History of The Hills (What's In A Name?)



One of my favourite quotes comes from Marcus Garvey and it says: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” I think that one of the factors that contribute towards the many ills that Laventille as a community faces, is a lack of knowledge about its past. As a community, many of us don’t know our origins and the historical contributions that the community of Laventille made to the development of this country. So for these next couple of posts, I will be taking a little look at the history of Laventille.

The name Laventille can be traced back to our colonial past. Historical sources say that the French nicknamed it “La Ventaille”, meaning "The Vent", because the northern trade winds hit the hills of Laventille before any other part of Port of Spain or its environs. Eventually, “La Ventaille” became Laventille. As a child growing up I remember finding it odd that my grandmother, and few of the other elderly neigbours, would pronounce Laventille as “Laventee”. However, given what I now know about the French origins of the name, and the little I remember from secondary school French (sorry Ms. Richardson), “Laventee” would have been how the French pronounced it.

Recently however, while doing research on the Our Lady of Laventille R.C. Church that perches atop Laventille Road, I came across an undated publication written by Fr. Leahy O.P and Errol Cooper sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The authors say that their research led them to believe that Laventille got its name not from the French but from the Spanish. According to their research, in 1757, after the Governor’s residence was destroyed, the predominantly Spanish population of Trinidad was unwilling to rebuild it in St. Joseph, reconstructing it in Port of Spain instead. However, many of the Spanish population still lived in St. Joseph with little means of communication, and transportation, between the two areas. A rudimentary road was thus constructed between Port of Spain and St. Joseph but need soon arose for a rest station. A “ventilla” or inn was constructed at the halfway point joining Port of Spain to San Juan. Later the Spanish “La Ventilla” became the French “Laventille” with the spelling used today.


So where do you think the name Laventille originates? Is it from the French “La Ventaille” or the Spanish “La Ventilla”?