Towns and Villages-Arima

By MICHAEL ANTHONY

Arima is perhaps the only district in Trinidad where remnants of the native Amerindians can still be found, although even here it is difficult to find anyone of pure Amerindian stock. But they have always been concentrated here, long after they disappeared from the other villages and towns, and Arima has always been regarded as their special home.

Even the word "Arima," itself, is Amerindian, meaning "water", which points to the fact that the village sprang up on the banks of what is called the Arima River. Situated in north central Trinidad, it has been for more than a century, the most easterly settlement in all the interior of Trinidad. This feature rendered it of particular interest, especially as it lay across relatively gentle terrain, some 26 kilometers due east of Port-of -Spain. Lying at the foothills of the Northern Range, Arima has always served as a hub for the area around, and for decades was the only gateway to the eastern seaboard.

Arima has the distinction of being among the earliest of Trinidad settlements. It was founded in 1757, by Capuchin priests from Spain who had come here to convert the Amerindians to Christianity. It was on this site that they built a church and established a mission. Later the church was dedicated to Rosa, an Amerindian girl from Lima, in Peru, who had just been canonized as Santa Rosa de Lima, (Incidentally, Rosa was the first saint of the Americas).

The Mission of Arima remained stable from 1757, right up to the 1780s, but knew a sudden influx in 1785 when the new Governor, Jose Maria Chacon, transferred all the Amerindians from neighbouring Tacarigua and Arouca to this place. The purpose was to distribute the arable land of these native peoples to newly-arrived French planters. A look at Arima after this period would show that it was run by a Cabildo (or Town Council) and this was presided over by a Corregidor, an official whose duties were to maintain law and order.

Arima was now being laid out properly for the first time and the man in charge of this work was Manuel Sorzano - a surname that lives on in Sorzano Street. (One of his descendants, Martin Sorzano, also held a position of influence in the town).

With the influx of French settlers and their slaves into Trinidad at this period, the 1780s, the Spanish authorities laid down strict rules aimed at keeping non-Amerindians out of the Mission. However, whatever success this had was quickly undermined after the fall of Trinidad to the British in 1797. The restrictions seem to have completely disappeared, but only up to the time that Ralph Woodford came here as Governor in 1813. Woodford, who, as a British Governor, stood out in that he was always anxious to preserve Spanish laws and customs, ordered non-Amerindians to leave the Mission of Arima. He set about re-establishing the Mission on its old footing and never failed to support the Cabildo of Arima in any move aimed at guaranteeing Arima as Amerindian territory. When in 1819 he received a complaint that Amerindians in Arima were charging exorbitant sums for the rent of land in the area, he wrote, on the 26th of October that year: "I have received and considered your representation of the 12th ult … As regards to the rights of the Indians to impose this charge, the existing documents prove that the land of Arima was given to them as their property in community, with an exclusive and untransferable right.."

Stressing the point that strangers had no right in the area anyway, he remarked in that very letter: "I have to observe that in 1797 only two white persons and nine coloured men (married to Indian women) were then living in the village, and notwithstanding every search, I remained quite ignorant of any regulation of Governor Chacon or of His Catholic Majesty that might have altered the Law regarding the settlement of strangers in an Indian Mission."

In June of the previous year, 1818, Woodford had appointed a strong military officer as Corregidor of Arima, and among his instructions was the following: "You will cause all strangers to be apprehended who enter the village, not being furnished with my permission to stay in this island, nor will you allow any person henceforward to reside in Arima that has not my express authority for that purpose."

On the lighter side, Woodford never failed to journey to Arima for the feast of Santa Rosa, celebrated on August 31. Woodford, referred to as "Gouverneur Chapeau Paille," because he always wore a straw hat, cut a merry figure on those occasions, enjoying himself with the Amerindians during this festival of dancing, sport, fruit and flowers.

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