| City of Port of Spain | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Port of Spain near the Hyatt Hotel | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Trinidad and Tobago | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Louis Lee Sing | ||
| • Governing body | Port of Spain City Corporation | ||
| Population (2009) | |||
| • Total | 57,000 | ||
| • Density | 9,453.5/sq mi (3,650/km2) | ||
| Ranked 3rd | |||
| Time zone | AST (UTC−4) | ||
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 (2000 census),[1] a metropolitan population of 128,026 (1990 unofficial estimate)[2] and a transient daily population of 250,000.[3] It is located on the Gulf of Paria, on the northwest coast of the island of Trinidad and is part of a larger conurbation stretching from Chaguanas in the west to Arima in the east with an estimated population of 600,000.[4]
Port of Spain is Trinidad and Tobago's most developed city. The city serves primarily as a retail and administrative centre and it has been the capital of the island since 1757. It is also an important financial services centre for the Caribbean[5] and is home to two of the largest banks in the region.
The city is also home to the largest container port on the island and is one of several shipping hubs of the Caribbean, exporting both agricultural products and manufactured goods. Bauxite from the Guianas and iron ore from Venezuela are trans-shipped via facilities at Chaguaramas, about five miles (8 km) west of the city. The pre-lenten Carnival is the city's main annual cultural festival and tourist attraction.
Today, Port of Spain is emerging as a leading city in the Caribbean region. Trinidad hosted the Fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009 whose guests included US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.[6] Port of Spain also hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2009 and hosted a Commonwealth Business Forum in 2011.[7]
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Port of Spain was founded near the site of the Amerindian fishing village of Cumucurapo ("place of the silk cotton trees"), located in the area today known as Mucurapo, west of the city centre. The name Conquerabia is also recorded for an Amerindian settlement in this area; this may have been a separate village, another name for Cumucurapo, or the result of miscomprehension by early Spanish settlers, who established a port here: "Puerto de los Hispanioles", later "Puerto de España". In 1560, a Spanish garrison was posted near the foot of the Laventille Hills, which today form the city's eastern boundary.
The part of today's downtown Port of Spain closest to the sea was once an area of tidal mudflats covered by mangroves. The first Spanish buildings here, in the 16th and 17th centuries, were open mud-plastered ajoupas, interspersed between large silk cotton trees and other trees. The fort was a mud-walled enclosure with a shack inside, a flagpole, two or three cannon, and few Spanish soldiers. The Caribs were transient, travelling to the mainland (now Venezuela) and up the Orinoco River. The French naval commander Comte D'Estrées visited in 1680, and reported that there was no Port of Spain. But in 1690, Spanish governor Don Sebastien de Roteta reported in writing to the King of Spain: In 1699, the alcalde of Trinidad reported to the King that the natives "were in the habit of showering scorn and abuse upon the Holy Faith and ridiculed with jests the efforts of the Holy Fathers".
By 1757, the old capital, San José de Oruña (modern Saint Joseph), about seven miles (11 km) inland, had fallen into disrepair, and Governor Don Pedro de la Moneda transferred his seat to Port of Spain, which thus became Trinidad's de facto capital. The last Spanish Governor of Trinidad, Don José Maria Chacón, devoted much of his time to developing the new capital. He compelled the island's Cabildo (governing council) to move to Port of Spain, and he limited its powers to the municipality. The 1783 Cedula of Population, which encouraged the settlement of French Catholics in the island, led to a rapid increase in the town's population and its geographical extension westwards.
From the small cluster of buildings at the foot of the Laventille Hills, eleven streets were laid out west to the area bounded by the St. Ann's River, thus establishing the grid pattern which has survived in downtown Port of Spain to the present day. Along the sea shore was the Plaza del Marina (Marine Square), a parade ground. By 1786, the town had a population of about 3,000.
Realising that the St. Ann's River, prone to flooding, was impeding the expansion of the town, Chacón had its course diverted in 1787 so that it ran to the east of the city, along the foot of the Laventille Hills. (During the rainy season the river still had a tendency to overflow its banks, flooding parts of the city; over the decades its channel would be widened and paved. During the dry season the water level drops to a trickle; hence its nickname, the East Dry River.) Port of Spain was now able to continue spreading northwards and westwards, encroaching on the surrounding sugar-cane plantations.
In 1797, Trinidad was invaded by a British force under General Sir Ralph Abercromby. The British landed west of Port of Spain, at what is still called Invaders Bay, and marched towards the town. Realising his military resources were inadequate to defend the colony and wishing to avoid unnecessary destruction, Governor Chacón capitulated and was able to negotiate generous terms with Abercromby. Port of Spain remained the capital; the new British colonial government renamed most of the streets after British royalty or military figures, but allowed Chacón Street (which followed the old course of the St. Ann's River) to retain its name, in tribute to the former governor.
