The Carnival Dates Project
Trinidad & Tobago
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By Islands Research The Carnival Dates Project Trinidad & Tobago |
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A BRIEF NEW-WORLD HISTORY - TRINIDAD & TOBAGO PREAMBLE THE MAIN Kingdoms of Europe seemed always at war. It would take all the time between the discovery of these West Indian Islands, their agonising birth, to the childhood they have attained today, for that Europe to arrive at this modicum of peace and civility that we have pause to call life at the dawn of the new Millennium. During that time, the peoples of Europe displayed themselves to be far more barbaric and uncivilised than the resident civilisations that they were to inevitably displace and make extinct. They had even, during that period, supported themselves with a view that was quite the reverse. History sadly records differently. It is conservatively estimated that in the making of this New World, bravery aside, some 10 million [UR1] indigenous homo sapiens perished; with an astonishing equal number of around 10 million [PA&FH] displaced from their African homes to enter slavery, out of which more than 2 million were to perish from its direct effects. Within this assessment remains unaccounted the cost to themselves, as they variously plotted the fate of these islands, leaving indelible cultural marks, and to the fact that the main Kingdoms of Europe seemed always at war.
TRINIDAD 4,828 sq km ( 1,864 sq miles ) DISCOVERY For Trinidad ( where Tobago only joins Trinidad for a parallel history in 1889 ) the Spanish reign following Columbus' landfall and naming in 1498, would last some 300 years till its end; with true British occupation beginning in 1797. Trinidad would consequently be ruled by only two empires, the Spanish for 299 years and the British for 179 years, before enjoining the twin-island Republic in 1976; which approximates to 478 years of foreign rule, 24 of self-rule, in 502 years of New World existence to the turn of the New Millennium. It was Alonzo Perez Nirando, at about noon on Tuesday 31st July 1498, who first sighted from the high rigging in the main-top, La Trinity - as Columbus had already decided to call the first land he expected to discover on this, his third voyage. The range of three mountains that was first observed, gave Columbus pause to reflect that he was well favoured by the grace of God. [FC, CC -TBOT] Some historians cite the hills to the south of today's Trinidad, the consequently named Trinity Hills of the southern range, as those first sighted by Nirando; but this is highly unlikely. More probable is the silhouette outlined by Mount Tamana, the most easterly prominent component of the central range, together with the high peaks of the northern range, making up the triad; if not, the peaks of the northern range alone; as seen from a distance of some 15 leagues [FC -TBOT] ( 40[MapJW] - 45[CE] statute miles / 64 - 72 km ) out to sea; due East of the island. The Amerindian name for the island, thought to have been in common use since 1000 AD, was Ieri the land of the humming bird [JH]. This name is still in use today, with a slight French variation, and in a very subtle almost private turn of phrase in friendship with a strong warm gladdening and festive connotation. Iëre. Ah feelin Iëre. UNDER DEVELOPED FOR 300 YEARS 1498 - 1783 Trinidad would remain essentially underdeveloped for just 16 years short of the the first 300 years under Spanish occupation; their attentions focused elsewhere, until around the early 1780's. Established settlement took about the first 80 years; with the newcomers activities directed towards their failed settlements, pearl fishing, raids on the Amerindians to use as local and exported slaves, countering ferocious attacks by the Amerindians; before the establishment of the town San José de Oruña (St Joseph), which remained marginally subsistent for virtually another 200 years. The town was founded by Don Antonio Sedeño, who had left the island in 1532 after initial failure, but was finally settled in 1577 by his associate Don José de Oruña [DH-TBOT]; and was named as the capital (1592 to 1783) when the Spanish Governor of Trinidad and Guyana, Don Antonio de Barrio y Oruña arrived in 1592 [TBOT]. Island Government at the time constituted a Cabildo led by the Alcaldes (Spanish appointed Governor as Presidente + Magistrates) who in turn appointed member Reglidores (Couincilmen) from leading houses of the community. Some other functionaries were Reglidore Fiel Executore, Precurador Syndic and Assessor. [PB, KS - TBOT; JCPP] [ The early settlers are led by the Conquistadores ( eg. Sedeño, Ponce de Leon, de Barrio y Oruña etc... and others ) who use Trinidad as a stepping-stone on their quest for the fabled El Dorado - Processing - tojo ] Sir Walter Raleigh made a brief mark in the name of Elizabeth I of England when he; discovered the Pitch Lake from which he took material to caulk his ship in March; and at 04:00 am, Friday 8th April 1595, sacked and burnt Trinidad's first Spanish capital, San José de Oruña. [SAG-TBOT] Following the establishment of Spanish settlement, began the task of quelling and enslaving the native Amerindian population. The encomiendas system was used; parcels of large estates or villages in which the Amerindians were forced to work for, and pay tribute to, the encomiendo - the privileged Spaniard who had been given the Grant. Four encomiendas were established, and still remain in name today, as villages or towns. Acangua (San Juan), Arauca (Arouca), Tacarigua (Same) and Caura ( at Orange Grove, not the village we now call Coura [BB] ). They were linked by an Amerindian path, from Acangua to Arauca, that is now part of the Eastern Main Road [BB]. The encomiendas were abolished in 1716 [BB-TBOT].  In 1677 buccaneer the Marquis de Mantenon in the Socière frigate, aided by
some other buccaneers from the island of Tortuga, who had escaped from
imprisonment from Cadez, ravaged Trinidad; their plunder amounted
to 100,000 pieces of eight [DH-TBOT].Between 1687 to 1708[abolished] Capuchin missionaries, controlled by the Spanish [BB-TBOT], were to successfully harangue the decimated indigenous Amerindians who survived the growing culture-shock of invasion and the ravages of imported disease, into accepting Christianity. These missionaries also worked within the encomiendas [BB-TBOT]. Some of the missionary settlements that were established for the purpose, survived as Amerindian villages well into the late 1700's and beyond. (Notably: Savanna Grande [Princess Town - BB], Guayria, Savenetta and Montserrate.) [BB-TBOT]. Later, ordinary Spanish Catholic priests would carry on from where the Capuchin left off. Of these mission villages, Toco, Siparia and Savanna Grande (Princess Town) survive as villages or towns today; as they were used to collect the last of the surviving Amerindians from other missions and the old encomiendas, in a move made in 1793 [BB]. In 1716 the pirate Edward Black Beard Tench committed sad depravations in the Gulf of Paria [DH-TBOT]. 1774 the seat of Government temporarily moved to Puerto de Los Hispanioles. [TBOT] A Spanish decree of 1776 authorises foreign Catholics rights to settlement in Trinidad and other Spanish colonies [BB-TBOT]. 1777 Phillippe Rose Roune de Saint Laurent as a foreign Catholics from French Grenada, visits Trinidad to ascertain its potential for settlement [BB-TBOT]. ( See Tobago 1786 ) In 1782 the variety Otaheite sugar-cane, the breadfruit** and bamboo* introduced into the island by St. H Bagoratt from Martinique. [DH-TBOT] [ *Bamboo seems a bit odd here as it appears native to the island; but could, at length, be correct. What remains of interest is; that we have here an English translation of what is perhaps a French manifest. Now Otaheite cane is also known as Bourbon, which may have been mistranslated; or perhaps more likely, there is also a cane variety, popular in Hawaii, called Rose Bamboo [HFM]. ] [**A major food-bearer and a native to the islands off the Java peninsula, breadfruit - artocarpus incisa - was imported into the West Indies from around 1780's; when it's use was for providing food for the slaves. This introduction was unpopular at first. It also has the historical novelty of being the cargo - 1,000 trees bound for the West Indies from Tahiti - aboard the mutinous Bounty in 1787 [HFM].] 1783 The Cedula of Population In 1783 The Cedula of Population allowed the French and their slaves to emigrate from the French colonies to this island in large numbers, finally stimulating the economic development of the island; ironically by the French under the rule of the Spanish. BEYOND1785 In 1785 black slavery is legalised [TBOT]. Not all blacks are slaves however, and Trinidad is becoming cosmopolitan. 1787 Mr Picot de Lapeyrouse establishes the first sugar estate and factory in Trinidad [DH-TBOT]. (The site of the Lapeyrouse Cemetary, in Port of Spain, today.)
