Onverwacht (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

for "unexpected".

Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo (also Sranantongo "Surinamese tongue," Sranan, Surinaams, Surinamese, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language that is spoken as a ''lingua franca'' by approximately 550,000 people in Suriname. Developed originally amo ...

: ''Bose'') 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 S ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

. 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: ''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 Sara Creek, ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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 Surinam Airways, south of Par ...

. 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 Humbert Ronald Boerleider (17 August 1935 - 19 August 2016), known as Boelie, was a Surinamese football manager and player who played as a midfielder in the Surinamese Hoofdklasse for S.V. Transvaal. He also played one season in the SVB Derde Klas ...

(1935-2016), football manager and player.

References

External links

Populated places in Para District {{Suriname-geo-stub