Arouca (Trinidad and Tobago)

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Arouca
Coordinates: 10 ° 38 ′  N , 61 ° 20 ′  W
Map: Trinidad and Tobago
marker
Arouca​
Arouca on the map of Trinidad and Tobago
Basic data
Country Trinidad and Tobago
region Tunapuna-Piarco
City foundation circa 1820
Residents 27,820  (2011)
Detailed data
City structure 5 communities
Waters Arouca River
Time zone UTC −4
TnT Arouca 2.jpg

Arouca is a city in Trinidad and Tobago . It is located in the north of the island of Trinidad in the Tunapuna-Piarco region .

location

Arouca is located in the middle of the East-West Corridor , the densely populated metropolitan region of the capital Port of Spain , which stretches along the northern low mountain range Northern Range across half the island. Port of Spain is 20 km to the west and Arima just 10 km to the east. Since Port of Spain is bounded in the north by the Northern Range and in the south by the Caroni Swamp , the city expanded to the east over time. The resulting East-West Corridor is so densely populated that in the past independent cities merge into one another and now have the character of districts of the capital agglomeration. However, they are still formally independent. Arouca passes into Trincity in the west and southwest , Tacarigua in the northwest and D'Abadie in the east, and borders Piarco in the south . The Northern Range extends to the north. The Arouca River rises on the slopes of the same and crosses the city on its way south.

population

Arouca is divided into the communities Arouca, Bon Air, Bon Air West Development, Five Rivers and Kandahar.

Community Residents
Arouca 12,530
Bon Air 5748
Bon Air West Development 2470
Five Rivers 4702
Kandahar 2370
total 27,820

history

The name Arouca is based on the name arauca for the indigenous people of the Arawak, which was popular until the 1920s . During the Spanish colonial era, Trinidad was divided into districts, the boundaries of which were largely formed by landmarks. The Arouca district stretched from the Arouca River in the west to the Arima River in the east; the southern border was formed by the Caroni River , the northern border by the Northern Range. The district was initially exclusively inhabited by Arawak; the Spanish occupiers were not numerically able to colonize the area, but set up a Catholic mission on the banks of the Arima River.

In 1783, the Spanish minister responsible for Trinidad, José de Gálvez y Gallardo, issued the Cedula de populacion , an edict that allowed the increased settlement of Catholic, especially French, citizens on the Spanish island of Trinidad until 1797, thereby allowing a significant increase in population and a rapidly increasing economic performance of the island made possible. Governor José María Chacón had to provide land for the expected settlers and took drastic measures: All Arawak living in the Arouca district were forcibly relocated to the area around the already existing Catholic mission. The onslaught of settlers on the district, however, was limited; When the British surveyed and mapped their new colony after the bloodless takeover of power in 1797, they only recorded two small French-run plantations for the Arouca district on the Royal Road, a dirt road between Port of Spain and Arima, which later became the Eastern Main Road should be.

Little is known about Arouca from the years up to 1838, as the British counted the district to the west of Tacarigua. Both districts together show a rapidly increasing economic output and population during this period. Approx. In 1820 slaves from the two plantations in Arouca founded a village named after the district. In 1838 slavery was abolished in Great Britain and thus also in Trinidad. Former slaves of the plantations in the Tacarigua district settled in Arouca and caused a surge in the population. In 1849 Arouca was added to the Ward Tacarigua as part of an administrative reform , but at that time it was the second largest town on the former Royal Road after Tunapuna . In 1851, as part of an educational reform introduced by Lord Harris , one of the first primary schools in Trinidad was built in Arouca, which by 1869 developed into the largest primary school in the country in terms of student numbers. Between 1876 and the 1960s, Arouca was connected to the then existing Trinidadian railway network. In 1881 the place was the first on the island to have a second state school when separate schools were set up for boys and girls.

In 1898 the railway line was expanded to Sangre Grande . Sangre Grande quickly developed into a new center of the cocoa industry, so that many Arouca residents moved east. The result was a steady decline in importance, accompanied by a decline in population, which was intensified in the 1920s by a collapse in the cocoa market and only stopped with the Second World War.

During the Second World War, the US army engaged in Trinidad with the consent of the colonial power Great Britain. From 1940 to 1963 Chaguaramas was leased to the United States under the destroyer-for-base agreement , which established a naval base and a missile early warning system there; In Wallerfield , east of Arima and thus near Arouca, the Americans established an air force base. This brought a renewed economic upswing for Arouca, too, with the city also benefiting from the Churchill Roosevelt Highway , which was built by the Americans and connected the Chaguaramas and Wallerfield.

Economy and Transport

Arouca is primarily a housing estate. Trade and handicrafts for daily needs have settled along the Eastern Main Road, which cuts through the city and is the second most important west-east connection in the country after the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, which runs parallel but further south. The Piarco International Airport , the largest airport in the country, is just 3 km south of Arouca in Piarco.

Facilities

The "Golden Grove Prison" is one of seven Trinidadian prisons for adults in the city. Arouca has five primary schools and one secondary school.

Personalities

Web links

gallery

  • Holy Trinity Church

  • Eastern Main Road

  • Arouca

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Census 2011
  2. ↑ Michael Anthony: Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago . Scarecrow Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3173-2 , pp. 30 .
  3. ↑ Michael Anthony: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago . 2nd Edition. Printmaster, Marabella 2001, p. 11 .