On the 16th February 1797, Admiral Henry Harvey brings a British fleet into Trinidad waters; consisting, 7 ships-of-the-line, 2 frigates, 8 corvettes, 1 bomb vessel and 2 transports. By 02:00 am on 18th February 1797 by order of Vice-Admiral Don Sebastian Ruiz de Apodaca, the Spanish fleet is afire in Chaguaramas Bay as; 4 ships-of-the-line Arrogante, Gallardo (Flag), San Damaso and San Vincente; and frigate Santa Cecilia are scuttled. Only the San Damaso survives, with some damage, and is towed back to the position of the anchored British fleet in daylight. On 18th February, General Sir Ralph Abercromby presses a mainly peaceable surrender, by capitulation of the now capital town of Puerto de Los Hispanioles (Port of Spain) from Spanish Governor Chaçon; to begin the British rule of Trinidad in 1797. The historic assessment of this transition reveals some illuminating features of character for both the General and the Governor. Chaçon is believed to have wanted capitulation as an outcome, rather than surrender, from the onset of the appearance of the British fleet. He is believed to have commanded that no defensive engagements were to be actioned, but that his meagre forces were to however display a bold readiness for combat. Abercromby's land forces were superior in strength and were strategically excellently placed. It is attested that Abercromby's message of capitulation was extremely polite, and that Chaçon's conciliation's were similar in reply and that the hand-over was amicable to the highest degree of conviviality. Chaçon further negotiating an extraordinarily clear, practical and concise treaty of rule for the island. An unusual agreeability that would leave the island under British rule, but following Spanish laws, until this situation was changed some 50 years later. In April 1797, Abercromby leaves Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Picton as Commandant and first British Governor of Trinidad [TBOT]. On 1st August 1799 M. Gallagher publishes the islands first newspaper The Trinidad Weekly Courant. [TBOT] BEYOND1800's 1802 Treaty of Amiens Through the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, between Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain and Britain; the British agreed to restore all the colonies she had captured to their former owners, except Trinidad; which Spain ceded to Britain [RG&SH]. The trade in slaves to Trinidad is outlawed in 1806; and Britain outlaws trading of slaves from Africa in 1807. But slaves owned by immigrants may still enter the island, unaffected by this law [BB]. The great fire of Port of Spain on 24th March 1808, lasted in the main only an hour, and completely devastated 12 blocks of the central town and damage 9 others [CO]. The fire consumed around 435 principal houses/stores and destroyed most public buildings including Government House, the Hospital, the Town Hall, the Public Goal, the Customs House, a Protestant Church, and took part of the Public archives' and Treasurers Offices. It made about 4,500 people homeless and cindered property and goods estimated to have valued 3.5 Million Dollars of the day. It caused the administration to enact new and stricter building regulations for the town [CF-TBOT]. Disputed as to the certainty and story of its cause; its place of origin however noted; it is recorded that one Dr/Mr Shaw (confessed [CF]) who had already caused fires in Martinique and New York, a firebug of international disrepute, had fallen asleep in his privy with a lighted taper in his hand [CO]. By Order-in-Council passed by the British government for the Crown Colony Trinidad, The Registration of Slaves ( or Registry ) Bill, was introduced to the island in 1812 ( later to St Lucia in 1814 ); an amelioration or half way measure towards the abolition of slavery [RG&SH]. 1815 - 1816. Britain and its former colony of America were at war in the western territories of the US bordering Canada between 1812 and 1814. Britain had raised companies of men from both Europe and its Colonies, some of whom were Free Black Men [RG&SH]. In 1815, fifty of these free black men arrived to settle in Trinidad. In 1816, 34 men, 15 women and 7 children formed another batch of these war heroes. Members from five companies came to settle at the expense of the British Colonial Government. Most went to ![2nd Company Village woman and child (1820) Richard Bridgens - [TBOT]](imag/tt_2nd_comp_7c.gif "2nd Company Village woman and child (1820) Richard Bridgens - [TBOT]") settle in villages near Princess Town, naming the village after
the company to which they belonged [TBOT].The free Negro population… was augmented in 1816 by American Negros who had been enlisted by the British from among the slaves of the Southern States of America during the Virginian war of 1812-1813. As it was impossible to remit them again to slavery, about 1,000 of them were disbanded and settled in the South of Trinidad and in Manzanilla. Six companies of about 80 men each became backwoodsmen. Three others under Mandingo priests became Mohammedans. Every man in the American settlements, as they were called, received 15 acres of land whether he had a family or not. One company was lost at sea on the voyage to Trinidad. Their were established in areas named First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Company [OC]. Some of the soldiers of the American settlements were settled in villages in the area around Manzanilla after 1815. Many had been born in Africa and some were Muslems. They spoke a special language, Manzanillan, made up of English, French and African words [BB]. The villages Third and Sixth Company, near Princess Town, still exist today. ( See Tobago 1816 ) Port of Spain became a City after the completion of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception; the first cathedral to be built in the town, the corner stone laid on 24th March 1816 [CO]. In 1826 literary references to Carnival in Trinidad begin to appear [CO]. Arguably [SAG-TBOT] through the representations of Dr Jean-Baptiste Phillipe, a coloured Trinidadian who wrote the book A Free Mulatto, all free colourds', if not in practice, became free by rule of law in 1829 [BB]. On 1st August 1834 sees The Abolition of Slavery in Trinidad; but slavery is maintained through Apprenticeship. At mid-night on the 31st July 1838 The Apprenticeship of Slaves ends. On 1st August 1838 Slavery ENDS, The Emancipation of Slaves is complete in Trinidad, and all slaves are now FREE [McLR, BB]. 10th[BB-TBOT] 30th[PG,ICR-TBOT] May 1845 [TBOT] The sail Fatel Rozack arrives in Trinidad bringing the first of the East Indian indentured labourers from Calcutta, India. They were the first to endure the long passage crossing the kali pani [BB], the dark waters. This venture was the beginning of an era of immigration that was to see by its close some 143,939 indentured labourers enter Trinidad [BB]. ( See Trinidad & Tobago 1845 - 1917 ) In April 1847 [EB] the Lady McLeod Trinidad stamp was the first stamp to be issued in any British Colony, and was a private issue.
