History of Chaguaramas
Strategically located on the northwest peninsula of Trinidad, Chaguaramas has played a significant role in the annals of Trinidad's history and indeed the history of the world.
The earliest history of Chaguaramas, substantiated by names like Macqueripe and Chacachacare, dates back to Saladoid Amerindian occupation between 100 and 400 A.D. Chaguaramas itself is an Amerindian word describing the once palm-fringed shoreline.
Columbus, in his quest for new lands, sailed through the Dragon's Mouth in 1498. Three hundred years of Spanish rule followed, until 1797 when Spanish Rear Admiral Apodaca, after being harassed by the British and finally outgunned, scuttled his fleet in the Chaguaramas Bay.
In 1806, there was a slave revolt on the French-owned Chaguaramas sugar plantations, and eight years later, in 1813, the re-invasion of Venezuela by patriots was launched from Chacachacare, an island off the peninsula.
During the latter half of the 18th Century, Chaguaramas supported a thriving whaling industry. In 1941 its strategic location really came into prominence. The peninsula was one of the eight famed World War II
"Destroyer Bases" which the British Government had surrendered to the US for fifty over-aged destroyers. In 1943, Chaguaramas became a fully-operational US naval base.
In 1966 one of the world's eight Omega Navigational Systems was constructed in Chaguaramas. Swelling national consciousness in the 1960's led to demands for a return of Chaguaramas to the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
The move was spearheaded by the late Prime Minister, Dr. Eric Williams, and coincided with a wider Caribbean movement towards a West Indian Federation, for which Chaguaramas was to be the capital. Federation plans collapsed however, and in 1962 Trinidad and Tobago gained independence on its own.
Large areas of Chaguaramas were returned to the Government in 1967, and in 1972 Chaguaramas was opened to the public. In 1978 the Omega station was vacated.
Chaguaramas has since re-entered mainstream Trinidad life. Various industries, institutions and recreational facilities are now located there. In 1972, the government set up the Chaguaramas Development Authority with a mandate to develop the peninsula for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.