History of Port-of-Spain

                           WE TRAVEL BACK IN TIME >>>> 

                         

                                          Image courtesy flickr.com

Port of Spain in its early days was called a ‘Harbour of Spain’, Puerto d’España. And it was not until the mid-18th century that Puerto d’España became the capital of Trinidad. By 1757  Governor Don Pedro de la Moneda moved to the village of Puerto d’España, which consisted of two streets, Calle de Infante (Duncan) and Calle Principe (Nelson), which consisted of  little wooden houses and mud-huts,  mostly Spanish-Amerindian mixed people and three shops.

 In 1783  Puerto d’España grew quickly into a proper little town of 3000 inhabitants. The few mud huts gave way to more than 600 houses. What is now Marine Square was then the waterfront. A mole and a wooden quay ran along what is today South Quay. Fort St. Andres, today opposite City Gate, was offshore, and when the tide came in, it splashed the walls of the old Roman Catholic church, which stood then a little east of its present site.

 Trade and commerce started to flourish, and the first steps towards town planning were made: the Rio Santa Ana (Dry River) was channeled into its present bed, and the Charlotte street was included, with the town stretching as far north as the Duke Street. Governor Chacon had the streets covered with burnt areas with an open drain running in the middle.

Reportedly, the new settlers brought with them gaiety and festivity. Dance halls and night clubs sprung up all over the town, and every year before Lent the French held Carnival celebrations.

This atmosphere was to change visibly after the British had conquered the island in 1797.  At that time, the capital was very overcrowded with approximately 10,000 inhabitants.Sir Thomas Picton decided to have a land reclamation scheme implemented, which would turn the tidal mud flats into habitable lots. Starting in 1803, land fill was carted with mules from the Laventille hills, and over the next two decades all the land south of Marine Square was reclaimed from the Gulf.

When Sir Ralph Woodford took up office as Governor in 1813, he undertook to give Port-of-Spain a newer and more modern face. Gravel covered the streets, sidewalks were constructed. Coconut oil lamps lent a warm glow to the streets at night. In order to protect the fine and expensive new streets, a law was passed in 1824 that forbid the keeping of pigs in town.  Streetsigns were put up. As early as 1814, a proclamation against littering was made - up to then, Port-of-Spainers had endulged in the medieval practice of throwing kitchen waste and other more unmentionable things out of their windows. .

 In 1819,  317 acres, was cleared for the the Savannah. In 1845 the name was officially changed to ‘The Queen’s Park".

 The Governor also bought more lands from the Peschier estate at St. Anns, which was subsequently turned into the site for the new Government House and the Botanic Gardens. In 1828, the Savannah was for the first time used for horse-racing. Woodford contracted the botanist David Lockhart to design the Botanic gardens, and Lockhart introduced many trees from the tropical Far East into Trinidad, the most famous being the majestic samaan.

 Under Woodford’s aegis and personal attention the first primary school for boys was opened in Port-of-Spain in April 1823, another one for girls followed three years later. The main goal was doubtlessly to establish a firmer foothold for the English language, which was still rarely understood or spoken by subjects of the British Crown in Trinidad. The highest academic achievement of the boys school was, after its first year, that 10 of the 252 pupils were able to do square roots in arithmetic!

 Port-of-Spain also got new churches under Woodford. The new Roman Catholic Cathedral was begun in 1816 and completed in 1832, and the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity was consecrated in 1823. Hannover Methodist followed in 1826, and Greyfriars in 1837. All Saints Church, the oldest building on the Savannah, was completed in 1846.

source -http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/08/port-of-spains-early-city-life.html

One can see that history and culture interrelates when looking at the City of Port Of Spain. This second blog post was created to help you understand how the city was created , its morphological structure and early days of strategic planning.  It also helps to pave the way to also understand the changing ways of the city and its diverse population and morphological structure .In Urban development there are changes to the social geographies of a city and the impacts  that the changes have for the cultural landscape of these areas.

                                 PRESENT DAY

                   

All these historical, cultural and political impacts have left a footprint upon the development of the city.  While traveling i have recognized how much Port of Spain has changed within the past 15 years. According to Kevin Lynch, a professor of urban studies, there are 5 elements that makes up a city and they are; landmarks, pathways (eg. streets , walkways etc ) , Edges (boundaries) , Nodes (enter points) , Districts (sections of the city) and Port of Spain has it all !
From boarded buildings and gravel tracks this city has become known for modern high rise buildings, culturally rich and littered with hotels .