In 1857 the Merrimac Oil Company of the USA drilled one of the worlds first oil-wells, at La Brea. Operations abandoned within a year [TBOT]. ( See incert Oil Pioneers ) Oil is next discovered and produced in Aripero, Trinidad, by Walter Darwent in 1865. It remains an underdeveloped and almost forgotten resource following his death by yellow fever in 1868 [BB]. ( See incert Oil Pioneers ) In 1868 All types of drumming, at East Indian and African religious meetings; the practice of dancing to them, along with the bangee or chac chac or the carrying of any lighted torches, were banned by the police authorities [GM]. In 1889 Tobago was placed under the administrative control of the Trinidad Government. The Crown Colony of Trinidad and Tobago is established [BB]. ( See Trinidad & Tobago 1889 ) |
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TOBAGO 300 sq km ( 116 sq miles ) DISCOVERYOn discovery; the island was more likely sighted by Alonzo de Ojeda in the company of Columbus' trusted pilot, Juan de la Cosa; during de Ojedas' second Caribbean voyage in 1502 - this is historically disputed as others cite Columbus as the discoverer - and given the name La Magdalena; after one of the four ships on that voyage. The name however appears on a map printed at Naples in 1508; but did not hold [UR2, JH]. The islands Amerindian, believed to be mainly Carib, called it Tavaco, after the name of a long pipe in which they burnt and inhaled the smoke of the plant they called vcohiba - tobacco. Later Europeans, with national variations, called the island Tabagua [JH], Tabago ( Roggeveen map 1675 ), which further changed in time to Tobago ( Byron Edward's British map 1799 ); so the island is named from a smokers pipe.  THOSE EYES The New World history of Tobago remains one of the more unusual for an island of the West Indies. Not small enough to be insignificant. Not large enough to be the attractive choice of the newly arrived. Not close enough to the eventual lanes of commerce to become a hub or to seriously attract undesirables; yet not far enough away to be out of reach. Abundant in all the natural resources that become any tropical. island, and holding a beauty totally her own, Tobago's fate lay only in those eyes that chose to find her; so nearly hidden on the edge. 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas - Line of Tordesillas The Portuguese, whom by the Treaty of Tordesillas with Spain in 1494, had divided the world respectively East and West, with Alexander VI's Papal Line of Tordesillas, which excluded them from the West Indies but gave them Brazil [RG&SH, JC&PP]; stayed clear of Tobago; but may have from time to time traded illegally over the area in slaves and provisions. It was Catholic Spains' monopolistic policy of Mare Clausum (sea closed to others), after the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, that so infuriated everyone. Spain meant to imply that all the lands West of the Line were hers, whereas the other Kingdoms would argue; yes to those already occupied; and no to all those other free lands where there is enough for all. Spain attempted to keep everyone out, but her colonies were too far flung and ill placed to do so. Spain had no designs to occupy or colonise Tobago, and never committed the resources to do so. Any Spanish incursions to the island would be opportunistic, retaliatory or as a clean up operation in an attempts to remove any perceived threat nearby to Trinidad. This placed Spain out of the main-stream of Tobago's history, apart from brief encounters.  The most southerly of the small Leeward islands, Tobago's
strategic importance was overshadowed by nearby larger Trinidad.
This facet was perhaps not overlooked by early settlers, who more
likely chose the island because of its remote location, and
believed it would be left alone. Those that arrived in their
leaky worm infested little wooden boats and plonked a stake in
the ground with a pretty cloth to-the-wind and proclaimed
ownership, vastly underestimated the ferocity and tenacity of
Tobago's local Amerindians. It cost them dearly. But in the end
of course, superior resources and technology prevailed.125 YEARS to SETTLEMENT 1500 to 1625 Over the first 125 years following Tobago's discovery in 1502, historic data is fragmentary and the island appears to have remained mostly obscure. During this period two English navigators report the island uninhabited. (1580 [JH]; 1596 [HC, TBOT]). The English flag is flown in the name of Queen Elizabeth I (a1558-1603) in 1580 [JH]; and from Europe the sovereignty was reclaimed by King James I (a1603-1625) in 1608 [KB]; then Charles I (a1625-bh1649) granted Tobago to William, Earl of Pembroke, in 1628; who made no design or attempt to settle it [KB, JH, McLR]. Little else is known about the island except by inference from others of a similar kind, where it is suggested that while Tobago never supported an enclave of any permanence, pirates would from time to time use the island as a base for their raids on Spanish shipping [McLR, HC]. The first attempt at a settlement was made in 1625 by some Englishmen from Barbados, most of whom were attacked and killed by Tobagonian Indians [KB]. NORTHERN EUROPE - THE DUTCH & ENGLISH TRY BEY0ND 1625 The past spectres of excesses, with death by fire, under the Grand Inquisitor Thomas de Torquemanda (1420-98) [P], was poor advertisement for Spanish Catholicism in northern Europe and to the Baltic. Protestantism, with shades of the Puritan ethic, probably led with new hope desires to colonise new lands and escape from it all. In 1572 the people of the northern Netherlands revolted against the Spanish rule. The Spanish then forbade the Dutch to trade with either Spain or Portugal with whom they were allied [JC&PP]. The Dutch ignored this. The Protestant Dutch, whose fleets were dominant in the 16th Century, and who had ambitions mainly as traders in the beginning, successfully pressured the claims of the Spanish at first. They were to play a major role with Tobago's early settlements. The Dutch powers were to fade in the middle of the 17th Century, when at the beginning of that century they had turned to thoughts of colonisation themselves, fallen pray to being spread too thin, to being too small a nation to resource such an ambition alone, became bankrupt ( Dutch West India Company fails in 1674 [JC&PP] ) and beaten; and so then to return to the business of trade and look East. The end of the three Dutch Wars, between 1652 and 1678, marked the turning. It was the Dutch however who would hand over an important key for the French and then English to turn in the West Indies; to unlock the fortunes in sugar that they were to reap when those powers ascended to wrest the power from Spain in the 18th Century, and then to fight among themselves in the 19th to share it. The Dutch had pioneered the process of sugar making in the Brazilian colonies she had gained from and lost to the Portuguese ( 1603-1654 [JC&PP] ); and gave this gold away, as she simultaneously took it back in the cost of slaves and goods she traded. The Dutch were the first to seriously attempt to settle Tobago after the 1st quarter of the 1600's. DUTCH Following a report from Dutch Captain Joachim Gitszt, weighed out from Brazil, that the island was uninhabited in 1627 [HC]; between 1628-36 Dutch settlements were attempted by various settlers under Jacob Moersby, Cornelius de Moor and others, who suffering reverses to disease, an Amerindian and Spanish attack; and finally to cruel destruction , led by [Diego Lopez de] Escobar [HC], the Spanish Governor of Trinidad ( 1636-41 [OM] ) [JH, KB, HC]. ENGLISH Between 1637-40 two English settlements were attempted. Nothing is known about what happened to the Reverend Nicholas Leverton in 1637 with a party of Puritans from Barbados [HC]. Captain Marshaw - sent (1639) by the Earl of Warwick who had purchased the Earl of Pembroke's rights - is reported to have been killed (1640) by the Caribs . The survivors fleeing to Trinidad, when this attack caused the settlement to fail [HC]. INTEREST FROM THE BALTIC - LATVIA BEY0ND 1640 North of the Netherlands, the Protestant Baltic States of Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Prussians were defining their identities. Some of their ruling houses and Principalities had ties with Protestant England. And they were neighbours to Norway and Denmark. They were basically traders, and had developed their nautical skills in their local seas. Next door; earlier Norwegian Vikings were the first Europeans to discover America in modern times, having made it to Newfoundland in about 982 AD [P], but had forgotten it; their technology and culture at the time too primitive to have sustained any endeavour of colonisation over that distance. With Tobago as proof, colonisation stretched the resources of these current 16th and 17th Century mariners to sometimes disastrous limits. It is amusing to note that whilst historians continue to argue and vex themselves with the questions as to the ownership of the term discovery, as applicable between the natives and Columbus; by the definition of The New World, the only lands that Columbus rediscovered, was to be the largest apple of them all, North America. Thank you Norway. Between 1642 and 1666 settlements were attempted by a group of Kurlanden from Baltic Latvia. The first is recorded to have failed. The second lasting some 12 years; interleaved with co-operative Dutch colonisation and then a period under Dutch rule during the period of the First and Second Dutch Wars. The colony finally disbanded when the political map at home was seeing adverse changes. In 1641 James Kettler , Duke of Kurland in Latvia a Baltic state - godson of King James I of England, obtained a grant of the island of Tobago from Charles I [JH]. In 1642 Duke James sent two ships, under Captain Caroon, to settle Tobago. They chose and settled on the north coast, at a place that still retains the name of Great Courland Bay [KB]. In the same year the Carib Indians forced them to leave for Dutch Guyana (Suriname) [HC]. First Dutch War (1652-54) The First Dutch War (1652-54) involved the English against the Dutch. 1652 [?] Navigation Act 1654 Treaty of Westminster The English were trying to brake the Dutch domination of trade by insisting that they accept Cromwell's Navigation Act, prohibiting trade with the British islands. In the end the Dutch agreed under the Treaty of Westminster (1654); but effectively ignored it [RG&SH]. On the 20th May 1654 Duke James' ship Das Wappen der Herzogin von Kurland, under Captain Willem Mollens, brings twenty-five officers, 124 Kurland soldiers and eighty families of colonists to begin the second settlement in Tobago [JH]. On arrival Captain Willem Mollens officially declared Tobago a property of Kurland and named the island Nieuw Kurland (New Courland) [JH]. In the same year, 1654, another Dutch expedition equipped by merchants of Flushing, Adrian and Cornelius Lampsius, arrived in Tobago to settle on the southern coast. The relations between the two groups of settlers was amicable [JH]. In 1654 [ to 1689 ?? What happened here? ] The first church in Tobago was built - the Evangelical-Lutheran Church [JH]. All with an eye to trade; over the intervening years other settlers of other nationals from the Baltic area; like Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Denmark and Prussia may have joined the colony, transported by Dutch and Kurland ships. All would have worked together in the period because their enmity was towards the Spanish. From 1654 onwards, the Kurland colony attended to their own devices. The Kurlanden colony sold colonial wares such as tobacco, tropical birds, cotton, ginger, sugar, indigo, rum, cocoa, tortoise shells and feathers of tropical birds, and traded widely over Europe [JH]. SWEDENS INFLUENCE Since around 1650, Sweden had begun having aspirations of her own, to look towards controlling the sea trade in the Baltic. Her power had been growing throughout the period of the First Dutch War (1652-54) and come to fruition in 1658; when Sweden incorporated Finland, Estonia, Latvia and part of northern Prussia into her territory. The Dutch would have perceived this as a threat to her trading aspirations, and given the opportunity, acted against the Kurlanden in Tobago. In 1658 Duke James was taken prisoner by Sweden [KB, JH] [He is in Europe]. In 1658 Dutch settlers surrounded Fort James to force Hubert de Beveren, Governor of the Kurlanden to surrender. The Kurlanden paid the Dutch a tribute in return for Dutch protection from the Carib Indians [KB, JH]. BEY0ND 1660 The Dutch and French form an alliance before [RG&SH].[probably just prior to 1662 ? (speculative)] the Dutch initiate the Second Dutch War (1665-67) against the English [RG&SH]. In 1662 Cornelius [or Adrien?] Lampsius procured Letters Patent from King Louis XIV of France creating him the Baron of Tobago under the Crown of France [HC]. Second Dutch War (1665-67) Under Admiral de Ruyter, the Second Dutch War (1665-67) opened when the Dutch fleet attack the English slaving stations of the Royal Adventurers in West Africa in 1665, cutting off the supply of slaves to the English islands. The Dutch and the French later go on to form a naval blockade in the Eastern Caribbean disrupting sugar exports to England [RG&SH]. Extensive conflicts by all three powers ensues, and many islands change hands, particularly in the Leewards. Still in 1665 the Caribs of Dominica took advantage of the English difficulties to launch many attacks on the Leewards [RG&SH]. In 1666 the Kurlanden left when misfortune at home caused a cessation of communications. [HC] [It is not currently known if they left before or after buccaneer attack of 1666.] END OF KULANDEN / COURLANDER SETTLEMENT DUTCH LOOSE - CARRY ON A YEAR LATER To forestall an expected Dutch invasion of Jamaica during the Second Dutch War (1665-67); Jamaica's Governor Modyford appointed (1664) by Charles II, much in league with the buccaneers of Port Royal, sent a contingent to capture St Eustatius and Saba in 1666 [RG&SH]. They thus became English. In 1665 the buccaneer Robert Searle, joined Edward Morgan's expedition against St Eustatius and Saba [ JH, RG&SH (date only disputed by RG&SH = 1666) ]. The next year, in 1666, Searle and Captain Stedman took two small ships and 80 men to Tobago and destroyed everything they could not carry away [JH]. The buccaneers did not like fighting the Dutch, as Protestants they would rather have gone against the Catholic Spanish [RG&SH]. The Dutch recapture Tobago, St Eustatius and Saba in 1667, and retaliate further by taking the prosperous sugar colony of Surinam [RG&SH] which was in English hands. 