The Caroni River is the largest river in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

, running for from its origins in the

Northern Range The Northern Range is the range of tall hills across north Trinidad, the major island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The hills range from the Chaguaramas peninsula on the west coast to Toco in the east. The Northern Range covers approx ...

on the island of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, through the northern lowlands of the

Caroni Plains On the island of Trinidad in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caroni Plain is a lowland area between the Northern Range and the Central Range. The lowland areas to the south of the Central Range are the Naparima Plain on the west and the ...

and enters the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; es, Golfo de Paria) is a shallow (180 m at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries ...

at the

Caroni Swamp The Caroni Swamp is the second largest mangrove wetland in Trinidad and Tobago. It is located on the west coast of Trinidad, south of Port of Spain and northwest of Chaguanas, where the Caroni River meets the Gulf of Paria. The Caroni Swamp is ...

. The Caroni and its tributaries drain into one of the most densely populated parts of Trinidad, the

East–West Corridor The East–West Corridor is the built-up area of north Trinidad stretching from the capital, Port of Spain, east to Arima. The term was coined by economist and political philosopher Lloyd Best, after gleaning the works of a technocrat named ...

, and also provides most of its drinking water through the

Caroni–Arena Dam The Caroni–Arena Dam is the largest dam in Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the Arena Forest Reserve, south of Arima Arima, officially The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima is the easternmost and second largest in area of the three b ...

. Point and non-point

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

is thus a major concern, as is the

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

of its watershed on the southern slopes of the

. The banks of the Caroni River are one of the two main sites for

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

cremations. The River is known to have strong currents and occasionally floods during heavy rainfall, devastating crops, livestock, fields, and farms in the Caroni area.

Course

The Caroni River originates as the Aripo River in the Northern Range and drains west into the mangrove wetlands of the Caroni Swamp.

Major tributaries

Twelve tributaries join the Caroni River from the

: the San Juan River, the Saint Joseph River, the Tunapuna River, the

Tacarigua River The Tacarigua River (commonly known as the Caura River) is a river on the island of Trinidad. It originates in the Northern Range and drains into the Caura Valley. It passes through the town of Tacarigua in the East–West Corridor before joinin ...

, the Arouca River, the Oropuna River, the Mausica River, the Carapo River, the Arima River, the Guanapo River, El Mamo River, and the Aripo River. A further six tributaries drain the

Central Range Central Range, Central Mountains, or Central Mountain Range may refer to several ranges of mountains, including: * Central Range, New Guinea * Central Range, Taiwan * Central Range, Trinidad and Tobago * Central Range, Venezuela See also * Cent ...

: the Tumpuna River, the Talparo River, the Cumuto River, the Guatapajaro River and two rivers which bear the name Arena.

Catchment basin

The

catchment basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

of the Caroni River covers about in north Trinidad and occupies three of the five major physiographic units that make up the island of Trinidad: the Northern Range, the Northern Basin (or

Caroni Plain On the island of Trinidad in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caroni Plain is a lowland area between the Northern Range and the Central Range. The lowland areas to the south of the Central Range are the Naparima Plain on the west and the ...

), and the Central Range. The wider Caroni River basin, which includes the Caroni River and other smaller rivers that drain into the

, covers 22% of the land area of the island of Trinidad.

History

shell midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

along the San Juan River provides the oldest evidence of human habitation within the drainage basin of the Caroni River. These first Trinidadians belonged to the

Ortoiroid people The Ortoiroid people were the second wave of human settlers of the Caribbean who began their migration into the Antilles around 2000 BCE. They were preceded by the Casimiroid peoples (~4190-2165 BCE). They are believed to have originated in the Or ...

, who were

hunters and gatherers A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

. Remains associated with the

Saladoid The Saladoid culture is a pre-Columbian indigenous culture of territory in present-day Venezuela and the Caribbean that flourished from 500 BCE to 545 CE. The Saladoid were an Arawak people. Concentrated along the lowlands of the Orinoco River, the ...

people, a later cultural group of agriculturalists, are known from along the Tumpuna River in the Central Range, in the

Maracas Valley Maracas Valley is a valley in Trinidad that is separated by two mountains between Maracas–Saint Joseph and Maracas Beach. Maracas valley is part of the biodiverse Northern Range mountain range. The region was once inhabited by the Amerindians. ...

, in

Tacarigua Tacarigua (originally San Pablo de Tacarigua) is a town in the East–West Corridor of Trinidad and Tobago, located east of Tunapuna, north of Trincity and west of Arouca. It is on the banks of the Tacarigua River. The city is governed by the Tu ...

just east of the Tacarigua River, and in the town of

St. Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

, the first capital of Trinidad under Spanish rule. In 1592 a Spanish official, Domingo de Vera, took possession of Trinidad on behalf of Antonio de Berrío y Oruña and established the town of San José de Oruña (modern St. Joseph) on the banks of the St. Joseph River. Berrío came to Trinidad in 1593 and used it as a base for exploring the mainland of South America while trying to prevent the establishment of English privateers and traders on the island.

References

{{reflist Rivers of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad (island) Gulf of Paria