![Tobago subdivision 1779 BOWEN color B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Tobago_subdivision_1779_BOWEN_color_B.jpg)
The history of Tobago covers a period from the earliest human settlements on the island of
Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
in the
Archaic period, through its current status as a part of the Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
. Originally settled by indigenous people, the island was subject to Spanish slave raids in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century and colonisation attempts by the Dutch, British, French, and
Courlanders beginning in 1628, though most colonies failed due to indigenous resistance. After 1763 Tobago was converted to a plantation economy by British settlers and enslaved Africans.
Tobago came under French control in 1781 during the
Anglo-French War
The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including:
Middle Ages High Middle Ages
* Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...
, returned to British control in 1793 during the
War of the First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...
, but was returned to France in 1802. The island was recaptured by the British in 1803, and remained under their control until independence in 1962.
The economy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was entirely dependent on slavery, and most aspects of the lives of enslaved Tobagonians was governed by the Slave Act. The
end of slavery came in 1838; coupled with a lack of money to pay labourers, Tobago planters resorted to
metayage
The metayage ; es, mediería ; it, mezzadria . system is the cultivation of land for a proprietor by one who receives a proportion of the produce, as a kind of sharecropping. Another class of land tenancy in France is named , whereby the rent is ...
, a form of sharecropping, which remained the dominant mode of production until the end of the nineteenth century.
Declining sugar prices led to Tobago's consolidation with other British colonies in the Caribbean and the end of internal self-government. In 1889 Tobago was combined with
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
to form the colony of
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
, which gained independence in 1962. Internal self-government was re-established in 1980 with the creation of the
Tobago House of Assembly
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is a unicameral devolved legislative body responsible for the island of Tobago within the unitary state of Trinidad and Tobago. The THA was re-established in 1980 .
First Tobagonians
Tobago was first settled in the Archaic period by people who probably originated in Trinidad. The oldest settlements are in the southwest of the island near the
Bon Accord Lagoon, and belong to a culture known as the Milford complex, which was named for the
shell midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
near
Milford, Tobago. These first Tobagonians were
hunters and gatherers
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
(possibly "incipient horticulturalists") who relied on, and probably managed, a range of edible roots, palm starch, and seeds. They fished and hunted sea turtles, shell fish, crabs and land mammals (primarily
collared peccaries
The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ...
and
agouti
The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Middle America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced else ...
s). Culturally, they have been associated with the
Ortoiroid people
The Ortoiroid people were the second wave of human settlers of the Caribbean who began their migration into the Antilles around 2000 BCE. They were preceded by the Casimiroid peoples (~4190-2165 BCE). They are believed to have originated in the Or ...
. No pottery remains have been found at Ortoiroid sites.
The age of archaeological sites associated with the Milford complex have not has not been established with much precision. Artefacts found at the Milford site and other stone artefacts found elsewhere in southwestern Tobago have been dated to between 3500 and 1000 BCE. The similarities between these artefacts and ones from more completely studied sites at St. John and
Banwari Trace
Banwari Trace, an Archaic (pre-ceramic) site in southwestern Trinidad, is the oldest archaeological site in the Caribbean. The site has revealed two separate periods of occupation; one between 7200 and 6100 BP (Strata I and II) and the other ...
in Trinidad led Dutch archaeologist Arie Boomert to conclude that the actual age of the Milford complex sites in Tobago is likely to be on the older end of the date range.
![Tobago jade ceremonial ax](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Tobago_jade_ceremonial_ax.jpg)
In the first century of the
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
,
Saladoid
The Saladoid culture is a pre-Columbian indigenous culture of territory in present-day Venezuela and the Caribbean that flourished from 500 BCE to 545 CE. The Saladoid were an Arawak people. Concentrated along the lowlands of the Orinoco River, the ...
people settled in Tobago.
Like the Ortoiroid people who preceded them, these Saladoid people are believed to have come from Trinidad. They brought with them pottery-making and agricultural traditions, and are likely to have introduced crops which included
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...
,
sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...
es,
Indian yam,
tannia and
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
.
Saladoid cultural traditions were later modified by the introduction of the
Barrancoid culture. People of the Barrancoid culture settled in the
Orinoco Delta
The Orinoco Delta is a vast river delta of the Orinoco River, located in eastern Venezuela.
Location
The Orinoco Delta is one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela.
It covers the whole of Delta Amacuro State and a few square kilometers of M ...
by about 350 CE and settled in south Trinidad starting around 500 CE, resulting in a cultural exchange that modified the pottery styles in Trinidad. Elements of this culture made it to Tobago, either by trade or a combination of trade and settlement.
After 650 CE, the Saladoid culture was replaced by the
Troumassoid tradition in Tobago. While Tobago and Trinidad were culturally connected during the Saladoid period, there was now a cultural split as the
Arauquinoid tradition became established in Trinidad, while Tobago became culturally aligned with the
Windward Islands
french: Îles du Vent
, image_name =
, image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.
, image_alt =
, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...
and
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
.
Diets remained similar to the Saladoid times, but the remains of collared peccaries are rarer, which archaeologists have interpreted as evidence of over-hunting of the relatively large mammals.
