The History Of Trinidad and Tobago

     In 1498 a man named Christopher Columbus was on his third voyage to the new world.

There he found a island that was inhabited by the Arawak Indians. Sadly as colonization continued the Arawak Indians were killed and colonized by the Spanish in 1592. Through the rule of the Spanish, there starts to be more of a Spanish influence through style of living, food, and even language. However, 205 years later the British captures this island. just 20 years before there French settlers arriving to start a new life. This causes a mass congestion of influence. You had Spanish sectors, French sectors, and English sectors. This is just the history alone for Trinidad.

 

   Tobago on the other hand has a bit more of a eventful start. Tobago goes through there own history of colonization through the years. Starting the same as being colonized by Spain, the same nation who controlled Trinidad to start off. Unlike Trinidad, Dutch settlers from Netherlands came to start their own life in 1628. after failed English colonies came through the years, Courland and Netherlands made successful colonies out of Tobago. The French 4 years later also build their own colony in it. In 1666 English-Jamaican pirates raid Tobago and actually successfully capture it. The area at the start of the raid was later on called "Pirates Bay" to remember this occasion. This was all surrendered to the French the same year. After a lot of back and forth between the French and English, including Sweden sending settlers but was kicked out by natives, in 1889 Trinidad and Tobago become one big colony. 73 years later this new colony will see Independence from the British in 1962.

    Because of a mix of colonization and new people coming in and out, Trinidad and Tobago became a melting pot of influence. Even trough British colonization, this island nation has seen as increase of population from India. It's a perfect pairing with both cultures bringing spices between each other. It reached to the point where a lot of Indians choose to move to Trinidad and Tobago as a stopping point out India and to America. You will also see Bollywood (India's Hollywood) is a very big thing in Trinidad and Tobago. They even had a Prime Minister of Indian descent before the current Prime Minister!

    The languages that take up this nation now is predominantly English, but mixed with Spanish, Dutch, French, and for a large part Hindi. The food is also a mix of Spanish, Indian, and Trinidad and Tobago influence such as Aloo Pie (translates to Potato Pie from Hindi). This is great for anyone who want to come and visit Trinidad and Tobago any time soon!

Resources: 

“Trinidad and Tobago Languages.” FamilySearch Wiki, www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Trinidad_and_Tobago_Languages.