Santa Cruz (Trinidad and Tobago)
| Santa Cruz | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Coordinates | 10 ° 43 ′ N , 61 ° 28 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Trinidad and Tobago | ||
| San Juan Laventille | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | TT-SJL | ||
| Residents | 12,521 (2011) | ||
| founding | 1780s | ||
Santa Cruz is a city in Trinidad and Tobago . It was an important location for cocoa plantations in the 19th century.
location
Santa Cruz is located in the northwest of the main island Trinidad in the middle of the Northern Range , about ten kilometers northeast of the capital Port of Spain . The city is located in the populous San Juan-Laventille region , five kilometers from the north coast of the island. The irregularly shaped urban area is based on several interconnected, elongated valleys, one of which forms the largest valley within the Northern Range. In the west the urban area borders on the Diego Martin region , in the south the populous East-West Corridor extends beyond the boundaries of the valley .
The Santa Cruz River, a river immortalized in a painting by Michel-Jean Cazabon ( Bamboos and Immortelles on Santa Cruz River ), flows through the valley towards the south, taking the water of various small tributaries (including the Grande Curucaye River and the Cimaronero River), crosses the southern San Juan and finally drains into the Caroni River .
structure
The smallest administrative unit in Trinidad is the community , comparable to a German town . Santa Cruz is divided into the communities Cantaro Village, La Pastora, Lower Santa Cruz, Sam Boucaud, Santa Cruz and Soconusco.
| Community | Residents |
|---|---|
| Cantaro Village | 4408 |
| La Pastora | 2901 |
| Lower Santa Cruz | 576 |
| Sam Boucaud | 2357 |
| Santa Cruz | 1087 |
| Soconusco | 1192 |
| total | 12,521 |
At the state level, the city belongs to the constituency of St. Ann's East, and Nyan Gadbsy-Dolly ( PNM ) has been a member of the electoral district in the House of Representatives since the 2015 elections . At the municipal level, Santa Cruz belongs to the constituency of Maracas Bay / Santa Cruz / La Fillette, where the PNM won the 2016 local elections.
history
The valley in which Santa Cruz originated was populated in two waves. As early as the 1780s, Spanish plantation owners were growing coffee and, to a lesser extent, cocoa in the valley. In addition to three large plantations, there were various small businesses, each with a size of 0.15 hectares (5 carré ), some of which belonged to allegedly released slaves. In 1783 the Spanish crown issued the Cedula de populacion , an edict that Catholic citizens of other nations made land available for settlement in underdeveloped Spanish colonies. As a result, Catholics moved to Trinidad in relatively large numbers, primarily from other Caribbean islands (from which they brought slaves with them), but also partly from Europe. Nine French and two Irish were given land in the valley that is now Santa Cruz. When the British conquered the island without a fight in 1797, they carried out a census and registered 30 white residents and 344 workers for Santa Cruz, of whom only 133 were slaves, unusual for the time, the remaining 211 were released slaves who continued to work on the Plantations worked. Due to the fertility of the valley, the cultivation of coffee and cocoa was a lucrative business for the residents of Santa Cruz. In the 1810s, Jonas Mohammed Bath was one of the more prominent plantation owners; the former Coromantee slave had acted as Kingsman , a slave directly subordinate to the government, and as an Islamic preacher and self-proclaimed "Sultan of Yalliallhad" had great influence on the Muslim part of the population of Trinidad. The most prominent plantation owner in the 1820s was Antonio Gomez , lieutenant governor of the colony. Gomez '16-year-old daughter Soledad was engaged to the 43-year-old Governor Ralph Woodford , but the marriage failed because of Woodford's death in May 1828. Santa Cruz was somewhat cut off from political changes on the island due to its isolated location; The lingua franca of the Santa Cruz parish council was still Spanish in 1844.