Troumassoid traditions were once thought to represent the settlement of the
Island Caribs
The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
in the Lesser Antilles and Tobago, but this is now associated with the Cayo ceramic tradition. No archaeological sites exclusively associated with the Cayo tradition are known from Tobago.
Early historic period
Tobago was seen by
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
on 14 August 1498, during his fourth voyage. Columbus did not land,
but named the island ''Belaforme'', "because from a distance it seemed beautiful". Spanish friar
Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa
Fray Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa (born in Jerez de la Frontera and died Seville, 1630) was a Spanish friar of the Discalced Carmelites originally from Jerez de la Frontera whose ''Compendio y Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales'' has become a so ...
recorded that the
Kalina
Kalina may refer to:
People
* Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of the northern coastal areas of South America
* Kalina language, or Carib, the language of the Kalina people
* Kalina (given name)
* Kalina (surname)
* Noah Kalina, Ame ...
(mainland Caribs) called the island ''Urupaina'' because of its resemblance to a big snail,
while the Kalinago (Island Caribs) called it ''Aloubaéra'', believed to be a reference to the fact that it resembled ''alloüebéra'', the giant snake which was supposed to live in a cave on the island of
Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
.
The name ''Tabaco'' was first recorded in a Spanish royal order, issued in 1511. This name references the shape of the island, which resembles the fat cigars smoked by the
Taíno
The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...
inhabitants of the Greater Antilles.
Tobago's position between the
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
and the South American mainland made it an important point of connection between the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles and their Kalina allies and trading partners in the
Guianas
The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories:
* French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France
* ...
and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. In the 1630s Tobago was inhabited by the Kalina, while neighbouring Grenada was shared by the Kalina and Kalinago.
The Spanish raided Tobago to provide slave labour to the
pearl fisheries
Pearl hunting, also known as pearling, is the activity of recovering pearls from wild molluscs, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or freshwater. Pearl hunting was prevalent in the Persian Gulf region and Japan for thousands of years. On the ...
in
Margarita
A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). T ...
. This was authorised under a 1511 Spanish royal order which allowed the Spanish of
Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...
to wage war on and enslave the inhabitants of the Windward Islands, Barbados, Tobago and
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
.
After the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement in Trinidad in 1592, Tobago became the focus of their slave raids.
Spanish slave raids from Margarita and Trinidad continued until at least the 1620s,
decimating the island's population.
Early European settlements
![Plan of Nieuw Vlissingen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Plan_of_Nieuw_Vlissingen.jpg)
In 1628 Jan de Moor, the
burgomaster
Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...
of
Vlissingen
Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...
in the Netherlands, acquired the rights to colonise Tobago from the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
. He established a colony of a hundred settlers called Nieuw Walcheren at
Great Courland Bay
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
and built a fort, Nieuw Vlissingen, near the modern town of
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. The goal of the colony was to grow tobacco for export, but the colonists were also permitted to trade with the indigenous inhabitants.
The indigenous inhabitants of Tobago were hostile to the colonisers; in 1628 a visiting warship from
Zeeland
, nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge")
, anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem")
, image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg
, map_alt =
, m ...
lost 54 men in an encounter with a group of Amerindians whose identity was not recorded. The town was also subject to attack by Kalinago from Grenada and St. Vincent. The colony was abandoned in 1630, but was reestablished in 1633 by a fresh group of 200 settlers.
The Dutch traded with the
Nepoyo in Trinidad and established fortified trading posts on the east and south coasts of that island. They allied with Hierreyma, a Nepoyo chielf, in his rebellion against the Spanish. In retaliation, the Spanish destroyed the Dutch outposts in Trinidad before gathering a force which captured the Dutch colony in Tobago in December 1636. In violation of the terms of their surrender agreement, all but two of the Dutch prisoners were shipped to Margarita, where almost all of them were executed.
English settlers from Barbados attempted to establish a colony in Tobago in 1637, but they were attacked by Caribs shortly after their arrival and the colony was abandoned. This was followed by a series of attempts to settle the island by colonists under the patronage of the
Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the United Kingdom. The title has been created four times in English history, and the name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick.
Overview
The first creation c ...
. In 1639 a group of "a few hundred" settlers established a colony, but they abandoned it in 1640 after attacks by Kalinago from St. Vincent. A new group of colonists arrived in 1642 and established tobacco and indigo plantations. This settlement was abandoned as a consequence of Carib attacks and a shortage of supplies. A fourth English colony was established in 1646 but only lasted a few months.
Courlander and Dutch colonies
![TOBAGO-fort-james-kanonen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/TOBAGO-fort-james-kanonen.jpg)
Duke
Friedrich Kettler
Friedrich Kettler ( Latvian: Frīdrihs Ketlers, 25 November 1569 in Mitau (now Jelgava) – 17 August 1642) was Duke of Courland and Semigallia (Latvian: ''Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste'', now part of Latvia) from 1587 to 1642.
He was the son ...
of Courland tried to establish a colony on Tobago in 1639, but the colony failed. Duke Friedrich's successor,
Jacob Kettler
Jacob Kettler (german: link=no, Jakob von Kettler) (Latvian: Hercogs Jēkabs Ketlers) (28 October 1610 – 1 January 1682) was one of the greatest Baltic German Dukes of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1642–1682). He was intelligent, sp ...
