Charlotteville is a village lying on the northeastern tip 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 ...

on Man-o-War Bay.

History

The first European settlement on Man-o-War Bay was part of the colony of

Nieuw Walcheren The history of Tobago covers a period from the earliest human settlements on the island of Tobago in the Archaic period, through its current status as a part of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Originally settled by indigenous people, the isl ...

established by 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 chie ...

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label= Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river ...

in the Netherlands. The first settlement, established in 1633, was abandoned, but the settlement was reestablished by fresh settlers from the Netherlands in 1639. New Walcheren was destroyed by the Spanish from Trinidad in 1636, and most of the colonists were executed. After various failed attempts at European colonisation, Tobago was designated a neutral island in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle. 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, and 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 cash ...

was established on the island. By the middle of the 19th century, the area now occupied by Charlotteville was dominated by two sugar estates, the Pirates' Bay Estate and the Charlotteville Estate which together consisted of approximately . These estates, which were purchased by the Turpin family in 1853, constitute Charlotteville.

Geography

The history of the village is closely linked to sugar farming, and Charlotteville's harbour was also of importance for the town's development. In more recent times fishing has been important for Charlotteville's economy. Charlotteville has one of the few remaining tamboo bamboo bands in which rhythms are produced by banging

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

on the ground. This originated in

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

times when slaves were not allowed to play musical instruments. Today a

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

player is in the band. There are a few small restaurants. There are no large hotels; there are only a few small guesthouses and apartments to rent. There is a beach in the village and Pirate's Bay is twenty minutes' walk along a track. Hidden at the other side of the village is Pirates Bay, also known as "Little Italy" for its popularity in playing football.

References

{{Coord, 11, 19, N, 60, 33, W, region:TT_type:city, display=title Populated places in Tobago Villages in Trinidad and Tobago