Arima - the way we are

Regarded as the third major town in Trinidad and Tobago, Arima is located on the foothills of the Northern Range.

The district, which is inhabited by close to 40,000 people, extends over an area of approximately four square miles.

A deeply religious town, Arima once held the distinction of having the highest Roman Catholic population in the nation as well as the highest density of churches.

The peaceful district, which is a virtual potpourri of cultures and ethnicities, is possibly the sole town in the country where artifacts of the Amerindians can still be found with unbelievable ease.

As history has it, Arima is an Amerindian name meaning "water".  This fact acknowledges that the village emerged on the banks of what is known today as the Arima River.

Characterised by smooth terrain, some 26 kilometres east of the capital, Port of Spain, Arima served well as a hub for neighbouring areas, to destinations in east Trinidad.

Even now, Arima is still considered, in some quarters, to be the gateway to the east.

One of the earliest settlements in Trinidad, Arima was founded in 1757, by Capuchin priests from Spain, who had ventured to this country to convert the Amerindians to Christianity.

It was in the town that the priests constructed a church and outlined their mission.

The church was dedicated to Rosa, an Amerindian lass from Lima, Peru, who had been canonized as Santa Rosa de Lima.

In the 1780s, under then Governor Jose Maria Chacon, Amerindians were relocated from the nearby Arouca and Tacarigua communities to Arima.

The purpose of Chacon's action was to distribute the arable land of native peoples to the French planters, who, at that time, had just arrived in the country.

During that period, Arima was governed by what was referred to as a Cabildo or Town Council, which was presided over by Manuel Sorzano.

Today, the street named after Sorzano as a tribute to his work and contribution to the development of the town, is also the site of the Arima Town Hall, which houses the Mayor's office and is the official meeting place of the Council.

During the 1780s, the Spanish authorities laid down strict rules to prevent non-Amerindians from entering the Mission, since there was a mass emigration of French settlers and their slaves into Trinidad.

However, this scenario was undermined after the fall of Trinidad to the British in 1797.  For a while, the restrictions seemed to have disappeared.

Later, when Englishman Ralph Woodford became the Governor in 1813, he was bent on preserving Spanish laws and customs.

He ordered non-Amerindians to leave the Mission of Arima and embarked on reformulating the Mission on its old structure.

Governor Woodford never failed to support the Cabildo of Arima in any move aimed at ensuring that Arima was a designated Amerindian territory.

In 1819, he had received a complaint that Amerindians in Arima were charging exceptionally high fees for the rent of the land in the town.

Endorsing the move of the Amerindians, Governor Woodford stressed that "strangers (Spaniards, Africans and French), had no rights in the area."

Earlier in 1818, Governor Woodford had appointed a military officer to oversee law and order in the town.

His role, according to Woodford, was to ensure that "all strangers were apprehended who entered the village…nor will you (the military officer) allow any person henceforth to reside in Arima that has not my express authority for that purpose.