, made a second attempt in 1642 when he sent a few hundred colonists from Zeeland under the leadership of
Cornelius Caroon
Cornelius Caroon was the Governor of New Courland, on Tobago from 1643 to 1650.
In 1642, Captain Caroon arrived on the north coast of Tobago with 300 Couronian colonists. This was not Courland's first attempt to colonize Tobago, but all previou ...
. This settlement was attacked by Kalinago from St. Vincent and the survivors were evacuated to the Guiana coast by
Arawak
The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greater ...
s from Trinidad.
A new colony was established on Great Courland Bay in 1654 near the ruins of the old Dutch fort at Plymouth. The fort was rebuilt and renamed Fort Jacobus.
The settlement around the fort was named Jacobusstadt and included the first
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
congregation in the Caribbean.
The settlers were a mixture of Dutch and Courlanders under the command of Willem Mollens, and they renamed the island Neu Kurland. A few months later, a Dutch colony was established on the other side of the island,
under the patronage of brothers
Adriaen and
Cornelius Lampsins
Cornelius Lampsins (or van Lampsin, also Corneille Lampsius), was, along with his brother Adrian, the Baron of Tobago from 1662 to 1664.
Cornelius Lampsins was born in 1600 to a very wealthy Dutch merchant family, and he was involved in the earl ...
, who were wealthy merchants from
Walcheren
Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...
in Zeeland.
The Dutch named their settlement Lampsinsstad, which was built on the site of the current capital,
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
. When the Courlanders discovered the presence of the Dutch colony, they attacked it and forced the Dutch settlers to accept Couronian sovereignty. Lampsinsstad grew through the arrival of Jews, French Huguenots, and Dutch planters from Brazil who brought African slaves and Amerindian allies with them after they were forced out of Brazil by the Portuguese. By 1662, the Dutch settlement had grown to 1250 white settlers and between 400 and 500 enslaved Africans.
The Courlander settlement attempted to maintain good relationships with the local Kalina population, but was attacked by Kalinago from St. Vincent and Arawaks from Trinidad. From a maximum of about 500 settlers, the colony shrank to 50 people by 1658. In 1659, while Courland was at war in Europe, the Dutch colony mutinied and took control of the island.
Fort Jacobus was renamed Fort Beveren after
Hubert van Beveren, governor of the Dutch colony.
In 1666, during the
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo-Dutch War or the Second Dutch War (4 March 1665 – 31 July 1667; nl, Tweede Engelse Oorlog "Second English War") was a conflict between Kingdom of England, England and the Dutch Republic partly for control over the seas a ...
, Lampsinsstad was captured and looted by Jamaican buccaneers. The fort was occupied by English forces from Barbados and then captured by French forces from Grenada before being recaptured by the Dutch in 1667. New settlers from the Netherlands re-established the colony in 1668, but were attacked by Nepoyo from Trinidad. They were able to fend off the attacks with the help of Tobagonian Kalina, but were attacked again by Kalinago from
St. Vincent
Saint Vincent may refer to:
People Saints
* Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr
* Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia
* Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...
. At the outbreak of the
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...
, the colony was captured and looted by Barbadians.
![Eerste Slag bij Tobago](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Eerste_Slag_bij_Tobago.jpg)
After the end of that war, a new Dutch colony was established in 1676, but was attacked by the French in March of the following year. The resulting
naval battle
Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large lan ...
resulted in serious losses on both sides, and the French forces withdrew, but returned the following year, captured the island, and destroyed the settlement. Fresh Courlander attempts to establish a colony in Tobago in 1680 and 1681 were abandoned in 1683. A final Courlander attempt to settle the island in 1686 was largely abandoned by 1687; the last mention of the colony was a small group of settlers encountered by a Danish ship in 1693.
Neutral Tobago
Claimed by both Britain and France, Tobago was left in the hands of its indigenous population after the 1690s. European settlement in Tobago had been "thwarted", to a large extent, by the combined resistance of the indigenous Kalina of Tobago and the mainland, and the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles.
The
Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle in 1748 designated Tobago neutral territory. Amerindians from Venezuela who sought to avoid being forced to settle in Capuchin mission villages, and Island Caribs from St. Vincent who sought to escape conflict with the
Black Carib
The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creol ...
s, were among the groups who settled there in this period.
Plantation economy
The
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
in 1763 ended Tobago's status as a neutral territory and brought it under British control.
A
plantation economy
A plantation economy is an economy based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few commodity crops, grown on large farms worked by laborers or slaves. The properties are called plantations. Plantation economies rely on the export of cas ...
was quickly established on the island. Under the direction of the
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
,
the island was surveyed, divided into plots, and sold to planters.
Between 1765 and 1771 over of land were sold by the Crown for over £167,000.
Through the efforts of
Soame Jenyns
Soame Jenyns (1 January 1704 – 18 December 1787) was an English writer and Member of Parliament. He was an early advocate of the ethical consideration of animals.
Life and work
He was the eldest son of Sir Roger Jenyns and his second wife El ...
, a commissioner of the Board of Trade and Member of Parliament,
the upper portions of the
Main Ridge were reserved as "Woods for the Protection of the Rains" and remained uncleared and uncultivated.
The former Dutch town of Lampsinsstad was renamed Scarborough in 1765, and was designated the capital of Tobago in 1779.