In 1803 Port of Spain began growing southwards, with the reclamation of the foreshore mudflats, using fill from the Laventille Hills. This began with the area immediately east of the diverted St. Ann's River; the district is still called Sea Lots today. Gradually the landfill crept west and the area south of Plaza del Marina became solid land. Further major reclamation efforts took place in the 1840s, the 1870s, and in 1906. In 1935 the Deep Water Harbour Scheme dredged the offshore area along Port of Spain's western neighbourhoods, and the dredged material was used to fill in the area south of Woodbrook. Wrightson Road, linking downtown Port of Spain to its western suburbs, was constructed at the same time. These reclaimed lands were originally called Docksite, and were home to US forces during World War II; later a number of government buildings were constructed here.
Port of Spain continued to grow in size and importance during the 19th and early 20th centuries, peaking in size in the 1960s at about 100,000 people. Since then the population within the city limits has declined in size as the downtown area has become increasingly commercial and the suburbs in the valleys north, west, and north-east of the city have grown. Today Port of Spain is the western hub of a metropolitan area stretching from Carenage, five miles (8 km) west of the city, to Arima, fifteen miles (24 km) east; this East-West Corridor runs along the southern edge of Trinidad's Northern Range.
From 1958 to 1962, Port of Spain was the temporary capital of the short-lived West Indies Federation, though there were plans to build a new federal capital at Chaguaramas, on land occupied by the US military base established during World War II. Federation Park, a residential neighbourhood in western Port of Spain intended to house employees of the federal government, is a memorial to that time.
In July 1990, an extremist Muslim group held the prime minister and members of parliament hostage for 5 days while rioting and looting shook Port of Spain.[8] The damage was a significant setback to the city's commercial district at a time of severe economic hardship, yet businesses returned. In 2005 there was an unprecedented series of small bombings in Port of Spain which caused injuries to bystanders. They ceased in October 2005 but the perpetrator has not been charged.[9]
Port of Spain measures about 10.4 square km or about four square miles in area and is located in the northwest section of the island of Trinidad, between the Gulf of Paria, Northern Range and the Caroni Swamp.
The Northern Range is the range of tall hills across the northern portion of Trinidad and is considered an extension of the Andes mountains of South America, although that is geologically incorrect. The Northern Range runs from the Chaguaramas Peninsula in the west to Toco in the east and consists mainly of steeply dipping metasedimentary rocks. Port of Spain lies at the western end and the city climbs into the hills and valleys which are settled and largely deforested. The two tallest peaks are El Cerro del Aripo and El Tucuche which top 900 m.
The 3278 hectare protected Caroni Swamp has long formed a physical barrier to the city's expansion to the south, forcing urban growth relentlessly eastward at the expense of a traffic relieving ring road. This west coast mangrove area is the island's second largest wetland after the east coast Nariva Swamp which is almost twice as large. It has well over 160 species of birds, including the national bird, the scarlet ibis. It is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions with visitor facilities and regular guided boat tours.[10]
Some of the city lies on land reclaimed from the Gulf of Paria, the calm sheltered bay separating Trinidad from Venezuela, while other parts climb into the hills above the city. Geographically, the Port of Port of Spain is ideal for maritime traffic, providing a natural harbour on Trinidad’s north-western coasts where adverse weather conditions are extremely rare.[11]
Port of Spain has a seasonal tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet-and-dry climate. Its wet season lasts from June to December, and its dry season lasts from January to May. Climactic conditions compound geography to result in serious flooding problems in the city on occasion. During the wet season, flooding of reclaimed land downtown is common. The well protected Gulf of Paria is normally an oasis of calm, yet swells during the hurricane season can make inter-island and inter-city ferry trips a rough experience and even cause cancellations. The city has not suffered hurricane damage in decades and yachts in the nearby international cruising mecca of Chaguaramas (7 km west of the city) flock there for the duration of the hurricane season to satisfy insurance requirements for berthing in a port south of the 12 degree north latitude line.[12]
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg high °C (°F) | 31 (87.8) | 31 (87.8) | 32 (89.6) | 32 (89.6) | 32 (89.6) | 32 (89.6) | 31 (87.8) | 31 (87.8) | 32 (89.6) | 32 (89.6) | 32 (89.6) | 31 (87.8) | |
| Avg low temperature °C (°F) | 21 (69.8) | 20 (68.0) | 20 (68.0) | 21 (69.8) | 23 (71.8) | 24 (72.0) | 25 (72.2) | 24 (72.0) | 23 (71.8) | 22 (71.6) | 22 (71.6) | 21 (69.8) | |
| Source: BBC Weather | |||||||||||||
Record Temps for Port of Spain (St. Clair): Record High: 38 °C (100.4 °F) Record Low: 11 °C (51.8 °F)
Port of Spain's official population is relatively small, and reflects the narrow city boundaries including the central business district and a number of economically depressed and a few upscale adjoining suburbs. In addition to the official population, the adjacent East-West corridor conurbation has a population close to 600,000 people[4] and the "big city" feel with its suburban car dominated commuting. The corridor is the built-up area of north Trinidad stretching from the capital, Port of Spain, 15 miles (24 km) east to Arima. It includes the towns of Barataria, San Juan, St. Joseph, Curepe, St. Augustine, Tunapuna, Tacarigua, Arouca, and Five Rivers, once distinct communities and now districts within a continuous urban area. For the most part it runs along the Eastern Main Road, between the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and the foothills of the Northern Range.[13]
The oldest part of the city is the downtown area (colloquially referred to as "Town", and pronounced by Trinis similar to the word "tong"), between South Quay (to the south), Oxford Street (to the north), the St. Ann's River (to the east), and Richmond Street (to the west).
