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Album no 41

I bought a book today titled to the point - “Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago” by Michael Anthony. There are approximately fifty towns described in it, each one dedicated seven pages to a geographical and brief historical summary. It’s a decent book, written for the layman but containing adequate information to satisfy a “local” knowledge craving.

For the sake of sharing this information, I thought I’d list one fact (usually the origin of the name) for most of the towns described in the book:

ARIMA is the Amerindian word for “water”. It was so named as the village was built around a river.

AROUCA is based around the word “Arauca”, which is the true name for the so-called Arawak.

The adjacent beach, BALANDRA, is named after a type of boat that docked there.

BARATARIA is possibly named after a prank involving a fake island of the same name in Cervantes’ Don Quixote. “Barato” itself means cheap.

BICHE is named after the French word for “beast” because it was first started off as a settlement for hunters.

The settlement was first called Ladies River, but later on a French surveyor named it after the French term for “washer-woman” - BLANCHISSEUSE.

When boats were docked in Port-of-Spain, they were carried along the bay to be cleaned. This was called “careening” and so sprang the name CARENAGE.

CAURA was based off of an Amerindian word “Cuara” which meaning is lost now. The settlers of Caura were said to be so lazy and secluded that their village never thrived and was left mostly abandoned. A CORRECTION MADE BY A DESCENDANT FROM THE CAURA AREA: Caura ancestors were not lazy. They carried their church brick by brick to the Lopinot Valley. A dam scheduled there was never built and the Government never gave them back their land. See post here.

When the Spanish sailors arrived at this coast, they noticed many tall cedar trees. And they called it the Spanish word for cedars, CEDROS.

CHAGUANAS is named after the group of indigenous peoples that lived there, known as the Chaguanes. Smaller villages in Chaguanas were so named to positively motivate its early settlers - Felicity, Endeavour, Enterprise.

COUVA was a corruption of Cuba, due to the tendency to pronounce “B” as “V” in the Spanish language.

CUNUPIA is named after the word “conupia”, which when translated means “canopy”.

DIEGO MARTIN is simply named after the Spaniard who discovered it, Don Diego Martin.

FIFTH COMPANY VILLAGE is so named after the temporary settlement of the 5th company batch of black American soldiers who stayed here during the war of 1812.

The villagers were very pleased when a man named Clifton Flanagin came and built a successful railway system, and thus changed the name of their village to FLANAGIN TOWN.

The indentured labourers from Uttar Pradesh named FYZABAD after a province they lived next to, known as Faizabad.

The first spot sighted by Columbus. This spot may also be known as GALEOTA POINT, which means “galley”, as Columbus believed it to look like a galley under sail.

GUAYAGUAYARE was named after the indigenous mocking the sounds of the sea at that point. (also possibly because ‘waya’ means clay)

An icaco shrub, more commonly known as “fat pork”, provided the inspiration for the name, ICACOS.

When Sir Walter Raleigh patched his ship up with the pitch from the Pitch Lake, he gave the village the name LA BREA, which simply means “The Pitch”.

LAVENTILLE is a corruption of “La Ventaille” (or The Vent), so named for the passage of the northeast trade winds through this area.

A new incoming Governor by the name of James Longden was determined to leave his mark on this country and so had a town named after him, called LONGDENVILLE.

In the 1700’s, a young man from Louisiana travelled to Santo Domingo. When war involving Touissant Louverture broke out, he sneaked into a ship, which then carried him to Trinidad. He settled in a spot there after being granted a parcel of land for cocoa. The man’s name was Charles Joseph Count de LOPINOT.

Along the coast there are tiny fruits known as manchineels. They are small and poisonous and look like tiny apples. The village near this coast was given the Spanish word for “little apple”, which is MANZANILLA.

When the Spanish visited here, they came for the seaside view. It was described as “Mar Bella”, or ‘beautiful sea’, which was later turned to MARABELLA.

MARACAS was so named after the musical instrument, which we sometimes call the “chac-chac”.

MATURA is the Spanish word for “high woods”, named by the surveyors visiting there. 

The maya plant grew prolifically in MAYARO. The word “ro” in the Amerindian language meant “the place of”, so Mayaro denotes “the place of the maya plant”.

A place renowned for having spirits, MORUGA was named after a river lined with abandoned fishing settlements, with many of the villagers claiming that an apparition dwelled in the waters.

NAPARIMA is named from the Amerindian word “Anaparima”, which means “single hill”.

Due to the nearby presence of the Oropouche Lagoon and rice paddies, the dwellers took to calling the village “pengyal”, which in Tamil means “swampy area”. This was later renamed PENAL.

POINTE-A-PIERRE was only so named because of its French settlers - Pierre being a popular French name.

A man with no recorded first name, simply called Fortin, was granted land in Trinidad. It was then called POINT FORTIN.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, or formerly known as “Port of the Spaniards”, was a regular meeting place for Spanish sailors. Before, it was known as Cu-Mucurapo, which means “The Place of Silk Cotton Trees”.