To defend Scarborough, the British built Fort King George on a hill overlooking the town.
The population of British settlers and enslaved Africans grew quickly, and production of sugar, cotton and cocoa grew significantly. A colonial constitution was granted and an elected House of Assembly was created, with each parish having one elected member. The government was under the control of the Governor-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, who was based in Grenada.
A credit crisis in the British economy in 1772 resulted in the bankruptcy of several of the merchant finance houses upon which the West Indian planters were dependent for credit. The sugar plantations depended on credit from these lenders to operate, and the loss of easy credit created hardships for the planters in Tobago. In 1776, they still owed the crown £69,000 for the land they had purchased, £30,000 in interest, with a further £740,000 owed to merchant houses. The
outbreak of war between the American colonies exacerbated the problem by driving up shipping and insurance costs for the planters. The entry of France into the war in 1778 worsened the situation.
While the white and African populations grew quickly, the indigenous population declined. In 1777 there were "a few hundred" Amerindians, but in 1786 there were just 24. Many departed for the north coast of Trinidad, where they settled in the
Toco
Toco is the most northeasterly village on the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. The island of Tobago is to the northeast, making Toco the closest point in Trinidad to the sister island. The name Toco was ascribed to the area by its early ...
area. The last records of Amerindians in Tobago are from
Sir William Young, who served as Governor of Tobago until 1815.
French rule
![Prise de Tobago 1781 par les Francais](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Prise_de_Tobago_1781_par_les_Francais.jpg)
In 1781, as part of the
Anglo-French War
The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including:
Middle Ages High Middle Ages
* Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...
(an outgrowth of the American Revolutionary War), France
captured Tobago. The island was ceded to France in 1783 under the terms of the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
, which left the existing constitution and laws in place and allowed the British inhabitants to retain their property and religion. The capital, Scarborough, was renamed Port Louis in 1787,
and Fort King George was renamed Fort Castries.
Elections in 1784 left the Assembly in the control of British planters. In 1785 they refused funding for the island's government, arguing that their financial position was too precarious. In response to this, the French government demanded that the Assembly provide an annual payment of 200,000
livres tournois
The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France.
The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...
, which they agreed to in 1786.
A new Colonial Assembly was established with two elected members from each parish and two from Port Louis, and four unelected members—the governor and the three other senior government officials. Under this new structure, and with far less independence, the Assembly functioned primarily to approve edicts sent by the French government.
While some British settlers left the island after 1783, most remained, and there was little French emigration to the island, so the white population remained predominantly British. Between 1782 and 1790, the white population grew from 405 to 541, while the
free coloured
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
population (which included both black and those of mixed ancestry) rose from 118 to 303. The slave population grew from 10,530 to 14,171, mostly due to the importation of new slaves, as the death rate greatly exceeded the birth rate.
According to the census of 1790, the population of Tobago consisted of 15,019 people, 14,170 of whom were enslaved. The white population skewed male—434 of the 541 whites were male—while the free non-white population skewed female—198 of the 303 free people of colour were female,
reflecting in part the fact that twice as many female slaves were
manumitted
Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...
as male slaves.
In 1785, cotton was the dominant crop in Tobago; were dedicated to cotton cultivation and were exported. Sugar cane was cultivated on and of sugar and of rum were exported. By 1791, cotton exports had fallen to while sugar () and rum exports () had almost doubled.
The
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
in 1789 caused a split between royalists and revolutionary sympathisers among the French inhabitants of the island. A new governor sent to restore royal authority in 1792 left for Grenada in 1793 and was replaced by a revolutionary governor.
Return to British control
![TOBAGO-fort-king-george-kanonen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/TOBAGO-fort-king-george-kanonen.jpg)
The outbreak of
war between Britain and Revolutionary France in 1793 allowed Britain to recapture the island. British forces from Barbados under the command of
Cornelius Cuyler
General Sir Cornelius Cuyler, 1st Baronet (31 October 1740 – 8 March 1819) was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth.
Early life
Cuyler was born in Albany, New York on 31 October 1740, the son of Cornelis Cuyle ...
landed at Great Courland Bay on April 14 and attacked the French forces at Fort Castries. The French forces surrendered after a two-pronged attack by the British, and Cuyler reinstated the British colonial constitution that had been in place before the surrender to the French in 1781.
Tobago was returned to France in 1802 under the
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...
, but recaptured by the British when war broke out again in 1803.
France formally surrendered Tobago to Britain under the terms of the 1814
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
.
The
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...
resulted in the elimination of sugar exports from the former French colony of
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
. Planters in Tobago were able to take advantage of this shortfall and greatly increased sugar production. In 1794, of sugar were exported from Tobago, and this rose to a peak of in 1799.
Slavery
The Tobagonian economy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was completely dependent on slavery, both for plantation and domestic labour. Slaves also provided labour as artisans, on fishing boats and merchant ships, and helped man the island's defensive fortifications.
Sugar production dominated the island's economy, and more than 90% of the enslaved population was employed on the sugar estates. The remainder were employed in Scarborough or Plymouth, largely as domestic servants.
The 1790 census recorded 14,170 enslaved people in Tobago. By 1797, the enslaved population rose to 16,190 and reached 18,153 in 1807, the year the
slave trade was abolished. With the death rate among enslaved Tobagonians greatly exceeding the birth rate, the slave population declined to 16,080 by 1813.
Slavery was regulated by the Slave Act (formally ''An Act for the Good Order and Government of Slaves'') of 1775. Slaves were considered property, with no intrinsic rights, but were in fact humans with "faculties of reasoning and will". The Slave Act, like other slave laws in the British West Indies, was designed to ensure that in the course of acting as humans, slaves did not cease to function as property. Striking or wounding a white person, wounding another slave, setting fire to sugar cane fields or buildings, or attempting to leave the island were all punishable by death,
transportation
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
, or any other punishment a magistrate might choose.
Slaves were required to carry passes authorising them to be away from their owner's plantation. If they were found without a pass, they could be arrested as runaways. Harbouring runaways was a crime, even for white people, and any plantation left abandoned for more than six months, and food crops growing on abandoned plantations, could be destroyed to prevent runaway slaves from gathering there.
Plantations were required to plant of food crops for every five slaves to prevent food shortages. Over time, this was replaced by allowing slaves to cultivate their own provision grounds.
Slaves were given Sundays and, on larger plantations, Thursdays, to work on their provision grounds and were allowed to eat or sell the production from these gardens as they chose. On plantations which allowed larger provision grounds, slaves were expected to use their own money to buy meat and fish. Where provision grounds were smaller, these were provided by the plantation owner. Urban slaves were unable to cultivate gardens, both because land was unavailable and, in the case of domestic workers, because they were not given the time to do so.
Emancipation and metayage
After peaking in 1799, sugar production experienced a long, slow decline. Income for planters fell more sharply as sugar prices fell from a high of 87
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
per
hundredweight
The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distingu ...
in 1799 to less than half that (32 to 38 shillings) in 1807.
The abolition of the slave trade in 1807 put further pressure on the planters; because the death rate among slaves exceeded the birth rate, the slave population was not self-sustaining. This drove up the cost of slaves, which impacted the cost of sugar production.
Declining sugar prices led to a downturn in the economy of the West Indian islands, including Tobago. After
Emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...
in 1838, economic conditions did not improve;
the price of sugar fell from about 34 shillings per hundredweight in 1846, to 23 shillings in 1846 and 21 shillings in 1854.
The 1846
Sugar Duties Act
The Sugar Duties Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict) was a statute of the United Kingdom which equalized import duties for sugar from British colonies. It was passed in 1846 at the same time as the repeal of the Corn laws by the Importation Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vi ...
removed protections for British West Indian sugar, forcing it to compete with foreign-grown sugar, which was cheaper to produce, and
beet sugar
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wit ...
, which was subsidised.
The main revenue stream for the government of the island was customs duties, so the declining value of sugar exports meant declining revenue. In eleven of the 21 years between 1869 and 1889, the government operated at a deficit.
The 1884 bankruptcy of A.M. Gillespie and Company, a London-based financier which had provided credit, marketing and shipping to many of the planters, was a severe blow to the economy of Tobago.
Given a lack of money to pay labourers, planters in Tobago resorted to
metayage
The metayage ; es, mediería ; it, mezzadria . system is the cultivation of land for a proprietor by one who receives a proportion of the produce, as a kind of sharecropping. Another class of land tenancy in France is named , whereby the rent is ...
, a form of
sharecropping
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land.
Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
which had been introduced to the Windward Islands by the French. In this system, planters provided the land, planting stocks, transport and machinery to manufacture sugar while the workers (metayers) provided the labour to cultivate and harvest the canes. In Tobago, metayers were frequently required to provide the labour to operate the sugar mill. The sugar produced was shared between the land-owner and the metayers. Normally, half the sugar went to the metayer, but if the land-owner provided a field of
ratoons (resprouting canes that had been planted in a prior year) the metayer's share was only one-third to one-fifth of the sugar.
The system was first introduced in Tobago in 1843, and by 1845 it was generally adopted. While the system was largely abandoned in the other Windward Islands by the 1860s, it remained the dominant mode of production in Tobago until the end of the nineteenth century, when sugar production was finally abandoned.
Union with Trinidad
As Tobago's economy declined, so did its importance to the British government.
To reduce the cost of ruling the island, the British government sough to unite Tobago with neighbouring islands, into a single administrative unit.
In 1833, Tobago, Grenada and St. Vincent were put under the authority of the Governor of Barbados, but this had little effect on the power of the Assembly. After Emancipation, the participation of the elected members in the business of the Assembly declined. Given limited participation and high rates of absence from the meetings, the Assembly voted to abolished itself in 1874 and replaced the bicameral legislature with a single chamber called the Elected Legislative Council. This chamber consisted of fourteen members, six of whom were nominated by the Governor and eight which elected by the planters. The planters initially objected to this reduction in their power, but this changed after the
Belmanna riots in 1876. Faced with growing militancy by the black population, the planters voted to dissolve their representative government and convert the island to a
Crown colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
.
The collapse of London-based financier A.M. Gillespie and Company in 1884 further weakened the economy of Tobago. In 1885 the British government combined Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia were combined into a single entity, the
Windward Islands
french: Îles du Vent
, image_name =
, image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.
, image_alt =
, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...
. This was a loose union while combined the islands under a single governor, but left local institutions intact.
In 1887, the
British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
passed the Trinidad and Tobago Act, which authorised the union of Trinidad and Tobago.
The goal of the union was to pass the cost of administering Tobago from the British crown to the more prosperous colony of Trinidad.
On 17 November 1888, the Act was proclaimed, and the union took effect on 1 January 1889. The islands were united under a single administrative structure, which was based in
Port of Spain
Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
, and a
single governor, who had formerly been the governor of Trinidad. The last vestige of self government, the Financial Board, consisted of three elected members, two members appointed by the governor, and a commissioner also appointed by the governor. The governor was able to dissolve the board without input from the people of Tobago. On the legal front, the Supreme Court in Trinidad gained authority over Tobago and had the power to appoint magistrates.
Tobago's status was downgraded to that of a ward in 1899, with the warden of Tobago as the chief government official on the island.
The lack of Tobagonian representation on the
Legislative Council led to calls for someone to be appointed to the council to represent the interests of Tobago. In 1920, Governor
John Chancellor
John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in TV news. He served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to 1982 and continu ...
invited T.L.M. Orde, manager of the Louis D'Or Estate in Tobago, to serve on the council, but Orde declined the invitation because it would have required lengthy absences from the island. A.H. Cipriani, a Trinidad resident who owned large coconut estates in Tobago, was appointed to the position instead. Between 1920 and 1925, Tobago's interests were represented by residents of Trinidad. Black Tobagonians were willing to serve on the council, but the prospect was not acceptable to the political establishment.
Representation
In 1925, the Legislative Council was expanded from 21 to 25 members, including seven elected members. Its one elected member gave Tobago its first elected representatives since 1877, when Crown colony government had been instituted. Voting was limited to literate men who were 21 or older, and came with property and income requirements. Requirements for candidates were even higher. The elections took place on 7 February 1925. Only 5.9% of the population were eligible to vote, and in Tobago only 547 people out of 1,800 eligible voters actually participated.
James Biggart, a black Tobagonian pharmacist, was elected to represent Tobago in the Legislative Council.
On the legislative council, Biggart campaigned for the development of infrastructure and education in Tobago, and the improvement of communications by sea between the islands.
Biggart was able to improve infrastructure in Tobago and communications between the islands,
and in 1925
Bishop's High School
A bishop is a person of authority in a Christian church.
Bishop, Bishops or Bishop's may also refer to:
Religious roles
* Bishop (Catholic Church)
* Bishop (Eastern Orthodox Church)
* Bishop (Latter Day Saints)
* Bishop (Methodism)
Places Anta ...
was established in Tobago by the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
, and received support in the form of a government grant.
Biggart held the Tobago seat until his death in 1932. A white planter and businessman,
Isaac A. Hope, won the by-election to succeed Biggart.
In the
1938 elections Hope was replaced by
George de Nobriga
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
.
The County Council Ordinance of 1946 divided Tobago into seven wards, each represented by two councillors.
The introduction of universal adult suffrage in 1946
saw the election of
A.P.T. James to the Legislative Council.
James was a strong advocate for Tobago and pushed for increased infrastructural development. He was successful in getting pipe-borne water, schools, health centres,
a deep-water harbour, and, in 1952, electricity.
He advocated for increased representation for Tobago in the legislature, for separate representation in the
West Indies Federation
The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that ...
, and, later, for full independence. James lost the
1961 general elections to
A.N.R. Robinson
Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (16 December 1926 – 9 April 2014; known as A. N. R. or "Ray" Robinson), was the third President of Trinidad and Tobago, serving from 19 March 1997 to 17 March 2003. He was also Trinidad and Tobago's third Prime ...
, a founding member of the ruling
People's National Movement
The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's history, contesting all elections sinc ...
(PNM).
Economy
After the union with Trinidad, the economy of Tobago remained underdeveloped. Most of the population consisted of peasant farmers
who grew mostly food crops
and supplemented their income working on the coconut and cacao estates that replaced sugar as the island's main export crops. Wages were extremely low, which allowed the plantation owners (primarily a group of fifty to sixty white families) to derive "substantial profits" even when commodity prices were very low.
In the 1930s, white planters began renting their estate houses and outbuildings to winter visitors, and later invested in hotels and guest houses. In the 1950s, tourism began to replace agriculture as Tobago's main employer and driver of economic activity.
Independence and internal self-governance
In 1956, Crown colony government in Trinidad and Tobago was replaced by internal self-government. The
1956 general elections were a victory for the newly-formed People's National Movement, led by
Eric Williams
Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who is regarded by some as the "Father of the Nation", having led the then British Trinidad and Tobago, British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to m ...
. Williams was appointed chief minister, but the governor remained head of the Executive Council. With the formation of the
West Indies Federation
The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that ...
in 1958, the Williams administration acquired more direct policy control over Trinidad and Tobago.
In 1958, a Department of Tobago Affairs was created, headed by a
permanent secretary
A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...
. In 1962, Trinidad and Tobago became an independent nation. In 1964, the Department of Tobago Affairs was raised to a cabinet-level position, and the Ministry of Tobago Affairs was created, in part to deal with the added responsibility of recovery from
Hurricane Flora
Hurricane Flora is among the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history, with a death total of at least 7,193. The seventh tropical storm and sixth hurricane of the 1963 Atlantic hurricane season, Flora developed from a disturbance in th ...
, which had devastated the island of Tobago in 1963.
Economic development
In 1957, Williams put forward the Tobago Development Program, an economic development plan designed to correct "many years of neglect and betrayal" of Tobago by the Trinidad-based administration. Successfully developing Tobago was seen as an important way to make the case for a leading role for Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies Federation; by showing it was able to successfully advance Tobago's development, Williams intended to show how it could do the same for the other smaller members of the federation. While the Williams administration increased the development spending in Tobago relative to the previous administration, only about 3% of the 1957 budget was allocated to projects in Tobago. Between 1958 and 1962, Tobago's share of the development budget was also less than 7%, despite the goal that Tobago's development should be given high priority.
Hurricane Flora
On 30 September 1963, Tobago was hit by Hurricane Flora, resulting in 30 deaths. About half of the island's housing was damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. The main export crops–coconuts, cocoa and bananas–were badly damaged, as was a large part of the fishing fleet. Despite government investments in agricultural rehabilitation, the importance of the agricultural sector declined while tourism expanded. The number of hotel and guest house rooms increased from 185 in 1960 to 448 in 1972, to 651 by 1982.
Secession movement
Starting in 1969, Rhodil Norton, a
medical doctor
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and president of the Buccoo Reef Association (an association of
tour guides
A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, relig ...
), began calling for Tobago to secede from Trinidad and Tobago. His calls drew strong opposition from Trinidadian society and the ruling PNM government, including
Basil Pitt, the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Tobago West seat. Other Tobagonians, while not advocating secession, supported the idea that Tobago was not treated equitably and that the central government had failed to keep its promises to Tobago.
Despite claims that Tobago was neglected, Tobagonians were well represented in government—both Pitt and Robinson (the MP for Tobago East) held ministerial positions in the PNM government, while the Prime Minister, Williams, held the portfolio of the Ministry of Tobago Affairs. In response to these calls for secession, the government expanded its investments in Tobago. Despite this, talk of secession continued. The Tobago Emancipation Action Committee, chaired by Norton, issued one such call for secession in 1970. This prompted the police to establish surveillance of the group.
Black Power movement
Independence left the economy dominated by the elites—in 1970, 75% of the best land in Tobago was reported to be in the hands of local elites or foreign owners.
The continuation of colonial-era practices after independence led to disenchantment with the ruling PNM administration.
Inspired by a combination of
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and
Garveyism
Garveyism is an aspect of black nationalism that refers to the economic, racial and political policies of UNIA-ACL founder Marcus Garvey. The ideology of Garveyism centers on the unification and empowerment of African-descended men, women and ...
, the
Black Power movement was a response to both racism and colonialism.
The arrest and trial of students from Trinidad and Tobago in the aftermath of the
Sir George Williams affair
The Sir George Williams affair (also referred to as "The Sir George Williams Computer Centre Incident") was a 1969 event at Sir George Williams University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, now a part of Concordia University (Montreal), Concordia Univers ...
in Montreal, Canada, triggered protests in Port of Spain which soon spread around the country. In Tobago, protestors demanded the end of strip-tease shows for tourists which employed local teenagers, and the restoration of public access to the beaches at Pigeon Point and Bacolet. Between 12,000 and 15,000 people took part in a march to
Charlotteville
Charlotteville is a village lying on the northeastern tip of Tobago on Man-o-War Bay.
History
The first European settlement on Man-o-War Bay was part of the colony of Nieuw Walcheren established by Jan de Moor, the burgomaster of Vlissingen in ...
, while school children in Roxborough organised an march to Scarborough.
On April 21, 1970, amid ongoing unrest, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
and arrested most of the leadership of the Black Power movement. When called upon to help restore order, the Trinidad and Tobago regiment mutinied, but the mutineers surrendered after ten days.
Rise of the DAC
On 20 September 1970, Robinson resigned from the PNM. His resignation came in the aftermath of the Black Power uprising earlier that year, and he cited abuse of power by the Prime Minister among his reasons for resignation. Robinson, who had been accused of putting his support for his party ahead of the interests of the people of Tobago, was freed from obligations to the former. He formed the Action Committee of Dedicated Citizens (ACDC) and joined forces with the opposition
Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to contest the
1971 general elections. On 3 April 1971, ACDC reformed as a political party, the
Democratic Action Congress
The Democratic Action Congress (DAC) was a Tobago-based political party in Trinidad and Tobago.
History
The party was established in 1971 by A. N. R. Robinson, and was originally an autonomist party. It first contested general elections in 1976, ...
(DAC), whose platform included a strong plan for economic development and self-government for Tobago.
Over concerns about voting machines and irregularities in the election process, the DLP and DAC boycotted the 1971 elections and the PNM won all the seats in Tobago and Trinidad.
In the
1976 general elections, the DAC won both seats in Tobago; Robinson won the Tobago East seat while Winston Murray won Tobago West. Two months after the election, Williams disbanded the Ministry of Tobago Affairs, and transferred its responsibilities back to other government ministries. In Tobago, this was seen as an act of reprisal for the island's abandonment of the PNM.