The heart of downtown is Woodford Square (formerly Brunswick Square, renamed in the 19th century for British Governor Ralph Woodford). On its northern side are City Hall and the Hall of Justice, seat of the Supreme Court; on its western side is the Red House, seat of Parliament; the Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral is on its south side, and on the block south-west of the square is the National Library. A number of government offices are located in the immediate vicinity, and the blocks north and west of the Red House are home to many lawyers' chambers. Another busy area in Port Of Spain is Independence Square, located closer to the waterfront and to most of the high rise structures of the city.
Woodford Square itself is a green oasis in the heart of the city, with a late-Victorian fountain and bandstand, trees, benches, and lawns. It has famously been the site of many political rallies over the decades; former Prime Minister Eric Williams gave many public lectures here, dubbing it "the University of Woodford Square", and near the eastern gate is a spot which has become Port of Spain's Speakers' Corner.
Two blocks south of Woodford Square is Independence Square (formerly Marine Square), which runs along the breadth of downtown Port of Spain from Wrightson Road to the west to the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the east. The section of the square immediately behind the cathedral is called Columbus Square. Before extensive land reclamation in the early 19th century, the city's shoreline ran through Independence Square.
In the early 1990s, illegal vendors who had set up shop in the middle of the square were evicted and major repaving and landscaping was undertaken. The new pedestrian area in the middle of the square was named the Brian Lara Promenade in honour of Trinidad and Tobago's star cricket batsman. Where Independence Square is bisected by Frederick Street there is a roundabout with a statue of Captain A.A. Cipriani, the early 20th-century populist politician and mayor of the city. South of the square, Frederick Street widens and becomes Broadway, which terminates at the waterfront and the Port of Spain lighthouse, no longer used as a navigational aid but considered a major landmark. (For Trinidadians born and bred in Port of Spain or its northern and north-western suburbs, "past the lighthouse"—east of the lighthouse on the Beetham Highway—means outside the city proper.)
On the southern side of Independence Square are the twin towers of the Eric Williams Financial Complex (home of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance) and the new Nicholas Tower, a commercial office building. Recently completed was the Richmond street Government Campus Plaza and the International Waterfront Centre Towers including the Hyatt Regency Hotel, with Towers C and D standing as the tallest buildings in Trinidad and Tobago and 7th and 8th tallest in the entire Caribbean region.
Frederick Street, which runs north through the city to the Queen's Park Savannah, is Port of Spain's major avenue, connecting the two downtown squares with the uptown park, and very approximately dividing downtown into retail (east) and office (west) districts. One block east, lower Henry Street is the location of a number of shops selling cloth, mostly owned by members of Trinidad's Syrian-Lebanese community. Another block over, Charlotte Street at its lower end is Port of Spain's Chinatown in all but name, home to dozens of general emporia known for bargain shopping.
East of the St. Ann's River, more commonly known as the East Dry River, are the working-class neighbourhoods of Laventille. For visitors entering Port of Spain from the airport, this neighbourhood dominates the city as it spreads over the surrounding hills. The area is known to be one of the most violent in the country for gangs, drugs, and murders, but is also the birthplace of the steelpan and, some would argue, the spiritual capital of the city since calypso; steelpan, and carnival are the life source of many Trinidadians who live in the capital. South of Laventille are Beetham Estate and Sea Lots, two other economically depressed neighbourhoods.
In north-east Port of Spain, Belmont, at the foot of the Laventille Hills, was the city's first suburb. In the 1840s–50s, parts of the area were settled by Africans rescued by the Royal Navy from illegal slaving ships. In the 1880–90s, the population swelled rapidly, and the characteristic Belmont street pattern of narrow, winding lanes developed. The black professional class built large homes in Belmont, as they were excluded from the more expensive neighbourhoods such as St. Clair and Maraval; Belmont became known as "the Black St. Clair". Many of these large homes have been renovated and converted to business use, but some remain in family hands. Belmont currently is a lower-middle to middle-class residential neighbourhood. It was the birthplace and early home of many important Carnival designers and bandleaders.
