Still claimed as the home of the "Caribs" ... even though most studies indicate they were Arawaks ... and the only Royal Borough, a status granted by charter on August 1, 1888 by Queen Victoria. And to this day, Arima boasts of its annual August 31st Santa Rosa Festival and its "Carib King" and "Queen".

It is perhaps the oldest settlement on the island. Within its boundaries lies numerous rivers and fertile lands, thus lending reality to its name, Arima, given by the Amerindians to mean "water". Arima lying at the foothills of the Northern Range is approximately 16 miles or 26 kilometres from Port of Spain. It was linked to Port of Spain by railway from August 31, 1876 to 1965, when the railway was scrapped. Today the road links have been enhanced and apart from highways and main roads, it is also linked by a"Priority Bus Route".

Arima founded under Spanish rule in 1757. Then the Capuchin of the Aragon province, Spain, founded a mission ... aimed at the conversion of the Amerindians to the Catholic faith .. settlement for the Amerindians who had migrated from the Orinoco in neighbouring, Venezuela. The mission was dedicated to Santa Rosa de Lima, who was born in Peru, Spain in 1586.

In 1785. the Mission had an influx of Amerindians from adjacent areas on the order of the new Governor, Jose Maria Chacon who wanted the surrounding arable lands for the newly arrived French planters and their slaves.

Arima, however had its own Cabildo .. Town Council .. which was presided over by a Corregidor, an official whose duties were to maintain law and order. There were also strict rules to keep non-Amerindians out of Arima.

After the British took the island in 1797, the restrictions disappeared but with Ralph Woodford, who came as the British Governor in 1813, rules set up by the Spaniards were re-instituted and in June 1818, he appointed a militiary officer as Corregidor and issued the following instructions:

"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."

Referred to as Gouverneur Chapeau Paille,, Woodford died in 1828 and that put an end to the Amerindians Spanish implemented control of Arima. The Governors that followed did not think too highly of Spanish rules.

On the morning of June 18, 1837, before abolition of slavery, saw Trinidad's first insurrection (just a full century before the Labour Riots of June 19, 1939). Soldiers led by an African, Daaga mutined at St. Joseph .. then the island's capital. They were unsuccessful and fled eastward. Some were caught in Arima and Daaga was executed in St.Joseph on August 16, 1837.

DAAGA, according to The Pan-African Connection by Tony Martin, was a person of royal background, who belonged to the Pawpaw nation from Dahoney. He (Daaga) "had actually come to the shore to sell slaves to the Portugese" when he was tricked to board the ship and was "a slave too".

Because of its strategic location, Arima had its role to play and from 1850 saw one amenity after another: postal service in 1851, inauguration of the passenger and freight railway from Port of Spain on August 31, 1876.

When in 1849 Lord Harris established counties and wards, Arima was declared a Ward and in August 1888 it was granted the status of a Royal Borough by Queen Victoria. It was the first and only town in the Colonies, so honoured.

Arima had become the hub of the agricultural east and more so when the railway continued to Sangre Grande in 1898 and today, Arima, is not linked by railway but by several roadways including the "Priority Bus Route."