Couva

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Couva
Coordinates: 10 ° 26 ′  N , 61 ° 27 ′  W
Map: Trinidad and Tobago
marker
Couva​
Couva on the map of Trinidad and Tobago
Basic data
Country Trinidad and Tobago
region Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo
Residents 16,466  (2011)
Detailed data
City structure 4th
Waters Couva River
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Image wanted BW

Couva is a city in Trinidad and Tobago . It is located in the west of central Trinidad in the Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo region , of which it is the capital.

location

Couva is located on the western edge of the Caroni Plain on the Gulf of Paria, which runs through half the island of Trinidad from west to east . Around Couva there are industrial areas to the south and agricultural land to the east; the next larger city in the north is Chaguanas , 12 km away, and Claxton Bay is 10 km south . The Couva River forms the southern city limits.

history

The city takes its name from the Couva River, which was known as Rio de Cuba under Spanish colonial rule and which was still the name of the river when the British came to power in 1797; later the name of the river changed to Rio de Couva and finally Couva River. Shortly after the capture of Trinidad by the British originated north of the Couva River a sugar plantation called Exchange Estate, whose country took approximately the western half of today's urban area and whose name today in the local situation finds Exchange Village and the local primary school Exchange RC School. As on many plantations in Trinidad, the slaves working on them and, after the abolition of slavery in 1833, the contract workers recruited, founded small settlements, which over time developed into villages and towns. One of these settlements, in which a church had been built around 1826, was raised to the parish of St. Andrew in 1844 by the Anglican Church of Trinidad ; St. Andrew's Village is now Couva's southernmost district. In the period that followed, the individual settlements grew together to form Couva, which in 1880 was so important that it was the end point of a newly constructed north-south route for the state railway company that had existed since 1876; only in 1882 was the line continued to San Fernando . The background to the economic upswing in importance was, on the one hand, the location in the country's sugar cane belt (sugar cane plantations and dependent infrastructure such as mills and refineries crossed the entire Caroni Plains from west to east) and the proximity to oil wells that were discovered and systematically exploited since the 1920s. Until 1990, Trinidad was divided into counties ; The capital of Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo, Chaguanas and parts of Tunapuna-Piarco Caroni County was Couva. In 1916 one of the first Trinidadian cinemas was built there. In 1883, St. Andrews Church was extensively renovated and stained glass windows by Wailes and Strang . In the 1930s, Couva became the center of trade union activities in the sugar industry around the union leader and later politician Adrian Cola Rienzi . After Trinidad gained independence from Great Britain in 1962, the country's rail network was crushed; The only remnant in Couva is the Sivilla Bridge. The oil boom in the 1980s made the city grow by leaps and bounds. Between 1997 and 2013, the largest Trinidadian housing project called Roystonia with over 1000 state-subsidized apartments was built in the Couva Central district. At the 2000 census, Couva had the highest population with over 20,000 inhabitants. In 2003 the city was hard hit by the scandalous liquidation of the state sugar company Caroni (1975) Limited ; Tens of thousands of people were unemployed nationwide and the center of the company's activities was in Couva.

Population development 1921–2011

structure

The smallest administrative unit in Trinidad is the community , comparable to a German town . Couva is divided into the communities of Balmain, Couva Central, Mc Bean and St. Andrew's Village.

Community Residents
Balmain 2367
Couva Central 3861
Mc Bean 4988
St. Andrew's Village 5250
total 16,466

Politically, Couva is divided into the constituencies of Couva North and Couva South, with the constituencies overlapping with areas of other cities; Couva North, for example, also includes the south of Chaguanas. In the 2015 election , Ramona Ramdial won the constituency of Couva North and Rudy Indarsingh won the constituency of Couva South. Both competed for the United National Congress (UNC); Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo is considered a stronghold of the UNC.

Economy and Transport

Couva is the economic center of the Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo region due to the local heavy industry, service companies and agricultural businesses. The historically significant sugar cane cultivation now only leads a niche existence, and exploited terrestrial oil wells have been replaced by natural gas and the chemical extraction of methanol . In neighboring Point Lisas, seven methanol plants, including the largest in the world at the time of construction in 2005, produce 13% of the global methanol produced. The company based in Point Lisas MHTL and Methanex are among the three largest methanol producers in the world. A Nucor direct reduction steelworks , a nitrogen factory, the oil refinery in Pointe-à-Pierre 12 km away and the cement factory in Claxton Bay are other important employers. With KC Confectionery Limited, founded in 1922, one of the largest confectionery manufacturers in the Caribbean is based in Couva. East of the city is the Gran Couva plantation, where cocoa is grown, among other things, for Valrhona chocolate .

Couva is connected to the economic centers of Chaguanas and San Fernando as well as to the metropolitan region of Port of Spain via the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway , which runs north-south in the east of the city . Because of the notorious congestion of the highway built in the 1970s, the formerly most important north-south route in the country, the Southern Main Road running through the middle of Couva, continues to be an important transport link. The port of the upstream Point Lisas, which flows over to Couva, is used exclusively for industrial purposes and handles almost 50% of Trinidad's container traffic.

Facilities

Ato Boldon Stadium
National Cycling Center
National Aquatic Center

In the capital of the Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo region there are numerous administrative buildings, including a district court and the region's chamber of commerce. A bone of contention among various authorities is the Couva Children's Hospital, the construction of which was commissioned and carried out after the 2015 elections, but no authority felt responsible for its operation until 2017.

The Camden Airstrip, laid out by US troops in World War II, is a small airport with a 1200 m long runway that is used for agricultural flights and charter flights for the energy industry; the runway is also used for drag racing . An expansion to a commercial airport has been discussed unsuccessfully for years. The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) Aerospace Engineering Faculty is located on Camden Airstrip.

In the east of the urban area in the Balmain district in the immediate vicinity of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway, a sports complex was built between 2001 and 2016, which houses several facilities designed for international events:

The event and office complex Rienzi Complex, named after Adrian Cola Rienzi and owned by the All Trinidad General Workers' Trade Union (ATGWTU), houses the headquarters of the ATGWTU and an office of the former Trinidadian Prime Minister Basdeo Panday , the Basdeo Panday Foundation Foundation and the headquarters of the National Solidarity Assembly (NSA) party. The headquarters of the UNC were also located here until 2016. The semi-finals of the annual Trinidad Chutney-Soca Monarch music competition will be held at the Rienzi Complex. The steel band Couva Joylanders Steel Orchestra is based in Couva.

Personalities

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Michael Anthony: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago . 2nd Edition. Printmaster, Marabella 2001, p. 65 .
  2. ↑ Angelo Bissessarsingh: Walking with the Ancestors: The Historic Cemeteries of Trinidad . Kairi Heritage, Siparia 2013, ISBN 978-976-8249-03-6 , pp. 152 .
  3. ↑ Census 2011
  4. ↑ EBCTT.com: Electoral Districts Map. Retrieved January 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Ferrostaal.com: M5000 Methanol Plant. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
  6. ↑ MarketResearch.com: Global Demand, Capacities and Prices for Methanol. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Caribbean Beat # 109, May 2011: The return of King Cocoa in Trinidad & Tobago. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Sue-Ann Wayow: Will the Couva Childrens Hospital ever open . In: Trinidad Express . April 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ GCMap.com: GC0028 - Airport. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Sue-Ann Wayow: UTT launches its Aviation Campus . In: Trinidad Express . 2nd September 2015.
  11. ↑ Trinidad Guardian of July 17, 2016: UNC faces move out from Rienzi. Retrieved January 13, 2017 .
  12. ↑ PanOnTheNet.com: Couva Joylanders Steel Orchestra. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .