A Brief History of Trinidad and Tobago 

Trinidad and Tobago's first inhabitants were of the Taino and Carib people. These people most likely originated from South America as it is the closest continent in proximity to the islands. Columbus was the first European to come to Trinidad and Tobago, and he came with the purpose to find new land, riches, and to spread the word of god. With the arrival of Columbus and his crew (the first Europeans to see the islands), things began to change. The existing communities were not treated well by the newly arrived Europeans. Although there was time where the islanders thought they were being treated well and equally, things started to go downhill as more and more people arrived, and the natives began to be used as slaves in the islands, and were asked to convert to Christianity. Word spread of the availability of slaves on the islands, and Spanish settlers settled on the islands to enslave and control the trade of the islander slaves. Years past, and the communities of Caribs and Taino people were broken apart and faded away. 

Trinidad's name has been linked by historians to mean "Land of the Humming bird", but it has also been discovered to be named by Columbus as "La Isla De La Trinidad" and the meaning of this name is "The Island of the Trinity". This means that the island may have already had a name before settled, but was formally named by Columbus with a name modeled after the original. 

Tobago's name has been credited to the island's cigar-shaped land. The Spanish word for cigar is cigarro, and historians link this word to the name of the island as it has resemblance to the current name, Tobago. 

Pirates were a large part of the culture, especially in the late 1600's. If one were not able to find a source on income on land, and had nowhere else to turn to, they could join a crew on the seas and make their living as a pirate. Pirates were especially interested in Trinidad and Tobago because of their easily pirated harbors. The harbors in Trinidad and Tobago were also especially interesting to pirates because of the large amount of goods moving from the islands to Spain. 

In 1783, in an effort to increase the population of Trinidad and Tobago, the Spanish government invited French plantation owners to move their plantations to Trinidad, and gave them benefits such as free land. Once the plantations arrived in the island, there was a need for more laborers, and so slaves were traded from Africa, and the slave population slowly turned from mostly Caribbean to mostly African. 

Slave trade was abolished in 1807, but it was not until 1838 that all slavery was abolished. This occurred when in 1833 the government decided that slavery would be officially abolished in 1840, and until then, slaves would stay on at plantations as apprentices. Slaves were outraged and peacefully protested the law, and in 1838 were granted full emancipation.

Trinidad and Tobago have a convoluted history because of the colonization of the Europeans. This leaves me wondering what would have happened if Columbus hadn't landed on the shores of Trinidad and Tobago so long ago.