10°38N 61°31W, pop (2000e) 50 000. Seaport capital of Trinidad and Tobago, NW coast of Trinidad; capital of Trinidad, 1783; airport; principal commercial centre in the E Caribbean; oil products, rum, sugar; botanical gardens, two cathedrals, San Andres Fort (1785).
Port of Spain, with a municipal population of 49,031 (2000 census) and a metropolitan population estimated at 269,923 residents, is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third largest municipality by population, after Chaguanas and San Fernando.
The city serves primarily as a retail and administrative centre. The tallest building in Port of Spain (and country as a whole) is the 21-storey Nicholas Tower;
History
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 part of today's downtown Port of Spain closest to the sea was once an area of tidal mudflats covered by mangroves. The French naval commander Comte D'Estrées visited in 1680, and reported that there was no Port 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 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. He compelled the island's Cabildo (governing council) to move to Port of Spain, and he limited its powers to the municipality.
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.
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. 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. Port of Spain remained the capital;
In 1803 Port of Spain began growing southwards, with the reclamation of the foreshore mudflats, using fill from the Laventille Hills. 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.
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. Today Port of Spain is the western hub of a metropolitan area stretching from Carenage, five miles west of the city, to Arima, fifteen miles east;
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.
Geography
Port of Spain is located in the northwest of the island of Trinidad, between the Gulf of Paria, the hills of the Northern Range and the Caroni Swamp.
Climate
Port of Spain has a seasonal tropical climate. Its wet season lasts from June to December, and its dry season lasts from January to May.
Urban structure
Downtown
The oldest part of the city is the downtown area (colloquially referred to as "Town"), 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).
Woodford Square itself is a green oasis in the heart of the city, with a late-Victorian fountain and bandstand, trees, benches, and lawns. 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 speaker's 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.
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. 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.)
The southern side of Independence Square is where the city's (and the south Caribbean's) tallest buildings are located: 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.
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. 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.
Laventille and Gonzales
East of the St. Ann's River, more commonly known as the East Dry River, are the working-class neighbourhoods of Laventille and Gonzales;
Belmont
In north-east Port of Spain, Belmont, at the foot of the Laventille Hills, was the city's first suburb.
North of downtown
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, also Memorial Park, while nearby on Frederick Street is the National Museum and Art Gallery.
Woodbrook
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.
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).
St. Clair
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.
Just northwest of St. Clair are two upscale residential neighbourhoods, Ellerslie Park and Federation Park.
St. James and Mucurapo
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.
Long Circular Road, which curves north from Western Main Road then west to meet Maraval Road, forms part of the city boundary.
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.
Queen's Park Savannah
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".
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.
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, the official residences of the president and 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.
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).
The western edge of the Savannah, along Maraval Road, is the location of the Magnificent Seven, a group of late Victorian buildings built in an eccentric and flamboyant variety of styles.
Suburbs
Immediately north and northwest of Port of Spain, the suburbs of Cascade, St. Ann's, Maraval, and Diego Martin fall outside the municipal boundary, but are sometimes considered extensions of the city.
Governance
Port of Spain is administered by the Port of Spain City Corporation.
The electoral districts are:
St. James East St. James West Woodbrook Northern Port of Spain Belmont East Belmont North & West Southern Port of Spain East Dry River St. Ann's River South St. Ann's River Central St. Ann's River North Belmont SouthPort of Spain became a "city" in 1914; 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.
Economy
Port of Spain serves as a shopping and business centre for much of the country.
The Port of Port of Spain is the major port of containerised shipping.
Demographics
The population of Port of Spain was 54,100 in 1901, 92,793 in 1946 (following the annexation of St, James in 1938), 93,954 in 1960, 73,950 in 1970, 59,200 in 1988 and 49,031 in 2000.
Culture and entertainment
While the major shopping area around Frederick Street has declined in competition with malls and the growth of outlying towns, 'uptown' Port of Spain (St. Clair and Woodbrook) have seen a boom as large corporations build high-rise headquarters in formerly upscale neighbourhoods.
Sports
Port of Spain hosts major sporting venues including:
The Queen's Park Oval (cricket, cycling);Infrastructure
Health
Like the rest of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain is served by a combination of public/private health services. The major public hospital is the Port of Spain General Hospital. Port of Spain General Hospital is one of the major trauma centers in the Southern Caribbean.
Transport
Transportation in and out of Port of Spain is plagued by heavy traffic delays at rush hour.
City Gate serves as a transportation hub for public buses and private mini-buses (locally known as maxi-taxis). A ferry service links Port of Spain with Scarborough, Tobago. Like the rest of the island of Trinidad, Port of Spain is served by the Piarco International Airport located in Piarco.
Utilities
Electric generation is handled by Powergen, while electrical distribution is handled by T&TEC, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. Powergen has one natural gas-fired generation plant located on Wrightson Road in Port of Spain.
Telecommunications are regulated by the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT).
Water and sewerage are under the purview of WASA, the Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.
Sister cities
Port of Spain is a sister city with some of the following cities:
Atlanta, Georgia, USA St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada Georgetown, Guyana
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