1667 The Treaty of Breda In The Treaty of Breda, 1667, which ended the Second Dutch War (1665-67), the English, Dutch and the French handed back each others' colonies, except for Suriname, which remained Dutch, in exchange for New York which became British [RG&SH]. 1667 Peter Constant [Dutch] was appointed by the Dutch to reform Tobago, a town was built near the present day Scarborough [ HC]. Third Dutch War (1672-78) In the Third Dutch War (1672-78) the French changed sides and allied themselves with the English [RG&SH]; so now the Dutch are fighting the English and French. The English again had their supply of slaves cut off and the Royal Africa Company suffered losses [RG&SH]. In 1672 the English capture Tobago [RG&SH]. [Presumably from the Dutch] In 1674 the English realised that the Dutch were no longer the main rivals and concluded a separate peace with the Dutch [RG&SH]. As part of this settlement treaty of 1674; the English gave back Tobago to the Dutch, but at the request of the Dutch held on to St Eustatious, Saba and Tortola, to protect them from the French [RG&SH]. The French proved too strong for the Dutch and they capture Cayenne and [Undated; but must be 1674 or after; after Tobago returned to the Dutch by the English] devastate Tobago [RG&SH]. In 1674 the French navy forced the Dutch into a minor role in the Caribbean and ended Dutch domination of trade [RG&SH]. [ 1676-77 A further French to Dutch to French conflict occurred. (speculative/being investigated) [JH, HC] ] Dec 1677 The French kept Tobago but did not settle [JH]. 1678 Treaty of Nijmegen The Peace Treaty of Nijmegen 1678, officially ends The Third Dutch War (1672-78) [RG&SH]. 1678 Tobago was restored to the Dutch under Peter Constant [HC]. GONE QUIET - FRENCH SETTLEMENT 1678 - 1763 Between 1678 when Tobago may be said to be Dutch, and 1748 when Tobago is granted Neutral status; there is little activity reported in the currently cited historical record. There is a three generation gap of some 70 years here. Given Tobago's previous history, it may be assumed that there are small European colony groups [most likely Dutch] living on the island probably with their slaves, and an equal or larger number of runaway and some free slaves, and the Amerindians. The odd reports to hand point to routing out pirates and used by the French navy for launching attacks and French not allowed to settle, suggest that at this period, the island has become a stop-over supply point for anyone and pirates, but is quietly going about its business and trading. For the island to have received a Neutral status designation in 1748, suggests that the powers that be at the time had assessed the island similarly. 1748 The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle In 1748, The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended hostilities between France and Britain. They agreed that Tobago be granted Neutral status and reserved for the resident Caribs. [HC, JH] 1751 French resettle Tobago [HC]. This would begin an influx of French planters and a larger number of slaves. The islands economy would grow steadily for jest over another 10 years, until the next change in government in 1763 to begin The Betweenity Years (1763 -1803).
1763 - 1803 Tobago History - The Betweenity Years (1763 -1803) Following the Peace of Paris - in 1763, where Tobago was ceded by France [JH] to Britain [RG&SH], the main economic and agricultural development of the island began. Britain and France subsequently went to war in Europe over many issues; and Tobago remained a target of opportunity for both, as its sugar production became more important. Following from its final capture by the British in 1803, the island would remain British for 160 years, until its Independence together with Trinidad in 1962. The periods of occupation are summarised below, with noteworthy events listed later. [ Some of these periods are still under historical dispute/review ] 1763 - For part of this period, the island is French 1763 The Peace of Paris Fearing that Britain's greatly enlarged empire would excite the jealousy of the other powers, new Prime Minister the Earl of Bute, Pitt's successor, gave back much of what had been won in the war. In The Peace of Paris, 1763, that concluded the Seven Years' War (1756-63); Britain restored Martinique and Guadeloupe with its neighbouring islands to France; Of the Neutral islands, France was given St Lucia while Britain kept Dominica, St Vincent and Tobago. England also kept Grenada. In the treaty with Spain; Britain gave back Cuba, but kept Florida; and insisted on the right to keep loogwood cutters in Honduras, promising that there would be no fortifications [RG&SH]. In 1768 the first British capital was established as Georgetown; this was situated in what is now Studley Park [McLR]; to change to Scarborough in 1769 [McLR, HC]. A Legislative Council and House of Assembly is formed in 1768 [HC]. ( For 2nd later House of Assembly: See Tobago 1980 ) In 1770 is the first shipment of sugar to Britain - 84 tons [BB]. Over the next 30 years the sugar industry in Tobago expands greatly, peaking in 1799 with 8,890 tons [BB]. Output remains substantially high until 1807 when the slave trade with Africa is outlawed, and acquiring slaves becomes more expensive as a shortage results. Matters are compounded because most plantation owners operate inhuman regimes with high slave death rates. Between 1830 and 1834 production was down and averaging 5,000 tons a year [BB]. With emancipation, competition from other sources, rising expenses, by 1850 production had dropped to 2,215 tons a year [JH] and declining. The sugar boom was over for good in Tobago. 1769 [BB (disputed)] or 1770 [RG&SH, JH], 71 & 74 see a series of serious slave risings in Tobago which eventually ended when the ringleaders were brutally executed. The likelihood of revolt was great in Tobago as the slave/white ratio was [now] over 20:1 [RG&SH, JH]. By 1777 Tobago occupied by the French [JH]. [disputed] In 1778, During the War of American Independence (1776 - 1783), Tobago defended itself successfully against an American attack [McLR-undated], their ship Randolph was blown up by the British ship Yarmouth [HC-dated]. 1786 Comte de Dillon arrives as the new French Governor of Tobago together with Phillippe Rose Roune de Saint Laurent. Phillippe Rose Roune de Saint Laurent ( French Governor Grenada 1779 ) arrives as Commissary-General of the Navy and French Ordonnateur of Tobago ( 1786 to 1791? [1791 arrives in St Domingue (Haiti) SAG -TBOT] ). Originally from Grenada, he had visited Trinidad in 1777 and had been much taken by the island, its beauty and potential. He has also seen the need to stimulate immigration into the island to develop its 'desert' territory by colonisation and had written a memoranda, which had been approved by Trinidad Governor Don Manuel Falquez who had then sent it to the Spanish Court in Europe. During the frustrating six years it took for the Spanish Court to act, de Saint Laurent whose attested character was convivial, exemplary and persuasive, had worked tirelessly to encouraged many a French coloniser to turn to Trinidad instead of the United Provinces of America; and to many a European investor to see Trinidad in a positive light. In 1783 de Saint Laurent was rewarded when the Spanish Court issued The Cedula of Population, based on his memoranda, that was to dramatically change the fortunes of Trinidad for the better and set a character to the island that remains even to today. Ironically de Saint Laurent, who was an excellent organiser and administrator, was Ordonnateur in Tobago in rebuff to Spanish administrators ineptitude in dealing with outstanding financial debts to de Saint Laurent; even though he had been repeatedly offered, albeit belatedly, the post of Commissary of Trinidad. Tobago's economy improved markedly during the period of de Saint Laurents tenure [SAG-TBOT]. ( See Trinidad 1777 ) 1789 The great fire of Scarborough where many of the colonial buildings were razed to the ground [JH]. 