Peoples
of
Trinidad & Tobago
Columbus' third voyage set sail from Palos in Spain on May 30, 1498 with Santa Maria de Guia, el Correo and la Vaquenos. The Christian that he was, he placed his men and ships in the "hands" of the Holy Trinity, promising to name the first land he saw after the Holy Trinity.
This "first" land he named "la Ysla de la Trinidad". In Spanish, the word 'Trinity' translates into " La Trinidad". He had kept his promise. His log reads:
He continued along the south coast , calling in at "Cabo de la Playa" for water. Along this
coast too, a canoe of Indians went out to meet Columbus' caravels and received gifts.
My grand-daughter, Aruna Sharmain her school work, tries to explain: Click Here |
Today there are very few, if any, Amerindian survivors in Trinidad, although there is an annual Festival at Arima when a "Carib" Queen and a King, are crowned. Most writers lament the fact that the title has not yet been changed from "Carib" to "Arawak".
Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494
Even before Trinidad was discovered in 1498, Europeans were claiming lands. In this confusion, Spain and Portugal sought the interference of Pope Alexander VI to "divide" the spoils. Pope Alexander by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, gave the Spaniards the west, and the Portugese the east, of an imaginary line 50 degrees west longtitude.
It is clear that for the Spaniards, the main enticement of Trinidad was linked with their search for "gold". They were after El Dorado, and in this process, believed that they could not only enslave, but also convert the Indians, into Christianity.
Neither the Spaniards nor their Christian priests were very successful in the early stages, and this gave rise to the practice of bringing labour from outside.
The Cedula, seemed to have laid the foundation for the development and growth of Trinidad's social and economic structure. For some 300 years, the Spaniards who were in possession of the island did little or nothing towards its advancement - except to settle in their capital, St. Joseph, and undertake minimal cultivation in the Maracas- Santa Cruz valleys. Their "major" concern was the elusive El Doradoand Trinidad, by its geographical location was seen then, as it is today, the ideal "stepping stone" to the mainland.
The Founding Fathers
It was in 1777 however, that Phillip Rose Roume de Saint-Laurent - a member of one of the aristocratic French families who had helped in building the French empire in Louisiana and the Caribbean ... and now a prosperous planter from Grenada - visited Trinidad, and bought a parcel of land at Diego Martin. Saint-Laurent did not just settle down. He returned to Grenada and encouraged other French families and free slaves to come to Trinidad.
Saint-Laurent then set off to Spain and petitioned the king to grant free colonists and others, free entry into Trinidad. The Spanish government readily issued its Cedula of Population on November 24, 1783 to grant land and other inducements to the colonists, under the following terms:
Publication of the Cedula resulted in a massive influx of French nationals, both white and coloured, with their slaves from neighbouring French colonies. And in 1789, as a result of the French Revolution, even French families fled France and its colonies and joined their fellowmen in Trinidad.
The free coloured referred to, were identified as the offspring of Frenchmen and women, of either African or Amerindian ancestry (whether the women were slaves or not). Such offsprings were considered free but their social status washigher than their black mothers, and lower than their white fathers.
It should be noted that this structure by Spain was maintained in the Treaty of Capitulation, which stated as follows:The free coloured people who have been acknowledged as such by the laws of Spain shall be protected in their liberty, persons and property, like other inhabitants, they taking the oath of allegiance and demeaning themselves and becoming good and peaceful subjects of His Britannic Majesty.
Clearly, the British met, agreed to, and to some extent, nurtured, the three tiered land owning community:
The characteristic of this community was that it was divided economically as well as pigmentically. The less pigmentation, the more they dominated the scene: "governmentally, economically, educationally, socially,and, indeed, in every other way." This type of caste system was quite similar to that practised in Britain, as described by Anthony Wood in his (Nineteenth Century Britain.
According to Woods:
With the three-tiered structre ofsociety acceptee in England, the colonies were no different, except that in the Trinidad the society was divided by pigmentation as well as economically.
All received land grants in accordance to the terms setout in the Cedula. Trinidad's population jumped to over 15,000 by the end of 1789, from just under 1,400 in 1777.
East Indians first arrived as indentured immigrants on the ship, Fatel Rozack on May 30, 1845, but they were not the only indentured labourers brought to Trinidad nor were they the first. Portugese, Chinese and even African and "free coloured" and American negroes, were brought on similar terms for several years before the East Indians came. They continue to come, even to this day ... particularly from Nigeria, Ghana and China.
Initially a special settlement established by the Canadian Missionaries to accommodate East Indians whom they had successfully converted to Christianity. However, within a short period after oil was discovered, the East Indians were ousted by labour imported from outside Trinidad.
The East Indian Presence
Until later, for now just ask why is it that the Oropouche Lagoon where a vast number of indentured East Indian were settled following the completion of their identureship, is now being salinated with sea water entering some 8 miles inland? May be it was the strength of these people who turned the lagoon into an agricultural El Dorado, by growing rice in the wet seasons and vegetables and other produce including water melons, bodie, cabagges etc. in the dryier period. Several engineers attached to the Drainage and Irrigation section had repeatedly viewed that two crops of rice annually, could be reaped in the Oropouche lagoon .. what happened to that dream and why?