Amerindians, Capuchins & Cedulants: A Brief History of Couva from Earliest Times to 1797

Couva is a modern pulsating town in Trinidad—an island once owned by Spain—that is prosperous and sufficiently well populated. But the town wasn’t always as lively and contemporary as it is today. Old Couva (i.e., Savaneta) had been settled by Amerindians who originated in South America. From being a stretch of mostly uncultivated fertile soil to being the centre of the Saint Anne’s Mission and founded by Roman Catholic Capuchin missionaries in Eastern Couva in 1687 to convert the pagan Ame...