North of downtown, the area occupied in the earlier 19th century by the Tranquillity sugar estate was formerly residential, but in recent decades has become essentially a district of office buildings, functioning as an extension of the downtown area. Oddly, this part of Port of Spain—between Oxford Street and the Queen's Park Savannah—has no name in common usage, though a century ago it was known as Tranquillity. The Port of Spain General Hospital is on upper Charlotte Street, as is the Memorial Park, while nearby on Frederick Street is the National Museum and Art Gallery. West of here is Newtown, laid out in the 1840s, bounded by Tragarete Road (south), the Queen's Park Savannah (north), Cipriani Boulevard (east), and Maraval Road (west).
The large Woodbrook neighbourhood, west of downtown, formerly a sugar estate owned by the Siegert family, was sold to the Town Board in 1911 and developed into a residential neighbourhood, with many of the north-south streets named for the Siegert siblings. In the last twenty years the main east-west thoroughfares, Ariapita Avenue and Tragarete Road, have become almost entirely commercialised, and Ariapita Avenue west of Murray Street has become a relatively upscale dining and entertainment "strip". A few small parks are sprinkled through the neighbourhood; Adam Smith Square and Siegert Square are the two largest. The Woodbrook Community Association is holding a series of events in August 2011 to celebrate its 100th Year Anniversary.
Just north of Woodbrook along Tragarete Road is the Queen's Park Oval, a major Test cricket ground, which is owned by the private Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC). At Woodbrook's western end, at the edge of Invaders Bay, is the Hasely Crawford Stadium, the national venue for football and track and field events.
The upscale St. Clair neighbourhood in north-west Port of Spain, between the Queen's Park Savannah and the Maraval River, was developed in the 1880s, 1890s, and 1900s on former agricultural land. It is the location of some of the city's grandest mansions. At its heart, just north of the Queen's Park Oval, is King George V Park. In recent decades St. Clair has become home to various diplomatic missions.
Just northwest of St. Clair are two upscale residential neighbourhoods, Ellerslie Park and Federation Park. Duncie Park is located 200 metres west of St Clair.
Port of Spain's last major municipal expansion occurred in 1938, when the St. James district north of Woodbrook and west of St. Clair was incorporated into the city limits. In the late 19th century, Indian indentured labourers on nearby sugar estates established houses here, and St. James gradually became the centre of Port of Spain's Indian population, with many streets named after cities and districts in India. Western Main Road, the area's major thoroughfare, has long been the city's main nightlife district, sometimes nicknamed "the city that never sleeps".
Long Circular Road, which curves north from Western Main Road then west to meet Maraval Road, forms part of the city boundary. Its "circle" encloses Flagstaff Hill, a small rise with the US ambassador's residence at its summit, which lends its name to an area of apartment buildings at its southern foot.
South of St. James and near the seashore at Invaders Bay is Mucurapo, a mostly residential district which also contains the city's second-largest cemetery.
V.S. Naipaul, a winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, grew up in St. James.
Nicki Minaj, an American rapper, was born in St. James and lived there until emigrating to the United States.[14]
Port of Spain's largest open space—and one of the world's largest traffic roundabouts—is the Queen's Park Savannah, known colloquially simply as "the Savannah". It occupies about 260 acres (105 ha)[15] of level land, and the distance around the perimeter is about 2.2 miles (3.5 km). Once sugar land, it was bought by the town council in 1817 from the Peschier family (except for a small parcel near its centre that served as the Peschier cemetery, which remains in private hands).
At first it was used as a vast cattle pasture in what was then the town's suburbs, but by the middle of the 19th century it had become established as a park. Until the early 1990s, horse racing was held frequently at the Savannah race track, and it also contains several cricket, football and rugby pitches. Apart from a ring of trees round its perimeter, the Savannah was never really landscaped, except for the small area in its northwest corner called the Hollows, a former reservoir now drained and planted with flowering shrubs.
In 1999, Eden Shand documented the social history of the Savannah thus: ".....Today, six acres of the Savannah greens are being threatened by those who have neither taste nor a sense of history. But those acres are not yet lost. If the Savannah Saviours have their way, the rolled pitrun that has violated the sacred ground would be dug up ad the acreage regrassed. That would put paid to, not only the loss of six acres, but future attempts to alter the basic character of the Savannah.
In earlier times, however, 33 acres did get lost and, thanks to the painstaking historical research of Fr De Verteuil of St Mary's College, this story can now be told.
The story begins, not with the sale of the Savannah to the Cabildo, the City council of the day, but with the arrival in Trinidad of Henri Peschier, a French plantocrat resident in Grenada.
Attracted by generous terms offered to Catholics by the Spanish government to settle in Trinidad, Henri Peschier, his wife, children, mother-in-law and eight slaves arrived here in 1781.
He immediately sent in an application to the Spanish Governor, Martin de Salaverria, for a grant of land. The following year he was granted 179 acres, which is today the southern portion of the Savannah, that became the Paradise Estate where he grew sugar cane.