Originally called the Mission of Savana Grande, the town was renamed PRINCES TOWN after a visit by Queen Victoria’s grandsons, Prince Albert and Prince George. They had each planted a poui tree near an Anglican Church, which still can be seen today.

RIO CLARO was named by Spanish surveyors. In English, it means “Clear River”.

SAN FERNANDO was so named by Governor Chacon after the infant son of Spanish King Carlos III, Prince Fernando.

There was a river that the Spanish saw that ran red as blood. So they named the villages near the river SANGRE GRANDE and SANGRE CHIQUITO, respectively “Big Blood” and “Little Blood”.

After the Arena Massacre of 1699, the Catholic parish at that area decided to give it the name SAN RAFAEL, after St. Raphael, the patron saint of healers.

SANTA CRUZ simply means “Holy Cross” in Spanish due to the religious zeal of the settlers there.

“Little Savannah” in Spanish is SAVONETTA, an early settlement for French planters.

SIPARIA is also known as The Sand City.

ST. JOSEPH was originally named after its founder, St. Jose de Oruna. It is notable that it was the first established town in Trinidad.

TRINCITY is a blend between Trinity and City.

TUNAPUNA comes from “tona” (water) and “puna” (upon).

WESTMOORINGS is so simply named because of its cardinal location and the fact that many “moorings” or boat secure points are located nearby.

When people think of Angostura, it’s usually as a bitters company. While Angostura has built its brands on bitters, it’s also an extremely large producer of rum. Angostura produces between seven and eight million cases of rum annually, which makes them one of largest distillers in the Caribbean. Angostura not only produces its own line of rums, they also produce rum for quite a large number of other companies.

Angostura’s distillery in Trinidad is pretty massive, with huge fermentation tanks and stills that pump out a mind-boggling amount of rum. Trinidad’s major industry is oil and natural gas, and as a result the energy costs are much lower than in other parts of the Caribbean, enabling Angostura to run an operation that simply couldn’t be feasible elsewhere.

The climate in Trinidad is ideal for rum, with sugar cane growing abundantly and the right balance of heat, humidity, and temperatures to age rum. Trinidad also has access to amazing water that runs from natural springs from mountain rain forests to the major city, Port of Spain, where Angostura produces their rum. When you consider that as much as 50% of a bottle of rum is water, the source and character of that water is very important.

Angostura uses molasses for their rums, which results in easy and sweet rums that mix and sip well. Rum is an extremely important part of island life, and each island in the Caribbean is noticeably nationalistic when it comes to their rum. Throughout Trinidad the predominant spirit is Angostura rum – you rarely see any other rums being served.

Angostura launched its rum line in the United States late last year and it includes Angostura Reserva (a 3 year rum), 5 year, 7 year, 1919, and 1824 rums. All of Angostura’s rums are blends of lighter and heavier rums aged in ex-bourbon barrels, each put together to create a symphony of flavors. The 3 year, Angostura Reserva, has soft, sweet vanilla on the nose with banana, toasted marshmallow, molasses, cocoa, and vanilla on the palate. The 5 year Angostura Rum has a sweet nose with caramel, vanilla, and spice with an undercurrent of dried banana, and caramel, vanilla, toffee, oak spice, and dried banana on the palate. The 7 year Angostura Rum has vanilla, caramel, chocolate, and coffee on the nose with deeper molasses notes, oak spice, chocolate, coffee, and vanilla on the palate.

Angostura’s 1919 rum comes from the acquisition of the Trinidad’s Fernandez Brother’s distillery. 1919 is based on a Portuguese style of rum making which includes a blend of 5-10 year old rums. It has a sweet nose with solid vanilla, caramel, and toffee. On the palate 1919 has monster vanilla, white chocolate, and toffee. 1824 is a 12 year old rum that is softer and more subtle than 1919, with a soft, thick mouthfeel with caramel, toffee, toasted marshmallow, and light oak on the palate.

Across the board, Angostura produces very affable and slightly sweet rums with subtle spice and very little fire. In addition to the rums available in the United States, Angostura produces a wide range of rums for other markets including Trinidad. These include White Oak Rum, Royal Oak Rum, Fernandes Black Label Rum, an extremely high proof spirit called Angostura “Forres Park” Puncheon, and an absolutely delicious and wonderfully balanced ‘single barrel’ rum

In Trinidad, rum is commonly enjoyed with a mixer like Angostura’s LLB, which is lemon, lime, and bitters, or with coconut water, which makes a fantastic simple mixer for rum.

While its rum is relatively new to the American market, Angostura hopes that the familiarity and affection that many have with their bitters will transfer over to their rum and perhaps some day they’ll be know in the US just as much as a rum company as a bitters one.

Yeah