Demographics and Architecture
| Year | City proper |
Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 54,100 | N/A |
| 1946 | 92,793 | Annexation of St. James (1938) |
| 1960 | 93,954 | N/A |
| 1970 | 73,950 | N/A |
| 1988 | 59,200 | N/A |
| 2000 | 49,031 | N/A |
| Administrative Corporation | Population |
|---|---|
| Port of Spain | 49,031 |
| Diego Martin | 105,720 |
| San Juan/Laventille | 157,295 |
| Tunapuna/Piarco | 203,975 |
| Arima | 32,278 |
| Total | 548,299 |
| Source: 2000 Census |
Port of Spain has a population of 23,415 males and 25,616 females, with 5,694 businesses and is home to 14,487 households with an average size of 3.18 according to the 2000 census.
Port of Spain's diverse population reflects two centuries of immigration and this shows in the architecture of its buildings. The city features French colonial 'ginger bread' style houses, buildings with New Orleans reminiscent wrought-iron railings and wooden fretwork set beside modern high-rise towers and strip malls with a mish-mash of gothic-style cathedrals, mosques and Hindu temples testifying to the diversity of cultures. It is home to African, Indian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Venezuelan, Chinese and Syrian immigrants, most of them arriving since the Spanish Cedula of Population of 1783. Prominent Port of Spain citizens are Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul (Nobel Prize Literature 2001), Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize Literature 1992) and former West Indies cricketer Brian Lara.
Read more about this topic: Port Of Spain
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“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
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