Dominic Kalipersad
November 22 at 6:45 PM
The town we call Sangre Grande came into being because of the railway.
The name was imposed on an older village called Cunapo which virtually disappeared after the railway system was extended from Arima in August 1897.
According to historian Michael Anthony in his book “Towns and Villages", although the signboard said ‘Sangre Grande Railway Station,' the train in fact stopped at Cunapo. Sangre Grande village was on a hill about two miles east of Cunapo.
With the advent of the railway, people moved to Cunapo to be near to the trains. And so the old Sangre Grande died and Cunapo came to be called Sangre Grande.
Ironically, the name Sangre Grande existed long before this period.
It came about in the late 1770s when Spanish surveyors were charting the island. They found that the water of the larger tributary of the Oropouche River was red as blood, and gave it the Spanish name Sangre Grande, which translates in English to mean Big Blood.
Now, Sangre Grande has grown into the largest town in northeastern Trinidad, with a population exceeding 20,000.
The name Cunapo (Carib word meaning 'red mangrove') is virtually gone, although some people still refer to Sangre Grande by that name, and some institutions still carry Cunapo in their name.
The Trinidad Government Railway system ceased in December 1968.