Sangre Grande

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Sangre Grande in the largest town in northeastern Trinidad, in Trinidad and Tobago. It is east of Arima and southwest of Toco. Sangre Grande (pronounced, in the local English dialect, "Sandy Grandy) is the seat of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation.

The name Sangre Grande means big blood, and it has been suggested that this town was named for a battle. However, this interpretation is not supported by historical records. The true origin of the name refers to when, in the late 1770s, Spanish surveyors who were charting the island for the purposes of creating a map, found that the waters of two of the tributaries of the nearby Oropuche River were red as blood, hence the name. In addition, the neighbouring town is called Sangre Chiquito (small blood). Sangre Grande grew as a result of the growth of cacao cultivation in the late nineteenth century. It grew further when it became the end terminus of the railroad. Construction of the railroad caused the town to migrate down the hill to meet the railroad. When the town relocated to the foot of the hill, the name Sangre Grande moved with it. As a result, the name of the pre-existing village, Cunapo, was largely, but not entirely, lost.