Internal self-government
With the dissolution of the Ministry of Tobago Affairs, Robinson and Murray made the case in Parliament for internal self-government in Tobago. The main opposition party in Parliament, the
United Labour Front
The United Labour Front (ULF) was a political party in Trinidad and Tobago and the main opposition party between 1976 and 1986. It was a successor to the Democratic Labour Party and the Workers and Farmers Party.
History
The party was establishe ...
, supported these efforts, and, after a long and contentious debate, the
Tobago House of Assembly
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is a unicameral devolved legislative body responsible for the island of Tobago within the unitary state of Trinidad and Tobago. The THA was re-established in 1980 (THA) bill was passed on 12 September 1980.
Elections on 24 November 1980 drew 63.5% of eligible voters, and gave the DAC eight of the 12 seats in the Assembly, with the PNM winning the other four. The Assembly met for the first time on 4 December 1980, and Robinson was elected chair of the THA.
The establishment of the THA provided internal self-government in Tobago, but the Assembly remained subject to the central government. The THA bill allowed the Assembly to be revoked by a two-thirds majority in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, and left the THA financially dependent on allocations from the central government. A revised bill, Act 40 of 1996, gave permanent status to the THA, created the position of Presiding Officer, and gave the Chief Secretary the right to work directly with the Cabinet on issues related to Tobago.
Robinson era
![A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/A._N._R._Robinson_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Between 1980 and 2003,
Castara
Castara is a seaside village on the leeward (north) coast of the island of Tobago, the smaller of the two islands in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Castara's economy is dependent primarily on fishing and agriculture, with to ...
–born A.N.R. Robinson played a dominant role in the politics and government of Trinidad and Tobago, first as Chairman of the THA, then
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, and finally as
President of Trinidad and Tobago
The president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is the head of state of Trinidad and Tobago and the commander-in-chief of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. The office was established when the country became a republic in 1976, before w ...
.
In the run-up to the
1981 general elections, the DAC, the ULF, and the
Tapia House Movement The Tapia House Movement was a political party in Trinidad and Tobago. It first contested national elections in 1976, when it finished fourth with 3.9% of the vote, but failed to win a seat. Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handb ...
resolved to work together to contest the election. The three parties fielded their own slates of candidates, but agreed not to contest the same seats.
The DAC contested eight of the 36 seats in Parliament, but only won the two Tobago seats.
After the election, the three parties formalised their relationship and operated under the banner of the Alliance. The Alliance formed an accommodation with a fourth party, the
Organisation for National Reconstruction
The Organisation for National Reconstruction (ONR) was a political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party received the second-highest number of votes in the 1981 general elections, but failed to win a seat. Prior to the 1986 elections it merged ...
to contest the
1983 local government elections. On 8 September, 1985, the four constituent parties dissolved and formed a new party, the
National Alliance for Reconstruction
The National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) was the governing party in Trinidad and Tobago between 1986 and 1991. The party has been inactive since 2005.
History
The party was established in 1986, aiming to be a multi-racial party. Nohlen, D ...
(NAR), with Robinson as its political leader. The NAR defeated the PNM in the
1986 general elections and Robinson became the third person to serve as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Robinson administration invested heavily in Tobago, completing the
Scarborough Deep Water Harbour Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
and expanding the runway at the
Crown Point Airport to accommodate larger jets and international air travel directly to Tobago. They also improved ferry service between Port of Spain and Scarborough.
Infighting in the NAR government and the 1990
Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt
The Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt was an attempt to overthrow the government of Trinidad and Tobago, instigated on Friday, 27 July 1990. Over the course of six days, Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical extremist Islamist group, held hostages (in ...
left the administration weakened, and it lost the
1991 general elections to the PNM, led by
Patrick Manning
Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning (17 August 1946 – 2 July 2016) was a Trinidadian politician who was the fourth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; his terms ran from 17 December 1991 to 9 November 1995 and from 24 December 2001 to 26 Ma ...
. The NAR was left holding only the two Tobago seats. The 1995 general elections resulted in a 17–17 split between the Manning–led PNM and the
United National Congress
The United National Congress ( UNC or UNCTT) is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a Trinidadian lawyer, e ...
, led by Basdeo Panday; Robinson's NAR still held the two Tobago seats and with them, the ability to form a coalition government with either party.
The NAR chose to work with the UNC and formed a coalition government, with Panday as Prime Minister and Robinson holding the position of Minister Extraordinaire with special responsibility for Tobago. In 1997, Robinson resigned from Parliament and was elected President of Trinidad and Tobago.
He retired from the presidency in 2003.
See also
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History of Trinidad and Tobago
The history of Trinidad and Tobago begins with the settlements of the islands by Indigenous peoples, Indigenous First Peoples. Trinidad was visited by Christopher Columbus on his Voyages of Christopher Columbus, third voyage in 1498, (he never la ...
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List of colonial governors and administrators of Tobago
This article lists governors of Tobago. Governors of Tobago have been referred to by the formal titles of "Governor" and "Lieutenant-Governor". For governors of the united Trinidad and Tobago after 1889 see List of Governors of Trinidad and Tobag ...
References
{{Trinidad and Tobago topics
History of Trinidad and Tobago
Tobago
British colonization of the Americas
French colonization of the Americas
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Former colonies of Courland