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The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest borough〔Table from 2000 Census on Central Statistical Office of Trinidad and Tobago website ()〕 (83,516 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing〔(Chaguanas – Trinidad’s fastest growing town ) - Afra Raymond, July 29, 2004.〕〔(The Borough of Chaguanas - the Fastest Growing Commercial Centre ) - ''Trinidad Guardian'', October 1, 1998〕 town in Trinidad and Tobago. Located in Central Trinidad about south of Port of Spain, it originally grew in size due to its proximity to the Woodford Lodge sugar refinery and the Central Trinidad town of Couva. It remained a minor town until the 1980s when it began to grow rapidly as it drew people for its bargain shopping and moderately-priced housing. However, its rapid growth has seen property values increase dramatically.〔 Chaguanas became a borough in 1990; prior to that it was part of the County of Caroni. The current mayor is His Worship Gopaul Boodhan and the Borough Council has historically been dominated by the United National Congress.〔http://guardian.co.tt/news/2013-11-09/unc-rules-chaguanas〕 ==History== Chaguanas was named for the Chaguanes Amerindian tribe.〔(Nobel Lecture ) - V.S. Naipaul, 2001〕 The area was settled by the time of the British conquest of Trinidad in 1797 (see ''History of Trinidad and Tobago''). The town originated on what was then H.E. Robinson's sugar estate adjacent to the Woodford Lodge sugar refinery and the De Verteuil coconut and cocoa estate to the north and east. It was sold over to the now defunct Caroni (1975) Ltd when sugar was the main export commodity for Trinidad and Tobago, and was part of the Woodford Lodge Estate that is home to several buildings including the homes of several ex-Caroni workers.Construction of the Trinidad Government Railway helped the town grow. The Princess Margaret Highway, built by the US military during World War II, joined the Southern Main Road at Chaguanas. Construction of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway extended the highway south to San Fernando. The Carlsen Air Force Base was a former United States Army Air Forces World War II airbase constructed in Carlsen Field in 1942, consisting of two landing strips, "Edinburgh" and "Xeres". The airbase also included an emergency landing strip, "Tobago". Edinburgh Field became the principal combat base for USAAF bombers and Naval airships on Trinidad as well as Navy fighters with a complex of runways and taxiways that surpassed even Waller Field. This lasted until 3 November 1943 when, it was renamed Carlsen Field. It was also used by the Royal Air Force and was defended by US Army infantry and AA units. When the Navy began lighter-than-air operations in the Caribbean in the fall of 1943, the 80th Seabees were brought in to build a station at Carlsen Field. To supplement the eight Army-owned buildings taken over by the Navy, the 80th Battalion built a large, steel blimp hangar, a mooring circle, paved runways, a helium-purification plant, and other operational appurtenances. The facility was formally disestablished on 1950, and today the former air and naval airship base has been turned into a dairy and agricultural area south of Chaguanas and is all but unrecognizable. Much of the former airfield area is owned by National Flour Mills (NFM) and the only remnants of the base are the name of the area in south Chaguanas, along with streets named "Edinburgh" and "Xeres". In the later 20th century Chaguanas grew rapidly as a bazaar town. The construction of Lange Park in the early 1980s attracted a middle-class community moving south from Port of Spain and the East-West Corridor and north from San Fernando. Its central location made it attractive to southerners working in north Trinidad and northerners looking for more affordable homes. Over the years, there has been an increase in the number of Afro-Trinidadian persons joining the mostly Indo-Trinidadian community of Chaguanas, primarily through the construction of National Housing Authority (now the Housing Development Corporation) residential housing, such as Edinburgh 500. Orchard Gardens was constructed as an upper middle class community, and Lange Park (which originally and continues to have a number of civil servants) gradually gentrified. Also, despite Couva historical legacy within the Caroni County, as Chaguanas has evolved and expanded significantly to become the de facto administrative and commercial capital of Central Trinidad, Couva's character has now changed to become magnet for industrialization, sports, health, and residential projects. In October 1990 Chaguanas was elevated to the status of borough under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act No. 21 of 1990.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chaguanas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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