| Both
Trinidad and Tobago were originally settled by Amerindians
of South American origin. Trinidad was first settled
by pre-agricultural Archaic people at least 7,000
years ago, making it the earliest-settled part of
the Caribbean. Ceramic-using agriculturalists settled
Trinidad around 250 BCE and then moved up the Lesser
Antillean chain. At the time of European contact
Trinidad was occupied by various Arawakan- and Cariban-speaking
tribes including the Nepoya, Suppoya and Yao, while
Tobago was occupied by the Island Caribs and Galibi.
The Amerindian name for Trinidad was Kairi or Iere
which is usually translated as The Land of the Hummingbird,
although others have reported that it simply meant
island. Christopher Columbus encountered the island
of Trinidad on July 31, 1498 and named it after
the Holy Trinity. Columbus reported seeing Tobago,
which he named Bella Forma, but did not land on
the island. The name Tobago is probably derived
from tobacco.
The
Spanish established a presence in Trinidad, but
due to a lack of settlers, eventually allowed
any Roman Catholic European to settle on the island,
leading to substantial immigration from France
and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Tobago changed hands
between British, French, Dutch and Courlanders.
Britain consolidated its hold on both islands
during the Napoleonic Wars, and they were combined
into the colony of Trinidad and Tobago in 1889.
As a result of these colonial struggles Amerindian,
Spanish, French and English place names are all
common in the country. African slaves and Indian,
Chinese, Portuguese and free African indentured
labourers arrived to supply labour in the nineteenth
and early twentieth century. Emigration from Barbados
and the Lesser Antilles, Venezuela and Syria and
Lebanon also impacted on the ethnic make-up of
the country.
Although
originally a sugar colony, cacao dominated the
economy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. After the collapse of the cacao crop
(due to disease and the Great Depression) petroleum
increasingly came to dominate the economy. The
Depression and the rise of the oil economy led
to changes in the social structure.
The
presence of American military bases in Chaguaramas
and Cumuto in Trinidad during World War II profoundly
changed the character of society. In the post-war
period, the wave of decolonisation that swept
the British Empire led to the formation of the
West Indies Federation in 1958 as a vehicle for
independence. Chaguaramas was the proposed site
for the federal capital. The Federation dissolved
after the withdrawal of Jamaica, and Trinidad
and Tobago elected for independence in 1962.
In
1970, a number of students gathered in front of
the Canadian Embassy to protest an application
fee for students visas, in what at the time was
a copycat of the 1960s civil rights movement in
north America. The results are known today as
the Black Power Riots of 1970.
In
1976 the country severed its links with the British
monarchy and became a republic within the Commonwealth.
In
1990, 114 men of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, led
by Yasin Abu Bakr (formerly known as Lennox Phillip),
stormed the Trinidad & Tobago Parliament at
the Red House, and the only TV Station in the
country at the time, and held the country's government
hostage for six days. The matter was sorted out,
and the country has been largely at peace since.
Petroleum,
petrochemicals and natural gas continue to be
the backbone of the economy. Tourism is the mainstay
of the economy of Tobago, and the island remains
a favorite destination for many European tourists.
Trinidad and Tobago is one of the most prosperous
nations in the Caribbean, although less so than
it was during the "oil boom" between
1973 and 1983.
|