That same year, Henri's mother-in-law, Maria Magdalena de Beltgens was granted 53 acres immediately to the north of his grant, what is today the northern portion of the Savannah.
So between Henri and his mother-in-law, the Savannah of the Peschiers comprised 232 acres. If the Peschier property was conveyed to the Cabildo, how come the Savannah of today is only 199 acres. Where did 33 acres go? The disappearance has to do with the conveyance of the acreage of Maria Magdalena de Beltgens.
Maria Magdalena de Beltgens had been granted a further ten acres north of the present Savannah. There she built her Great House just south of where the President's House of today stands. She was not long in possession of these lands before she died in 1791. To satisfy the terms of her will, her property was sold to Louis de Malvault, a Royalist from Martinique, who named it La Hollandais Estate. So what was to become the Queen's Park Savannah was really two estates, Paradise and La Hollandais.
Curiously, Henri Peschier also died in 1791, leaving his widow to look after the Paradise Estates. At the turn of the century sugar went into decline and the estate became a financial liability.
But Henri's widow, Celeste Rose Peschier, declared that as long as she was alive there was no question of selling the estate. Her death in 1817 cleared the way for her heirs to dispose of the property. The Cabildo, spurred on by the Governor, Sir Ralph Woodford, made an offer of six thousand pounds for the 179 acres and this was accepted by the heirs.
The northern portion, Malvault's La Hollandais Estate, was the subject of a separate conveyance to the Cabildo that took place in 1819. But not all of La Hollandais was bought by the Cabildo. The northern most portion, together with the land on which Maria de Beltgens' residence stood, was not sold until 1821, and this to the Colonial Treasure so that Sir Ralph Woodford could convert the de Beltgens Great House into the Governor's Residence.
It would appear that in the dividing up of the La Hollandais Estate for the Cabildo and for the Colonial Treasury, the Cabildo ended up with 199 acres. These 199 acres were eventually transferred from the Cabildo to the Colonial government in 1825 and fenced. It was officially named Queen's Park in 1845.
The Savannah remained an unpaved green expanse of Crown Land from 1821, right through the colonial period, up to our attaining independence. And then we independently began to degrade the Savannah just as we let Chaguaramas go to wrack and ruin..."
Immediately north of the Savannah—also the northern limit of the city of Port of Spain—are the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Emperor Valley Zoo, President's House (recently abandoned after one end fell down), the official residence of the prime minister, and Queen's Hall, the city's major performing arts venue. Lady Chancellor Road, which ascends the hills overlooking the Savannah, is one of Port of Spain's most exclusive residential areas and is the current home of former West Indies cricketer and record breaking batsman, Brian Lara.
On the Savannah's southern side is the Grand Stand, formerly used for viewing horse races, now used for various cultural events, most notably Carnival, when a temporary North Stand and raised stage are constructed in front of the Grand Stand, creating the "Big Yard", Carnival's central location since the early 20th century (previously, the main viewing area for Carnival was in downtown Port of Spain). From this location the Parade of Bands is broadcast live to the nation on Carnival Monday and Tuesday; it is also the venue for the Calypso Monarch and Carnival King and Queen Competitions and the finals of the Panorama steelpan competition. The architecturally soothing arches and curves of the Port of Spain National Academy for the Performing Arts (see picture and caption) dominate the south boundary of the Savannah between the green trimmed landmarks of Memorial Park (in remembrance of fallen soldiers during World Wars I and II) and the gingerbread styled, limestone built, colourful splendour of the Knowsley Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building.
The western edge of the Savannah, along Maraval Road, is the location of the Magnificent Seven, a group of late Victorian and Edwardian buildings built in an eccentric and flamboyant variety of styles. These are the recently well restored Queen's Royal College; the residences of the Anglican bishop and the Roman Catholic archbishop; Whitehall, once a private residence, then the office of the prime minister from 1963 to 2010 when it was abandoned because of structural decay; Mille Fleurs, once a private residence, supposed to be undergoing full restoration as a public museum and headquarters for the National Heritage Trust but in fact still deteriorating to a deplorable state despite being sold to the Government in 1979; Roomor, an ornate black-and-white chateau-like building that remains a private residence; and Stollmeyer's Castle, a turreted house supposedly modelled on Balmoral Castle whose restoration as a future ambassadorial residence has also stalled.
Immediately north and northwest of Port of Spain lie the suburbs of Cascade, St. Ann's, Maraval and Diego Martin. The last two districts fall outside the municipal boundary, but are sometimes considered extensions of the city. St. Ann's is notable for being the location of the Prime Minister's official residence and diplomatic centre. Cascade, a mainly suburban area with treed lot type housing is located to the south-eastern area of St.Ann's. Cascade borders St.Ann's by a hill locally known as Mount Hololo.