1800's 1801 Slave conspiracy of hundreds of Christian and Creole slaves throughout Tobago. The second slave uprising [HC]. The revolt of 1801 involved slaves from 16 estates [BB]. 1802 Treaty of Amiens Through the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, between Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain and Britain; the British agreed to restore all the colonies she had captured to their former owners, except Trinidad; which Spain ceded to Britain [RG&SH]. The French were granted Tobago through the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 [JH]. In 1803 Tobago becomes British. This marks the end of The Betweenity Years (1763 -1803). Britain outlaws trading of slaves from Africa in 1807. But slaves owned by immigrants may still enter the island, unaffected by this law [BB]. Slave conspiracy of hundreds of slaves who marched to one of the Great Houses in Tobago [JH]. By this time the ratio of slaves to whites was 34:1 [BB]. 1814 The Treaty of Paris In 1814 The Treaty of Paris, concluded the terms of the Napoleonic Wars (WI 1803-10). Britain restored to France all the captured colonies except St Lucia and Tobago. The Netherlands ceded Demerera, Essequibo and Berbice to Britain on payment of £5M. France gave back to Spain the eastern part of Hispaniola [RG&SH]. In 1816 members of Second Company, en route to settle in Trinidad, were shipwrecked off the coast of Tobago; swam ashore, and settled there instead [TBOT]. ( See Trinidad 1815 - 1816 ) ![Main Street - Scarborough - Tobago - Captain Wilson (1825) illustration - Tom Cambridge Collection - [P3-TBOT]](imag/captain_wilson_1825_scarborough_tobago_2b.jpg "Main Street - Scarborough - Tobago - Captain Wilson (1825) illustration - Tom Cambridge Collection - [P3-TBOT]") On 1st August 1834 sees The Abolition of Slavery in Tobago; but slavery is maintained through Apprenticeship. At mid-night on the 31st July 1838 The Apprenticeship of Slaves ends. On 1st August 1838 Slavery ENDS, The Emancipation of Slaves is complete in Tobago, and all slaves are now FREE [McLR, BB]. Of note is that during 1834-48 several thousand immigrants from neighbouring islands, North America (Baltimore and Pennsylvania), Europe (British, Scots, Irish, French, Germans and Swiss) and free West African, came into Tobago [JH]. In 1877 Tobago becomes a British Crown Colony [JH]. In 1889 Tobago was placed under Trinidad's administrative control [McLR]. The Tobago House of Assembly loosing control of the island by consequent divestment of its powers to Trinidad in 1889 [BB]. ( See Trinidad & Tobago 1889 ) In 1912 [HH] [ date disputed (????) TIDCO ], from their native home in the Aru Islands of New Guinea - as they were threatened with extinction by plume hunters - Sir William Ingram introduced to Little Tobago island the Birds of Paradise [HH]. Sadly, the Birds of Paradise that once habitated this island, are thought to have died-out during the atrocious hurricane Flora that swept through Tobago in 1963. A modern interpretation of the disaster suggests that any avian survivors were too few, and of the same gene pool, to have allowed a natural recovery of the population. Predators, apart from man and the odd snake notwithstanding, being kept away by the islands isolation. For over 50 years Little Tobago bore the name Bird of Paradise Island; in folk law and the literature of the times, until it fell out of favour some time in the mid 1970's when the local populace finally accepted that there were no more birds of that feather to be found. But visitors, undaunted by the tale, seek ever hopeful to catch a glimpse of the fabled Birds of Paradise. Sir Ingram gave Little Tobago to the government (????) on condition that it remain a sanctuary [HH]. 1952 Electricity comes to Tobago. [BB] Tobago is instituted with a House of Assembly ( For the 2nd time: See Tobago 1768 ), with elected members, in 1980 [BB]. Still to be accurately accounted, and still counting, Tobago is estimated to have changed international ownership some 29 times [JH]; and in the process suffered the extermination of the population of at least seven local Amerindian tribes; the Arawaks, Chaimas, Tamanaques, Salives, Chaguanes, Quaquas and Caribs; the last being divided into four sub-groupings, the Nepoios, Yaios, Carinepagotos and Cumanagotos [JH]. The island however gained a large African slave population, who sustained stronger than is usual their African traditions; and who provided the ancestry to the majority of todays population (~90%). |
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TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 5,128 sq km ( 1,980 sq miles )  1800'sBetween 1845 and 1917 saw the beginning and end of the East Indian and Asian immigration through Indentureship. These labourers came mainly to Trinidad, replete with their cultural traditions, Hindu and Muslim religions, and their descendants now account for about 40% of Trinidad's population; and in consequence accredit Trinidad the sobriquet Little India [ cf: Barbados - Little England ]. Within this period also arrived a smaller number of indentured Chinese. Also on other grounds, as immigrants, came a number of Arab nationals, mainly from Syria and The Lebanon, and mostly to Trinidad as their new home. The remainder of the present ethnic composition is of the order of 43% African, 14% mixed, 1% Corcasian, 1% Chinese and 1% other (1997). In 1889 the new Crown Colony of Trinidad & Tobago was instituted by the British Government [BB]. Tobago was placed under the administrative control of the Trinidad Government. This was an administrative adjustment, to reduce the cost of running the two colonies by combining control from two, to the use of one Governor in Trinidad [BB]. Later in 1898, Tobago become an off-island Ward (district) of Trinidad. A further cost cutting exercise [BB]. [ cf. Wards of Trinidad (1872) - Arima, Caroni, Cedros, Couva, Diego Martin, Mayaro, Montserrat, Moruga, North Naparima, South Naparima, St Anns, Tacarigua, Toco [MapJW] ] ( See Tobago 1889 ) After 1891 a new form or medium for festival music was developed in Trinidad called Tamboo Bamboo. This was a result of a culmination of circumstances that led to the banning of drums in Trinidad. In the riots of the carnival of 1884, where attempts were made to break up the Hosay festival, which include Tasa drumming, thirteen persons were killed and several wounded. In the riots of Arouca in 1891, police were attacked by stick fighters and reinforcements had to be sent in with the result that the drums were confiscated [GM, ST].
