Geologically is part of South America, and politically, the stronger half of an insular republic, this stimulating island, cosmopolitan and tropical, is over all, a land of great natural beauty (map)

Trinidad, and island full of life, is vibrant and noisy, much more noisy than Tobago, its quiet and peaceful mate, located at 33 km far away. Both islands, the most southern in the Little Antilles, form the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad shows all its splendor during carnivals in February, when the capital Port Spain, the cradle of calypso and the metallic drums, dances at the rhythm of the music bands, and dance captures streets. During those days you can confirm the authentic extravagant nature of islanders, dressing with the most colorful costumes you have ever seen, and dancing in what it’s called “the greatest street party in the world”.

The music reaches the heart of the country, where live and sing more than 400 species of birds, accompanied by the silent butterflies. Not for nothing, Amerindians called this island as the “the land of the humming bird”. The tropical jungles of the northern mountains, the swamps, and the plain coconut beaches of the east, will allow you to runaway, easily, of the modern agitation of the industrialized life of the west coast, which is due to the oil exploitation found in open waters.

The oil boom of the 1970’s, created an important economic situation, giving Trinidad, the possibility of not having to promote tourism, contrasting with the other islands forming the chain of the Little Antilles. This means that currently, many of the beaches are deserted or “intact”. However, this is now changing; far from the hurricanes region, the protected harbors of the northwest offer an ideal refuge for yacht owners, who are now dedicated to buy permanent docks for their boats in the luxurious sporting ports recently built.

South American Influence
It wouldn’t be right to praise the beautiful blue waters around Trinidad, because they are brown, indeed.
The biggest and southern island of the Easter Caribbean chain, with 4,660 sq. km., is only 20 km. far away from the delta of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, but generally the sea here is warm and clean. If you go by sea or plane to Tobago, you’ll see that half way of the trip, the color of the sea changes, suddenly, to blue.

Many centuries before July 31, 1498, when Christopher Columbus first saw on the horizon, three mountain peaks, and decided to name the island as La Trinidad, the Amerindians arrived in canoes from the Orinoco region, and established in their coasts. The Spanish conquerors failed to find El Dorado here, but used the island to plant tobacco. For this purpose enslaved the native Indians, who finally disappeared, almost completely, in less than a century.

British sailors, Spanish farmers, French families owning the plantations, adventurers, thousands of African slaves, and from the XIX century, lots of Asian workers, have formed, along history, the backbone of the million and a half people living on the island. All of them live together in harmony, specially during carnivals, when all ethnical barriers step aside, which is a result of the significant increase of the birth rate, at the end of Autumn.

Abundance of Resources
The abolition of slavery in 1834, produced a great demand of cheap workers in the cacao plantations, and sugar cane fields all over the island. Therefore lots of people came from China and the Easter Indies, attracted by the false promises of the owners; with precarious contracts, they couldn’t even afford the cost of their trip, having in many cases, to work in the fields for almost ten years. Then, soon began to appear around the southern sugar plantations, small towns with Hindu temples, and their own social classes.

In the industrial centers in the west coast, a multiracial middle class manages the benefits obtained from the oil wells near to La Brea, manufacturing products for the whole Caribbean region, and taking advantage of the international commercial relations, and praising the American way of life. At the beginning of the 1970’s, the oil and gas exploitation of the coast, fueled the hopes of the Trinidad & Tobago people, who started to think that future was bright, without economic worries. However, during the oil crisis that followed, only the European economic support saved their economies from complete destruction.

From the political point of view, Trinidad & Tobago are much different; both ruled as one by the British since 1889; in the 1950’s, political parties surged under the leadership of
Dr. Eric Williams. In 1962, these islands achieved independence from the United Kingdom, and in 1976, the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago was born. The Government is currently dominated by politicians whose families come from India; while the Muslim groups are a majority within the Armed Forces. This situation is generating some tension between the different ethnic groups, and is likewise damaging relations between both islands.