Maraval is home to the exclusive Trinidad Country Club and right next door to the popular Long Circular Mall. Further afield in Diego Martin lies the suburb of Westmoorings, which is known for its expensive Miami style highrise apartments facing the seafront. One of Trinidad's poshest shopping centres, The Falls, lies at the centre of these developments. As you head west beyond Carenage settlement is sparse, however the peninsula known as Chaguaramas, which was once a large US Army Base, has become a mecca for hundreds of international cruisers and a world major yacht storage and repair hub.[16]
To the east along the east-west corridor, also falling outside city limits, lie the large towns of San Juan, Tunapuna and Arima. With congestion rendering downtown inaccessible during peak hours, major shopping centres like Valsayn Shopping Centre, Grand Bazaar and Trincity Mall have sprung up at highway intersections. The last two are noted for being among the largest shopping centres in the Caribbean, with 600,000 square feet (60,000 m2) of commercial space in each. Two large Universities have been established in the eastern section of the E-W corridor – the regional University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus and the multi campus local University of Trinidad and Tobago whose main campus is on the Arima outskirts.
Housing in Port of Spain ranges from luxurious waterfront apartments to hillside shacks lacking indoor plumbing and motor vehicular access. Continued pressure for expansion of commercial development in Woodbrook and uptown POS (Port of Spain proper) has led to a rapid rate of decline in the city's population over the past 4 decades.[17] The ultra luxurious private development scheme at Damien street Woodbrook recently provided 350 apartments but is very high cost and unaffordable to most of the population.
To address the problem, East Port of Spain Development Company[18] was formed in 2005 with a mandate to develop and redevelop a zone in east Port-of-Spain to improve the economic, social and physical environment of those areas. Large parts of Port of Spain's Eastern entrance have been cleared of old warehouses and substandard housing.[19]
There are several new government housing projects in the city which are under construction or planned.[20]
Port of Spain is administered by the Port of Spain City Corporation. There are 12 councillors and 4 aldermen. The mayor is elected from the membership of the council. The Council is presided over by His Worship the Mayor who is effectively the chief custodian of the City. It formulates policy and gives direction for the running of the City through a number of Standing Committees which each meet at least once per month.
Decisions are then ratified at the Statutory Meeting of the Council which takes place on the last Thursday of each month.The policies and directives of the Council are executed by the Administrative arm of the Corporation which is headed by the Chief Executive Officer and has under his charge a number of senior officers and a workforce of about 3,000 daily-paid and 300 monthly-paid employees.
The Chief Executive Officer and his staff are public servants functioning under the regulations of the Statutory Authorities Service Commissions Ordinance.[21]
Following an election in 1887, Michel Maxwell Philip became the mayor, a position that had previously been held by only whites. Bridget Brereton wrote in her 2002 book Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad 1870-1900 that "perhaps this marks the emergence of the coloured man as a political force in Trinidad".[22]
Louis Lee Sing is the current mayor of Port of Spain.
The electoral districts are:
Port of Spain became a "city" in 1914; the ordinance was passed on May 29 and was proclaimed by the Governor on June 25, 1914. The first city councillors were elected on November 2. Among them were oil pioneer Randolph Rust, lawyer and social activist Emmanuel Mzumbo Lazare and Dr. Enrique Prada, who was elected chairman by the council and became the first mayor of the City of Port of Spain.
Port of Spain is a shopping and business centre for much of the country. Most government offices are also located in the city and many important Government services can only be accessed in the Ministry offices located downtown. Within recent years, local banks headquartered here have helped it become a financial centre for the Caribbean and Central America region. Two of the largest banks in the Caribbean, Republic Bank, Trinidad and Tobago Limited and RBTT (reacquired by the Royal Bank in 2008) are headquartered here or base their Caribbean operations in the city.[23]
Trinidad's economy is based on natural gas and oil. No heavy industrial sites are located in Port of Spain, but a major oil refinery and many petrochemical and iron and steel plants exist or are planned for sites south of it and closer to Trinidad's second city of San Fernando.[24] However, the oil and gas majors and some service companies have located their headquarters in the city to be in close proximity to government services, infrastructure and the high quality of life many citizens of Port of Spain enjoy. Some of the oil and gas company headquarters located in Port of Spain (many others are found in San Fernando & Point Lisas)include BPTT, BGTT (British Gas), BHP Billiton, EOG Resources, Fluor, Repsol YPF, Atlantic LNG and Baker Hughes.[25]
Trinidad and Tobago is considered one of the wealthiest nations in the Caribbean and some of this wealth is on display in Port of Spain. High-income proceeds from the international sale of natural gas has aided the country in the Port of Spain International Waterfront project constructed on former Port Authority Land. The Port of Port of Spain is the country's major port for containerized shipping followed by the Port of Point Lisas. Cruise ships also dock at the port[26] which has:[27] public international cargo-handling facilities for containerised, break-bulk, Roll-on/Roll-off and dry/liquid bulk cargo The Port also operates the ferry service between Trinidad & Tobago, as agents of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Tourism is targeted for expansion and is a growing sector in the city's economy, but it is not as important as in other Caribbean cities.[28] Port of Spain has a large agricultural market, known as the "central market" where food produced in the surrounding hinterland is traded.[29]
In 1999/2000 there were 40 Government/Assisted schools located in the Port of Spain Administrative Area. There were 17,957 enrolled in primary schools[30] and 15,641 enrolled in secondary school. In secondary schools, 7,567 were male and 8,074 were female.[31]
Education is free and compulsory up to the age of 12. Prominent secondary schools in Port of Spain include:
Port of Spain school leavers, as citizens of Trinidad and Tobago do not pay tuition to study at local & regional public and private tertiary institutions except for graduate studies where they pay a heavily subsidised fee. There are several prominent tertiary institutions in Port of Spain and environs, in particular the St. Augustine campus of the 3 campus, Caribbean-wide University of the West Indies, which had a local campus enrollment of 15,571 in academic year 2007/2008.[32] The University of Trinidad and Tobago has several campuses and institutes in the greater Port of Spain area including the research based Natural Gas Institute of the Americas and the Chaguaramas Centre for Maritime Studies.