1900's Oil is rediscovered in Trinidad in Guayaguayare, by John Lee Lum around 1900. Randolph Rust brings in the first production well on Lee Lum's land in 1902 [BB]. Between 1935-39 the steeldrum appeared as a non-melodic percussive component of a rhythmic ensemble in Trinidad [UK, GG, FB, GM, JdeB]. In 1937 the authorities banned the display and use of tamboo bamboo in street festivals [GM]. Between 1939-41 melodic components, or musical notes, began appearing on the steeldrums in use in Trinidad. The steeldrums were called steelpans, or 'pans', and had arrived at the state of being recognised as a new class of musical instruments [UK, JdeB]. By carnival day 1946, Winston Spree Simon demonstrated his 14 note 'ping pong' - reputedly with a convex note-face shape; the forerunner to the Trinidad Tenor, later to evolve into the Soprano Pan of international acceptance [UK, FB, ST]. 1951 Trinidad sends its first National steelband, the Trinidad All Steel Percussive Orchestra (TASPO) to the Festival of Britain in an effort called Operation Britain, which effectively turns into an European tour. It plays at the BBC, Festival Hall on London's South Bank, St Pancras Town Hall, the Savoy Hotel, at a few more places in London and then went on to Paris for a short stint [FB, GG, ST]. In 1952 at The Colonial's Biennial Music Festival, the steeldrum is accepted for the first time as a musical component to the competitions. Solo players and Conventional Band categories are represented [ST (GM)]. In 1958 the first attempt at Caribbean unity saw the formation of a political union called The Federation of the West Indies. The union comprised Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago. This union, with hopeful trade alliances, collapsed in 1962 when at first Jamaica, then quickly to be followed by Trinidad & Tobago, the two wealthiest islands of the union, pulled out [McLR]. On 31st August 1962 the Independent Nation of Trinidad and Tobago is established; following a Parliamentary democracy, but remain within The British Commonwealth of Nations. Dr Eric Williams becomes the first Prime Minister. Carnival 1963 sees the first of the National Steelband Panorama competitions in Trinidad. It was won by Pan Am North Stars playing Sparrows Dan is the Man with music arranged by Anthony Tony Williams [ST]. In 1968 Trinidad & Tobago join CARIFTA - The Caribbean Free Trade Association - which had been established by other islands of the region in 1965 [McLR]. Effective from the 1st August 1973, CARICOM - Caribbean Community - a regional co-operative Trade and Common Market agreement became operational. This followed the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Trinidad on 4th July 1973; and preliminaries through the Georgetown Accord signed in Guyana in April 1973. CARICOM includes The Less Developed Countries (LDC's) - Antigua, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Surinam; and The More Developed Countries (MDC's) - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago [McLR]. In 1976 the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is established. 17 July 2001 - tobagojo@gmail.com |
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REFERENCES Web Associations
Your Feedback Welcome YOU are welcome to Contribute - Comment - Note Corrections Reference Maps and Data MapJW MAP ISLAND OF TRINIDAD Divided into Counties and Parishes To His Excellency James Robert Longden ESQRE - CMG Governor & Commander in Chief Is Dedicated by His Obliged Servant James Wyld Published by James Wyld, Geographer to the Queen (1872) 437 Strand, 11 & 12 Charing Cross & 2 Royal Exchange, London, England. The original Edition was designed by Captain Mallet RE; Compiled from Admiralty Charts, Railway and Original Surveys & Revised by Surveyor General of the Island Sylvester Devenish ESQ. Showing:CE = Dr Cesare Emiliani PLANET EARTH Cosmology, Geology, and the Evolution of Life and Environment © Cesare Emiliani 1992 ISBN 0 321 40123 2 (hc); 0 321 40949 7 (pb) Cambridge University Press (1992) [ This is one extraordinary and truly exceptional dude. Whenever & whatever it was that threw it all together - Cesare Emiliani was sitting next to it. An expert on foraminifera among other things; Emiliani has had the coccolith emiliana huxleyi named after him. In answer to your question Doc: Why not sell the Hope diamond to those energy conglomerates who are now fleecing California for her energy supply 2001? - tojo ] From Table A2 References Literature & Web Links ATC = Atocha Treasure Company Key West Atocha Treasure Coin Jewelry Collection & related websites 20690 Persimmon Place, Estero, Florida; FL 33928, USA ---- BB = Dr Bridget Brereton An Introduction to the History of TRINIDAD and TOBAGO © Bridget Brereton (1996) ISBN 0 435 984 748 Heinemann Educational Publishers; a division of Reed Educational & Professional Publishing Ltd Illustrations P3-BB - Trinidad Express - Dr Eric Williams, Fig 16.2, Pg 3 ---- HH = Prof. Hans W Hannau The West Indian Islands Prof. Hans W Hannau ~1966 ( Inferred ) With 90 colour pictures Maps - H Felix Kraus; Hedy Elbuschutz Endpaper [Inner cover] - Hedy Elbuschutz ISBN 0-912458-85-2 Argos Inc, USA ---- JC&PP = James Carnegie & Patricia Patterson The People Who Came - Book 2 James Carnegie & Patricia Patterson Series Editor: Edward Kamau Braithwaite New Edition - 10th Impression 1996 ISBN 0-582-76658-3 © 1970, 1989 Logman Group Ltd JH = James Harris KB = Kathy Birks HC = The Historical Cafe at Studley Park, Tobago [Note: We are