Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and sits on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

of South America. It is the southernmost island in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. With an area of , it is also the fifth-largest in the Caribbean.

Name

The original name for the island in the

Arawakan languages Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient Indigenous peoples in South America. Branc ...

was which meant "Land of the Hummingbird".

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

renamed it ('The Island of the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

'), fulfilling a vow he had made before setting out on his third voyage. This has since been shortened to ''Trinidad''. Indo-Trinidadians called the island चीनीदत्त , 𑂒𑂲𑂢𑂲𑂠𑂞𑂹𑂞 , , ''Chinidat'' or ''Chinidad'' in Trinidadian Hindustani which translated to the land of sugar. The usage of the term goes back to the 19th century when recruiters from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

would call the island ''Chinidat'' as a way of luring workers into indentureship. On Tuesday, 31 July 1498 Columbus sent a sailor to climb up to the main top and sighted a cluster of three peaks, therefore Columbus named the island Trinidad from the three peaks and Columbus's special devotion to the Trinity.

History

Caribs and Arawaks lived in Trinidad long before

encountered the islands on his third voyage on 31 July 1498. The island remained Spanish until 1797, but it was settled mostly by French colonists from the French Caribbean, especially

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

.Besson, Gerard (27 August 2000). "Land of Beginnings – A historical digest", ''Newsday Newspaper''. In 1889 the two islands became a single British

crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...

. Trinidad and Tobago was granted self-governance in 1958 and independence from the United Kingdom in August 1962, and it became a republic in September 1976.

Geography

Major landforms include the hills of the Northern, Central and Southern Ranges (Dinah ranges), the Caroni, Nariva and Oropouche Swamps, and the Caroni and Naparima Plains. Major river systems include the Caroni, North and South Oropouche and

Ortoire River The Ortoire River is a river in Trinidad and Tobago. It forms the boundary between Nariva County and Mayaro County in east Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The ...

s. There are many other natural landforms such as beaches and waterfalls. Trinidad has two seasons per the calendar year: the rainy season and the dry season. El Cerro del Aripo, at 940 metres (3,084 ft), is the highest point in Trinidad. It is part of the Aripo Massif and is located in the

Northern Range The Northern Range is the range of tall hills across north Trinidad, the major island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The hills range from the Chaguaramas peninsula on the west coast to Toco in the east. The Northern Range covers appro ...

on the island, northeast of the town of

Arima Arima, officially The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima is the easternmost and second largest in area of the three boroughs of Trinidad and Tobago. It is geographically adjacent to Sangre Grande and Arouca at the south central foothills of the ...

Demographics

As of the 2011 Trinidad and Tobago Census, Trinidad's population was 37% Indo-Trinidadian, 32% Afro-Trinidadian, and 24%

mixed race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

. Venezuela has also had a great impact on Trinidad's culture, such as introducing the music style parang to the island. Many groups overlap. For example, a " Dougla" is a person of African and Indian descent.

Culture

There are multiple festivals on Trinidad, featuring the music of the Caribbean and the

steelpan The steelpan (also known as a pan or steel drum) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago from Afro–Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Afro-Trinidadians. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. In 1992, the steelpan was declared ...

(which originated on Trinidad and is the country's national instrument); These festivals include the multi-national, pre-Lenten Carnivál, J'ouvert, and

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

, the national steelpan competition. In addition to the traditional Christian holidays and official

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

days (such as

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

, Christmas, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday,

Emancipation Day Emancipation Day is observed in many former European colonies in the West Indies and parts of the United States on various dates to commemorate the emancipation of African slave trade#Abolition, slaves of African descent. In much of the British ...

Good Friday Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

, Labour Day, New Year's Day, and Republic Day) in Trinidad, the island nation also celebrates a significant percentage of its population's Indian ancestry (of both

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

backgrounds), with officially-recognised holidays such as Divali,

Eid al-Fitr Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main Islamic holidays, festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide becaus ...

and Indian Arrival Day. Sites of cultural or religious significance include Mount Saint Benedict, the Temple in the Sea, and the Karyasiddhi

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

murti In the Hinduism, Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' (, ) is a devotional image, such as a statue or icon, of a Hindu deities, deity or Hindu saints, saint used during ''Puja (Hinduism), puja'' and/or in other customary forms of actively expressing d ...

in Carapichaima.

Zoology

The island of Trinidad has a rich biodiversity. The fauna is overwhelmingly of South American origin. There are about 100 species of mammals including the Guyanese red howler monkey, the

collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a peccary, a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Peccary, Tayassuidae found in North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the gen ...