| Port of Spain population | |||
| Year | City proper |
Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 54,100 | N/A | |
| 1946 | 92,793 | Annexation of St. James (1938) | |
| 1960 | 93,954 | N/A | |
| 1970 | 73,950 | N/A | |
| 1988 | 59,200 | N/A | |
| 2000 | 49,031 | N/A | |
| East-West Corridor population | ||
| Administrative Corporation | Population |
|
|---|---|---|
| Port of Spain | 49,031 | |
| Diego Martin | 105,720 | |
| San Juan/Laventille | 157,295 | |
| Tunapuna/Piarco | 203,975 | |
| Arima | 32,278 | |
| Total | 548,299 | |
| Source: 2000 Census | ||
Port of Spain has a population of 23,415 males and 25,616 females, with 5,694 businesses and is home to 14,487 households with an average size of 3.18 according to the 2000 census.[33]
Port of Spain's diverse population reflects two centuries of immigration and this shows in the architecture of its buildings. The city features French colonial 'ginger bread' style houses, buildings with New Orleans reminiscent wrought-iron railings and wooden fretwork set beside modern high-rise towers and strip malls with a mish-mash of gothic-style cathedrals, mosques and Hindu temples testifying to the diversity of cultures.[34] It is home to African, Indian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Venezuelan, Chinese and Syrian immigrants, most of them arriving since the Spanish Cedula of Population of 1783. Prominent Port of Spain citizens are Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul (Nobel Prize Literature 2001),[35] Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize Literature 1992)[36] and former West Indies cricketer Brian Lara.
Trinidad has a rich tapestry of cultures which create occasions for celebrations beyond many's expectations for a small Caribbean island; thus there is much to see and do after work hours in Port of Spain, even long after the annual Carnival celebration. While the popularity of the major shopping area around Frederick Street as a nightspot centre has remained steady or declined, expansion of entertainment venues into the malls and outlying towns has occurred. St. James, 'uptown' Port of Spain (St. Clair and Woodbrook) have seen a boom in nightclubs, sports bars and fine dining restaurants as workers from Government offices and large corporations disgorge on evenings from high-rise headquarters built in newly commercialized formerly upscale neighbourhoods.
Port of Spain hosts major sporting venues including the Queen's Park Oval, Hasely Crawford Stadium, the Jean Pierre Complex and various sporting fields on the Queen's Park Savannah. Port of Spain was among the host cities of the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The city hosted the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championship.
Port of Spain offers a range of nightclubs and entertainment complexes; a few of the best and most expensive ones arguably being Zen, 51 degrees, Coco Lounge, Katalyst and Shakers; however the list changes frequently as partygoers' tastes change. International and regional performers such as Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Sean Paul, Rihanna, Outfield, Cascada, Akon, Usher, Maroon 5 and Kumar Sanu to name a very few, have visited Port of Spain.
A great variety of restaurants including Italian, Mexican, Thai, Venezuelan-Panyol, French, Japanese, Chinese, American and Indian can be found in Port of Spain with many concentrated on Ariapita Avenue, a popular entertainment strip, which also includes a Jazz Lounge and a Wine Tasting restaurant. MovieTowne's Fiesta Plaza,[37] a tribute to Bourbon Street New Orleans, on the city's foreshore, features many new restaurants, open air dining and a bandstand with live entertainment. Port of Spain's award winning restaurants[38] provide a wide range of local and international cuisines, accompanied by the traditional fast food chains. Many of the city's restaurants can be sampled at the Taste T&T Food Festival hosted at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex annually in May.[39]
Port of Spain is also a cultural hub for the country. Regular dance and theatre productions occur at:
Port of Spain is the centre of one of the largest Carnivals in the world, with tens of thousands participating in the pre-Lenten street party.
