for its name is as a Portuguese coinage meaning "Opulent

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

". The Portuguese Jews arrived via

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.The Surprising Discovery of Suriname’s Jewish Community
by Jacob Steinberg, 2008 Kulanu By 1665, the village of

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname' ...

was expanded and quickly outranked Torarica. The name Torarica is still in use by the Torarica Group. One of its hotels, the Torarica Resort, as well as the village, and former sugar plantation La Simplicité are located near Torarica.

References

Historic Jewish communities in South America History of Suriname Jewish Surinamese history Populated places in Para District Brazilian-Jewish diaspora Dutch-Jewish diaspora Portuguese-Jewish diaspora Portuguese diaspora in South America {{Suriname-geo-stub

See also

References