Following complaints of residents who for worship on foot along a mountain path, eight kilometers away from Maraval had to leave the council-actuated 1844 an input that the appointment of the Santa Cruz Parish ( the parish had) result. In April 1845 the construction of the Catholic Church of the Holy Cross was completed, which formally completed the appointment to the Parish. The church stood on the square where the Catholic primary school stands today, about 100 meters from the successor building (the Holy Cross RC Church). In 1849, as part of an administrative reform, the British Ward system and taxation of plantations according to Ward affiliation were introduced. As a result, many plantations changed hands because the old owners could not or would not pay the taxes. In 1852 the government invested heavily in the expansion of the two roads to Santa Cruz, which at that time was an important growing area for cocoa. The Santa Cruz Ward also received one of the colony's first public schools in 1852. The usefulness of the school was questioned for a long time, however, as the children often had to work on the plantations. In 1881 150 children were enrolled in school, but on average only half of them attended class. In 1908 the construction of today's Holy Cross RC Church began; the work lasted until 1925.
In the 1920s, the price of cocoa in world markets fell, which had a dramatic impact on Santa Cruz. Only a few plantation owners recognized the signs of the times and switched to growing citrus fruits. By 1940 the operation of cocoa plantations had become so unprofitable that the state bought several plantations in Santa Cruz in order to convert them into residential areas with attached agriculture. In 1946 the valley was added to Ward St. Ann's as part of an administrative reform. In the 1980s, citrus fruits and avocados were still grown in the valley to a significant extent. Since the administrative reform of 1990, the city has belonged to the newly created San Juan-Laventille region.
Population development
Source:
Economy and Transport
Santa Cruz consists primarily of residential developments, supplemented by small businesses to supply the residents. Cocoa and citrus fruits are still grown in the valley. The city is known for its organic market, the first in the country.
Santa Cruz is comparatively isolated in relation to its size, which is due to its remote location in a valley of the Northern Range. It is only connected to the rest of Trinidad via Saddle Road. The two-lane, partly serpentine road runs in a west-east direction between Maraval and Santa Cruz, bends south in the city and leads through jungle and smaller settlements along the slopes to San Juan in the east-west corridor. A dirt road to Maracas on the north coast of the island existed until the end of the 19th century, but was abandoned. The Piarco International Airport is located in the East-West Corridor, 25 kilometers from Santa Cruz.
Facilities
Two religious educational institutions, the Christian West Indies Theological College and the also Christian Caribbean Nazarene College, have their respective campuses in Santa Cruz. The only local recreational areas are the Brian Lara Recreational Grounds, which are primarily used as a cricket stadium (in which a 2016/17 TT Pro League soccer game was played and in which the first division soccer club San Juan Jabloteh occasionally plays home games) and the smaller green areas in Saddle Grove Park West of the city and La Pastora Recreational Grounds in the La Pastora district.
There is a police station and a fire station in the city. The Land Search and Rescue Team is stationed in the latter , a first aid unit whose area of operations covers the entire central northern Trinidad. Santa Cruz has four elementary schools and one secondary school. In terms of religious institutions, the city has three Christian churches, a Hindu temple and a mosque.
Personalities
- Jeffrey Stollmeyer (1921–1989, cricketer and politician)
- Eintou Pearl Springer (* 1944, playwright and poet)
- Brian Lara (* 1969, cricketer)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Michael Anthony: Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago . 2nd Edition. Printmaster, Marabella 2001, ISBN 978-0-00-976806-4 , p. 282 .
- ↑ Census 2011
- ↑ Official Results for Local Government Elections Held on November 28th, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2018 . (PDF, 198 KB)
- ^ Anthony de Verteuil: Great Estates of Trinidad . 3. Edition. Litho Press, Port of Spain 2000, ISBN 976-95008-2-8 , pp. 84 .
- ^ Anthony de Verteuil: Great Estates of Trinidad . 3. Edition. Litho Press, Port of Spain 2000, ISBN 976-95008-2-8 , pp. 96 .
- ^ A b Louis Antoine de Verteuil: Trinidad: Its Geography, Natural Resources, Administration, Present Condition, and Prospects . 2nd Edition. Cassell & Company, London 1884, p. 283 .
- ↑ DestionationTnT.com: San Antonio Green Market. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .
- ↑ TnTIsland.com: Trinidad Primary Schools. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .
- ↑ TnTIsland.com: Trinidad Secondary Schools. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .