T&T Chacachacare rich with history
The most westerly and possibly the farthest isle away from Tobago in the same country is Chacachacare. It lies in the Bocas, the body of water that separates the northwest peninsula of Trinidad from Venezuela.This island is a reflection of our human history from colonisation, slavery, revolutions, agriculture, war and disease.The records of Chacachacare date back to pre-Columbian times. Archaeologists have discovered Amerindian presence in middens, piles of shells, pottery and food remains. In 1498, when Christopher Columbus rediscovered TT, his fleet stayed one night in what they called Monkey Harbour (back then it was inhabited by the red howler monkeys).Under Spanish rule during the 1700s, Chacachacare was converted to a cotton estate. It is thought that the name Chacachacare was derived from the Amerindian word for cotton – Chac – and the family name of the estate owner, Don Geraldo Carry.
At the end of the 1700s, Carry also began whaling, as whale oil was becoming economically viable and whaling stations were set up on several islands in the Bocas.By the 1800s the British had taken control of Trinidad, but the cotton industry and whaling continued on the island for most of the 1800s, even when slaves were emancipated in 1834. By mid-1800s some 400 people lived on the tiny island, enough to have a church. A lighthouse was also erected.In 1845, an outbreak of leprosy (Hansen’s disease) resulted in the assembly of an asylum in Cocorite. In 1865, the Dominican Sisters arrived in Trinidad to assist in the treatment and care of the patients. Realising the difficulty of keeping the disease from spreading, plans were put in place to establish facilities on Chacachacare to care for them in isolation.
During World War II, the connection between Chacachacare and the rest of the world closed in as the nuns saw a German submarine make its way towards Port of Spain in 1942.The following year, Chacachacare was selected as a strategic location to station American marines, who built barracks and a medical unit on the island. About 300 marines were stationed in nine military barracks adjacent to the leper facility until 1947. Leper residents continued to live on the island up to 1984. Chacachacare is one of about two dozen islets and rocks off TT’s coasts, each an interesting habitat and ecosystem to be explored and studied.
At the end of the 1700s, Carry also began whaling, as whale oil was becoming economically viable and whaling stations were set up on several islands in the Bocas.By the 1800s the British had taken control of Trinidad, but the cotton industry and whaling continued on the island for most of the 1800s, even when slaves were emancipated in 1834. By mid-1800s some 400 people lived on the tiny island, enough to have a church. A lighthouse was also erected.In 1845, an outbreak of leprosy (Hansen’s disease) resulted in the assembly of an asylum in Cocorite. In 1865, the Dominican Sisters arrived in Trinidad to assist in the treatment and care of the patients. Realising the difficulty of keeping the disease from spreading, plans were put in place to establish facilities on Chacachacare to care for them in isolation.
During World War II, the connection between Chacachacare and the rest of the world closed in as the nuns saw a German submarine make its way towards Port of Spain in 1942.The following year, Chacachacare was selected as a strategic location to station American marines, who built barracks and a medical unit on the island. About 300 marines were stationed in nine military barracks adjacent to the leper facility until 1947. Leper residents continued to live on the island up to 1984. Chacachacare is one of about two dozen islets and rocks off TT’s coasts, each an interesting habitat and ecosystem to be explored and studied.
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