One of Port of Spain's most prominent artisans is Peter Minshall, who creates 'mas' or masquerade costumes for Trinidad's annual carnival. Internationally, he helped design the opening awards ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the 1994 Football World Cup and the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
The National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago is the country’s most important museum. It displays depictions of national festivals, Carnival, life during the World War II and artifacts from the country’s earliest settlers, the Amerindians. There are also displays by leading local and international artists. The museum was established in 1892 and was originally called the Royal Victoria Institute, as it was built as part of the preparation for Queen Victoria’s jubilee. The National Museum has two smaller branch museums; Fort San Andres which is located on South Quay, opposite City Gate and The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Museum which is located at the Old Police Headquarters on St. Vincent Street.[44]
Port of Spain and its immediate environs have a higher crime rate than any other part of Trinidad. Homicides countrywide rose from fewer than 50 in the 1980s, to 97 in 1998, then to 360 in 2006 (30 murders per 100,000 persons). It rose to approximately 500 in 2008 but decreased significantly in 2010 and 2011.[45]
Many murders are drug and gang related, especially in the depressed communities of East Port of Spain. The police administration has responded by improving the working conditions of officers, increasing the use of forensic evidence and surveillance technology (CCTV cameras) as well as hiring overseas experts.[46]
Reports of kidnappings for ransom which were on the rise a few years ago have declined dramatically since 2006.[47][48] However, theft and violent crimes remain prevalent to this date, while crime and the perception of crime continues to hamper the economic prospects of the city.[49][50]
Five (5) RHAs deliver public health care services to the population of Trinidad and Tobago. RHAs (Regional Health Authorities) are autonomous bodies that own and operate health facilities in their respective regions. The Port of Spain municipality is served by the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA). The NWRHA administers and manages the Port of Spain General Hospital, St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital, St. James Medical Complex and 17 health centres that serve a catchment area of 500,000 persons.[51] The Port of Spain General Hospital is one of the major trauma centres in the Southern Caribbean.
The demand for speedy quality health service has led to the establishment of private hospitals. The major ones are:
In the greater Port of Spain area, the public and fully state funded Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, run by the North Central RHA is also a major provider of medical services. It includes the Wendy Fitzwilliam Children's Ward and the Mt. Hope Women's Hospital.[52]
Transportation in and out of Port of Spain is plagued by heavy traffic delays at morning and evening rush hour. Port of Spain Highways are equipped with CCTV cameras, road signage, lane markings, cat eyes and other safety features.
City Gate serves as a transportation hub for public buses and private mini-buses (locally known as maxi-taxis). City Gate is located on South Quay just south of Independence Square. A ferry service links Port of Spain with Scarborough, Tobago and a water taxi service, restarted in December 2008[53] (Trinidad's west coast towns were once served by steamship), links it with San Fernando.
Like the rest of the island of Trinidad, Port of Spain is served by the Piarco International Airport located in Piarco, approximately 10 km east of Port of Spain.
To ease the current traffic woes that result in two to three hour commutes during rush hours, a number of projects are in various stages of implementation. The upgrading of the Churchill-Roosevelt highway to a grade separated expressway[54] and the extension of water ferry services from Port of Spain to the major urban hubs along the west coast are particularly notable.[55]
Electricity generation is handled by Powergen, while electrical distribution is handled by the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC). Powergen has one natural gas-fired generation plant located on Wrightson Road in Port of Spain. Additional power can be supplied from power generation facilities located in Point Lisas and Penal.
Telecommunications are regulated by the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT). It has successfully de-monopolised the industry, granting several new mobile licenses in 2005 for two private companies, Digicel and Laqtel to offer wireless service in competition with TSTT. Laqtel which would have offered Trinidad and Tobago's first CDMA (3G) network had its license revoked by the TATT in 2008. Fixed-line telephone service and broadband was also once a monopoly controlled by Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT). Flow, the monopoly cable provider, also now offers these services to its wide customer base.[56] Satellite, Wifi, EDGE, GPRS, DSL and Cable broadband services in excess of 6 Mbit/s are available throughout the city. There are Wifi hotspots at all major hotels and for free in coffee shops, malls and at the airport. Broadband and Mobile competition has resulted in lower rates and wider availability of services for consumers.[57] Water and sewerage are under the purview of the Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (WaSA). Much of the city's water supply comes from the nariva Arena Dam located near the airport. This Caroni Water Treatment Plant was upgraded in 2000 to a total daily production of 75 m.g.d.[58]
Another important facility, the new Beetham Waste Water Treatment Plant, began to treat domestic waste to international standards in 2004. The plant serves customers within Greater Port-of Spain and environs from Pt. Cumana in the west to Mt. Hope in the east including Diego Martin and Maraval.[59]
Most solid waste is disposed of in the Beetham Landfill, commonly known as La Basse.
Port of Spain is a twinned or is a sister city with some of the following cities:
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