Mayaro-Rio Claro

Mayaro-Rio Claro
Basic data
Country	Trinidad and Tobago
Capital	Rio Claro
surface	851.8 km²
Residents	32,143 (2011)
density	38 inhabitants per km²
ISO 3166-2	TT-MRC
Website	mayarorioclaro.com (EN)
politics
Chairman Councilor	Glen Ram
Political party	UNC

Coordinates: 10 ° 18 ′  N , 61 ° 10 ′  W

Mayaro-Rio Claro is a region and administrative unit on Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago .

geography

Mayaro-Rio Claro is located in the southeast of Trinidad. It is bordered by Sangre Grande to the north, Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo to the northwest, and Princes Town to the west . The region is bounded by the Gulf of Paria to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east . The capital of the region is Rio Claro . It is the second largest administrative unit in Trinidad after Sangre Grande and is divided into 39 communities.

Significant cities and towns in Mayaro-Rio Claro are:

• Rio Claro (3552 inhabitants)
• Libertville (2642)
• Mayaro (2558)
• Biche (2350)
• Guayaguayare (1659)

The Nariva Swamp in the northeast of the region is a nature reserve and the largest freshwater wetland in Trinidad and Tobago. The marshland is an important habitat for the threatened Caribbean manatee .

Economy and Infrastructure

Mayaro-Rio Claro has a rural character. Many residents work in the agricultural or timber industry or in fishing. However, the region has the largest reserves of natural gas and oil on Trinidad's east coast. The oil industry is concentrated around the town of Guayaguayare. There is accordingly a port there, and the companies bpTT ( BP Trinidad & Tobago), BHP Billiton and Petrotrin have settled there. On the east coast, along Cocos Bay and Mayaro Bay, there is little domestic tourism, as the stalls there are often used by Trinis as destinations for day trips on weekends.

history

The area around what is now Guayaguayare was the place where Christopher Columbus first set foot on Trinidadian soil on July 31, 1498. Like many stretches of land on the north and east coast of Trinidad, the region was settled by French farmers in the late 18th century, which is reflected in numerous French settlement names (e.g. Ecclessville, La Savanne or Libertville). In 1902, Trinidad's first commercial oil well was opened in Guayaguayare.

Until 1990 Trinidad was divided into counties . As part of an administrative reform (Municipal Corporations Act No. 21), all counties were dissolved in 1990 and new administrative units were created. Parts of Nariva County and Mayaro County became Mayaro-Rio Claro.

Web links

• Mayaro-Rio Claro Regional Corporation website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Census 2011 ( Memento from July 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Website of the Mayaro-Rio Claro Regional Corporation. Retrieved February 14, 2016 .