Fyzabad
| Fyzabad | ||
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Coordinates: 10 ° 11 ′ N , 61 ° 33 ′ W Fyzabad on the map of Trinidad and Tobago
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| Basic data | ||
| Country | Trinidad and Tobago | |
| region | Siparia | |
| City foundation | 1871 | |
| Residents | 13,099 (2011) | |
| Detailed data | ||
| City structure | 7th | |
Fyzabad is a city in Trinidad and Tobago . It is located in the southwest of the island of Trinidad in the Siparia region .
Location and structure
Fyzabad is located on the southwestern tip of the island of Trinidad. The city is located inland, about ten kilometers east of Point Fortin and six kilometers northwest of the regional capital Siparia . The second largest city of Trinidad, San Fernando , is about 13 kilometers to the north. Fyzabad is located at the western end of the Naparima Plain, a fertile lowland. The South Oropouche River runs northeast of the city.
The smallest Trinidadian administrative unit is the community , comparable to the German district or location . Fyzabad is made up of the Apex Oilfield, Avocat Village, Delhi Settlement, Fyzabad, Gheerahoo, Pepper Village and Sudama Village communities.
| Community | Residents |
|---|---|
| Apex Oilfield | 583 |
| Avocat Village | 1820 |
| Delhi Settlement | 3327 |
| Fyzabad | 2630 |
| Gheerahoo | 275 |
| Pepper Village | 2963 |
| Sudama Village | 1501 |
history
Fyzabad is named after the northeast Indian city of Faizabad . The city's founding father was Kenneth Grant, a Canadian Presbyterian missionary who had served in Trinidad since 1869. After the abolition of slavery in 1838, numerous Indian contract workers had come to Trinidad from 1845, where they committed to work on the sugar cane plantations for three, later five years. From 1869 the British colonial administration offered the exempted Indians land as an incentive for permanent settlement. Grant evangelized this target group with some success. In order to minimize the contact with the compatriots who remained in the Hindu faith, he settled the Christianized Indians on a formerly publicly owned area in the fertile plains that he had acquired for his mission. The place was named by the new residents. Until 1917 the place lived exclusively from growing vegetables, cocoa and, to a lesser extent, coffee.
During the First World War, oil had gained enormous importance as a raw material. Oil had already been found in Trinidad and, due to its proximity to the tar lake in La Brea , additional oil reserves were suspected in the area around Fyzabad. The geologist Arthur Beeby-Thompson identified suitable drilling points in the catchment area of Fyzabad. After the first discoveries, the oil companies Apex Trinidad Oilfields and Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd. on. In the 1920s, Fyzabad lost the character of a settlement dominated by workers from East India due to the oil boom, as numerous workers from Grenada were recruited to work on the oil fields . In 1940 immigrants from Grenada made up 40% of the population of Fyzabad. In 1928 a geologist accidentally set fire to a new oil well drilled on private property; 16 people died in the subsequent explosion.
By the 1930s, eight oil companies had already set up shop in Fyzabad. Working conditions in the oil industry were poor and, under the leadership of the labor leader Uriah Butler , Fyzabad was the starting point for strikes and unrest. On June 19, 1937, an attempted arrest of Butler led to serious rioting, in which two police officers were killed. Labor Day has been celebrated on June 19 in Trinidad since 1973 , and a memorial was erected in Fyzabad in honor of Butler.
The People's Partnership , which initially consisted of five parties and ruled Trinidad for a legislative period from 2010 to 2015, was founded in Fyzabad in 2010 as part of the Fyzabad Declaration .
Economy and Transport
In economic terms, Fyzabad is still dominated by the oil industry; the city is considered the center of the oil belt. The state-owned oil company Petrotrin operates oil fields in the vicinity of the city, and Touchstone Exploration of Canada has its Trinidadian office in Fyzabad. Around the year 2000 the operation of a former cocoa plantation was resumed. The influential Oilfield Worker's Trade Union (OWTU) is based in Fyzabad. The beverage bottler SM Jaleel & Company Limited, the parent company of the internationally operating Trinidad Juice Company, has its headquarters in the city.
Fyzabad is somewhat remote inland, about 2.5 kilometers south of the Southern Main Road, which crosses all of Siparia along the Gulf of Paria and connects the region to the rest of the country to the north. The route of the south-west extension of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin , which is currently under construction, runs through Fyzabad. Regional roads from the surrounding oil fields converge in Fyzabad and cause high levels of heavy industrial traffic.
Facilities
Fyzabad has a state hospital, a police station, two elementary schools and two secondary schools. Football and cricket games are played in Goddard Park. There are several Baptist churches, a Presbyterian church, a Hindu temple, a mosque and a Roman Catholic church in Fyzabad . The steel band Fyzabad 4th Dimension is based in the city.
Personalities
- Lennox Fitzroy Ballah (1929-2003, lawyer)
- Michael E. Fisher (* 1931, physicist)
- Billy Ocean (born 1950, singer)
- Anthony Carmona (* 1953, politician)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Census 2011
- ↑ Michael Anthony: Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago, p. 240. Scarecrow Press 1997.
- ↑ Michael Anthony: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago, p. 103. Printmaster 2001.
- ↑ Michael Anthony: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago, p. 104.
- ↑ a b City profile on the NALIS website. Retrieved September 26, 2015 .
- ↑ Michael Anthony: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago, p. 106.
- ↑ a b Yvonne Baboolal: Residents take pride in history . In: Trinidad Guardian . November 27, 2006.
- ^ Wording of the Fyzabad Declaration. Retrieved September 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Newsday Article, April 2, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2015 .