The Port of Spain was founded near the site of the Amerindian fishing
village of Cumucurapo ("place of the silk cotton trees"), located in
the area today known as Mucurapo, west of the city centre. The name Conquerabia
is also recorded for an Amerindian settlement in this area; this may have been
a separate village, another name for Cumucurapo, or the result of
miscomprehension by early Spanish settlers, who established a port here:
"Puerto de los Hispanioles", later "Puerto de España". In
1560, a Spanish garrison was posted near the foot of the Laventille Hills,
which today form the city's eastern boundary
