 The
islands came under British control in the 19th century; independence
was granted in 1962. The country is one of the most prosperous
in the Caribbean thanks largely to petroleum and natural gas
production and processing. Tourism, mostly in Tobago, is targeted
for expansion and is growing. |
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Christopher Columbus landed
on Trinidad during his third voyage, on 31st July, 1498. The island of the Arawaks
and Caribs was then colonized by Spain. The indigenous population
soon disappeared, and slaves from Africa were captured to replace
them on the plantations. After successive raids by
the Dutch and French, during the 17th century, the island fell
to the British in 1797, and was finally ceded to them following
the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802. Tobago was also ceded to
Britain at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. After slavery was abolished
in 1833, the British imported more than 150,000 Muslim and
Hindu Indian guestworkers, between 1845 and 1917. Trinidad and Tobago became
an independent state in the Commonwealth of Nations on August
31, 1962. In April 1970 Trinidad suffered
serious rioting and a mutiny by part of the army. The state
of emergency was finally ended in972. |
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