, the red brocket deer, the

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

and about 70 species of bats. There are over 400 species of birds including the endemic Trinidad piping-guan. Reptiles are well represented, with about 92 recorded species including the largest species of snake in the world, the green anaconda, the spectacled caiman, and one of the largest lizards in the Americas, the green iguana. Trinidad is also the largest leatherback turtle nesting site in the western hemisphere; they nest on Trinidad's eastern and northern beaches. There are 37 recorded frog species, including the tiny El Tucuche golden tree frog, Trinidad poison frog, and the more widespread huge

cane toad The cane toad (''Rhinella marina''), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, Terrestrial animal, terrestrial true toad native to South America, South and mainland Central America, but which has been Introduced spe ...

. About 43 species of freshwater fish are known from Trinidad, including the well known guppy. It is estimated that there are at least 80,000 arthropods, and at least 600 species of butterflies. The William Beebe Tropical Research Station (founded by William Beebe), also known as Simla, lies north of

Economy

The economy of Trinidad and Tobago is diversified, based to a large extent on oil and natural gas. It is one of the leading gas-based export centers in the world, being one of the top five exporters of

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

and the largest onshore natural gas well was recently discovered in southern Trinidad. This has allowed Trinidad to capitalise on the biggest mineral reserves within its territories. It is an oil-rich country and stable economically.

Geology

The Venezuela

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

Basin is a

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

basin formed between the Caribbean and South American plates, and is bounded on the north by the coast ranges of Venezuela and the Northern Range of Trinidad, and bounded on the south by the Guayana Shield. This Guayana shield supplied fine-grained

clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by ...

sediments Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

, which with the subsidence, formed a regional negative gravity anomaly and growth faults.Bane & Chanpong, p. 387. Oil and gas discoveries from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

include Teak (1968), Samaan (1971), Poui (1972) and Galeota.Woodside, P.R., The Petroleum Geology of Trinidad and Tobago, 1981, USGS Report 81-660, Washington: US Dept. of the Interior, pp. 2 and 25 These fields are mainly faulted

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...

traps producing from depths of subsea, with Teak possessing a hydrocarbon column almost thick. The

is an Upper Jurassic-

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

range of

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

rocks striking east and dipping south. The range's southern boundary is marked by a fault extending from the El Pilar Fault System in Venezuela. South of this fault is the Northern Basin, or Caroni Syncline, consisting of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s unconformably overlying Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. South of this basin is the Central Range, consisting of Upper Tertiary sedimentary rocks lying unconformably atop Lower Eocene and

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

rocks. South of this range is the

Naparima Plain On the island of Trinidad, the Naparima Plain is a broad lowland area on the west between the Central Range and the Southern Range (see map); the lowland area on the east is the Nariva Plain. To the north of the Central Range is the Caroni Plai ...

, a thrust belt of

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

and Lower Tertiary beds. Hydrocarbon bearing anticlines include those associated with Pitch Lake, Forest Reserve, Point Fortin, Penal, Barrackpore, and Balata Fields. The Los Bajos Fault is a wrench fault, with Lower Pliocene displacement of 6.51 miles, bordered on the north by the Siparia syncline, and on the south by the Erin syncline. Finally, the

Southern Range On the island of Trinidad, the Southern Range is a discontinuous chain of low hills along the southern coast, reaching their highest altitude in the high Trinity Hills of the southeast. According to legend, the sight of the three neighboring hi ...

consists of anticlinal folds, including the Rock Dome-Herrera anticline and the Moruga-West Field. East of this Rock Dome are en echelon folds containing the Lizard Springs Field. South of these folds is another fold trend containing the Moruga-East, Guayaguayare, Beach, and Galeota Fields. South of the Morne Diablo-Quinam Erin Field westward is a strongly folded anticline associated with shale diapirism, which extends west southwestward to the Pedernales Field in southeast Venezuela. The northeast portion of the Southern Range separates into a northern trend containing the Lizard Springs, Navette, and Mayaro Fields, while the southern trend contains the Beach Field.

Recreation

Trinidad is considered one of the best places in the world to catch

Atlantic tarpon The Atlantic tarpon (''Megalops atlanticus'') is a ray-finned fish that inhabits coastal waters, estuary, estuaries, lagoons, and rivers. It is also known as the silver king. It is found in the Atlantic Ocean, typically in tropical and subtropica ...

References

Sources

* Bane, S.C.; Chanpong, R.R. (1980). "Geology and Development of the Teak Oil Field, Trinidad, West Indies". in ''Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade: 1968–1978''. AAPG Memoir 30. Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists. .

External links

* *
Gotrinidadandtobago.com: Trinidad and Tobago tourism website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidad 01 Islands of Trinidad and Tobago Windward Islands Former Spanish colonies Spanish West Indies 1530 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1530s establishments in the Spanish West Indies 1790s disestablishments in the Spanish West Indies 1797 disestablishments in the Spanish Empire 1797 establishments in the British Empire