not in a position to verify the accuracy] The History of Tobago 15th Century to the 19th Century From New 2 (The revised page) McLR = McLinton Robinson, ACP Social Studies for Common Entrance Students Trinidad and Tobago Standard IV and V ISBN 976-8157-43-7 Robinson Publications 1998; Ixora Lane, LP B78 Rapsey Street, Curepe, Trinidad, WI. Printed by HEM Enterprises Ltd, Freeport, Trinidad, WI. ---- NG1 = National Geographic Supplement SPAIN IN THE AMERICAS, Vol 181 No 2, Pg 90A, February 1992 Supplement to the National Geographic NG2 = New York Public Library---- OM = O Meverogordatto Voices in the Streets (1977) - The Spanish Governors of Trinidad. The Book of Trinidad, Pg36 ( See TBOT ) ---- P = Pears Cyclopædia Cited - Vikings - General Information Cited - Inquisition - General Information Cited - Torquemanda - Prominent People 92nd Edition ISBN 0-7207-1459-1 © 1983 Pelham Books Ltd ---- 
PA&FH = Peter Ashdown & Francis HumphreysCaribbean Revision History for CXE Peter Ashdown & Francis Humphreys ISBN 0 333 46116 9 Published 1988 : Macmillian Education Ltd © 1988 Text - Peter Ashdown & Francis Humphreys © 1988 Illustrations - Macmillian Education Ltd Cover Illustration - The Bridgeman Arts Library A magnified portion of the upside-down map, the cover illustration of this book, has been used to show Tobagos' name as La Ma[d]allen[a]. You are cautioned that it is NOT the 1508 map referred to in the text. Where the only given reference is The Bridgeman Arts Library, nothing else is known about this (Left) map. A reasonable guess places the map at around 1560-70; simply by the amount of compiled data it contains, which is considerable, and exquisitely and quite accurately crafted. More work will need to be done to identify it. However, it is interesting to note that the name ( [Ma[d]allen[a] ) may have survived for a considerable period in one maritime empire; whereas perhaps a competing empire may have used a different name; the name [Tobago] that was adopted and survived in use instead. ---- RG&SH = R Greenwood & S Hamber Emancipation to Emigration - Caribbean Certificate History 2 © R Greenwood & S Hamber 1980 ISBN 0 333 28148 9 Macmillan Caribbean; Macmillan Publishers Ltd, London and Basingstoke, England TBOT = Gerard Besson & Bridget Brereton The Book of Trinidad. Gerard Besson & Bridget Brereton ISBN 976 8054 36 0 3rd Edition © 1992 Paria Publishing Co Ltd, 66 Woodford Street, Newtown, Port of Spain, Trinidad BB-TBOT - Bridget Brereton - Various Sections - Pg 36,60,[and other entries 99,130,151,173,175,212,308,310,317,375] STEELDRUM - STEELPAN
UR1 = Unknown Reference 1 - Investigating Information ~ yr2000 - TV / Discovery Channel ??? Decline in native Indian Populations - Occupation/Disease To the order of North America = 5 Million South America = 5 Million ---- UR2 = Unknown Reference 2 - Investigating About Tobago History 1) Have Web Page - TL - Bad design/No identification except = Tobago Love 2) BB? - or Similar - History book ref ?? - Find |
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© 2001: tobagojo@gmail.com - 20010625 - 1m20071228 - 2m20140615 Historic Update: 24 June 2006; Last Update: 12 April 2015 20:53:00 TT Processed by: Jeremy G de Barry |
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![(copy) The Lady McLeod Trinidad Stamp - 1847 - [P4-TBOT]](imag/trinidad_lmcl_5c_2.gif "(copy) The Lady McLeod Trinidad Stamp - 1847 - [P4-TBOT]")
![Spanish Gold Coins [ATC]](imag/gold_hrdescudos_4.jpg "Spanish Gold Coins [ATC]")
![tumbaga_1521to35_ag45pc_12lb6_m101_rcbv_15x35x1cm8_hcortez_3_t101 [ATC]](imag/tumbaga_1521to35_ag45pc_12lb6_m101_rcbv_15x35x1cm8_hcortez_3_t101.gif "'Tumbaga' - Tagged M101, 5.7 Kg (12.6 lbs), 15x35x1.8 cm and of 45% silver in purity")
![8reales_potosi_qassay_25gms9_40mm_atocha_1622_99167_4 [ATC]](imag/8reales_potosi_qassay_25gms9_40mm_atocha_1622_99167_4.gif "8 Reales Spanish coin or silver 'Peices of 8' as they were known by the pirates. From Potosi, q-assay 25gms9, 40mm dia. From the Atocha (1622) find. [ATC]")
![potosi_bolivia_hispanic_society_of_america_2b [NG3]](imag/potosi_bolivia_hispanic_society_of_america_2b.jpg "Potosi silver mine in Bolivia. Painting courtesy the Hispanic Society of America [NG3]")
![manifest567_potosi_classfactor0p9_fineness2380_ag99p2pc_troy80p37lbs_39p6x12x8cm_date162x_4_98021 [ATC]](imag/manifest567_potosi_classfactor0p9_fineness2380_ag99p2pc_troy80p37lbs_39p6x12x8cm_date162x_4_98021.gif)
![Impressively struck with the Spanish Cross a silver coin - 8 Reales - Pieces of eight [ATC]](imag/silver_coin_cross_1.jpg "Impressively struck with the Spanish Cross a silver coin - 8 Reales - Pieces of eight [ATC]")
![Dr Eric Williams. b1911, d1991 [P3-BB]](imag/tt_dr_eric_williams_1911_91_2.jpg "Dr Eric Williams. b1911, d1991 [P3-BB]")
Walter Darwent ( Right ) was an Englishman from Plymouth who had served as a captain in the Union Army in the American Civil War. In 1865, he
drilled the first really successful oil well at
Aripero in south Trinidad. His company, Paria
Petroleum Company, did well for a time, with
wells at Aripero, San Fernando and La Brea, and
it exported small amounts of oil.
Darwent faced many difficulties, and
following his death from yellow fever in 1868,
nothing much happened to further develop
Trinidad's oil industry for another 30 years.
Around 1900, Lee Lum took a sample of
oil from his land to Randolph Rust, and together
the two men formed a company to prospect the area.
Lee Lum continued to finance Rust's early
drilling operations in Guayaguayare.
