Chaguaramas lies in the North West Peninsula of Trinidad west of Port-of-Spain; the name if often applied to the entire peninsula, but is sometimes used to refer to the most developed area. The entire peninsula was leased to the United States in 1940 for the construction of a naval base under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. The base was scaled in 1956 and the area was returned to Trinidad and Tobago control in 1963.
Chaguaramas was the location slated for the construction of the capital of the short-lived West Indies Federation. It is also the place where the Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed, establishing Caricom, the Caribbean Community and Common Market, in 1973.
The Chaguaramas Peninsula supports one of the few remaining areas of dry forest in western Trinidad.
