Tobago
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Tobago,Template:Efn officially the Ward of Tobago, is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located Template:Convert northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about Template:Convert off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It lies to the southeast of Grenada and southwest of Barbados.
Etymology
[edit]Tobago was named Belaforme by Christopher Columbus "because from a distance it seemed beautiful". The Spanish friar Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa wrote that the Kalina (mainland Caribs) called the island Urupina because of its resemblance to a big snail,<ref name="Boomert"/>Template:Rp while the Kalinago (Island Caribs) called it Aloubaéra, supposedly because it resembled the alloüebéra, a giant snake which was supposed to live in a cave on the island of Dominica.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp The earliest known record of the use of the name Tabaco to refer to the island is a Spanish royal order issued in 1511. That name was inspired by the resemblance of the shape of the island to the fat cigars smoked by the Taíno inhabitants of the Greater Antilles.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp
History
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Indigenous Tobago
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Tobago was settled by indigenous people belonging to the Ortoiroid cultural tradition some time between 3500 and 1000 BCE.<ref name="Boomert">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp In the first century of the Common Era, Saladoid people settled in Tobago.<ref name = "Reid2004">Template:Cite journal</ref> They brought with them pottery-making and agricultural traditions, and are likely to have introduced crops which included cassava, sweet potatoes, Indian yam, tannia and corn.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp Saladoid cultural traditions were later modified by the introduction of the Barrancoid culture, either by trade or a combination of trade and settlement.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp After 650 CE, the Saladoid culture was replaced by the Troumassoid tradition in Tobago.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp Troumassoid traditions were once thought to represent the settlement of the Island Caribs 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.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp
Tobago's location made it an important point of connection between the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles and their Kalina allies and trading partners in the Guianas and Venezuela. In the 1630s Tobago was inhabited by the Kalina, while the neighbouring island of Grenada was shared by the Kalina and Kalinago.<ref name="Boomert"/>Template:Rp
Columbus sighted Tobago on 14 August 1498, during his fourth voyage, but he did not land.<ref name="Learie">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The Spanish settlers in Hispaniola were authorised to conduct slave raids against the island in a royal order issued in 1511.<ref name="Boomert"/> These raids, which continued until at least the 1620s,<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp decimated the island's population.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp
European colonization
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In 1628, Dutch settlers established the first European settlement in Tobago, a colony they called Nieuw Walcheren at Great Courland Bay. They also built a fort, Nieuw Vlissingen, near the modern town of Plymouth. The settlement was abandoned in 1630 after indigenous attacks, but was re-established in 1633. The new colony was destroyed by the Spanish in Trinidad after the Dutch supported a Nepoyo-led revolt in Trinidad. Attempts by the English to colonize Tobago in the 1630s and 1640s also failed due to indigenous resistance.<ref name="Boomert" />Template:Rp
The indigenous population also prevented European colonization in the 1650s, including an attempt by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but the Polish or Lithuanian explorers did not colonize the Island of Tobago, who colonized the island intermittently between 1637 and 1690.Template:Clarify Over the ensuing years, the Curonians (Duchy of Courland), Dutch, English, French, Spanish and Swedish had caused Tobago to become a focal point in repeated attempts of colonization, which led to the island having changed hands 33 times, the most in Caribbean history, before the Treaty of Paris ceded it to the British in 1814. In 1662, the Dutch brothers Adrian and Cornelius Lampsins were granted the title of Barons of Tobago, and ruled until the English captured the island in 1666. Adrian briefly recaptured Tobago in 1673, but was killed in battle when the English, under Sir Tobias Bridge, yet again took control of the island.<ref>Riddell (Author), Henri de Bourbon (comte de Chambord.), John. "The Patent of Baron to C Van Lampsins." The Pedigree of the Duchess of Mantua, Montferrat and Ferrara, Oxford University, 1885, pp. 8–10.</ref>
From about 1672, during the temporary English rule of 1672–1674,<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> Tobago had a period of stability during which plantation culture began.Template:Citation needed Sugar, cotton and indigo factories sprang up and Africans were imported by the British to work as slaves. The economy flourished. France had abandoned the island to Britain in 1763,<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> and by 1777 Tobago was exporting great quantities of cotton, indigo, rum and sugar.
In 1781, the French retook the island during the Invasion of Tobago.<ref name="atm">Template:Cite book</ref> On 24 May 1781, the fleet of Comte de Grasse landed troops on the island under the command of General Marquis de Bouillé. By 2 June 1781, they had successfully gained control of the island.
British rule and independence
[edit]In 1814, when the island again came under British control, another phase of successful sugar-production began.Template:Citation needed But a severe hurricane in 1847, combined with the collapse of plantation underwriters, end of slavery in 1834 and the competition from sugar with other European countries, marked the end of the sugar trade. In 1889, the island became a ward of Trinidad. Without sugar, the islanders had to grow other crops, planting acres of limes, coconuts and cocoa and exporting their produce to Trinidad. In 1963, Hurricane Flora ravaged Tobago, destroying the villages and crops. A restructuring programme followed and attempts were madeTemplate:By whom to diversify the economy. The development of a tourist industry began.Template:Citation needed
Trinidad and Tobago obtained independence from the British Empire in August 1962 and became a republic on 31 August 1976.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Geography
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Tobago has a land area of 300 km2<ref name="density" /> and is approximately Template:Convert long and Template:Convert wide. It is located at latitude 11° 15' N, longitude 60° 40' W, slightly north of Trinidad.
The island of Tobago is the main exposed portion of the Tobago terrane, a fragment of crustal material lying between the Caribbean and South American Plates.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Tobago is primarily hilly, mountainous and of volcanic origin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The southwest of the island is flat and consists largely of coralline limestone. The mountainous spine of the island is called the Main Ridge. The highest point in Tobago is the Template:Convert Pigeon Peak near Speyside.<ref name=Anthony>Template:Cite book</ref>
Climate
[edit]The climate is tropical, and the island lies just south of the Atlantic Main Development Region, making it vulnerable to occasional low-latitude tropical cyclones. Average rainfall varies between Template:Convert on the Main Ridge to less than Template:Convert in the southwest. There are two seasons: a wet season between June and December, and a dry season between January and May.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hurricanes
[edit]The island was struck by Hurricane Flora in 1963. The effects were so severe that they changed the face of Tobago's economy. The hurricane laid waste to the banana, coconut, and cacao plantations that largely sustained the economy, and it wreaked considerable damage on the largely pristine tropical rainforest that makes up a large proportion of the interior of the island's northern half. Many of the plantations were subsequently abandoned, and the economy changed direction away from cash crop agriculture and toward tourism. Hurricane Ivan, while less severe than Flora, also caused significant damage in 2004.
Government
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image Central and local government functions in Tobago are handled by the Tobago House of Assembly. The current Chief Secretary of Tobago is Farley Chavez Augustine from the Progressive Democratic Patriots, which controls 14 of the 15 seats in the Assembly, with the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement led by Ancil Dennis controlling one seat since the December 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Tobago is represented by two seats in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, Tobago East and Tobago West. The two seats are controlled by the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement, which won and retained them in the 2015 and 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election.
Districts
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Historically, Tobago was divided into seven parishes (Saint Andrew, Saint David, Saint George, Saint John, Saint Mary, Saint Patrick and Saint Paul). In 1768 each parish of Tobago nominated representatives to the Tobago House of Assembly. On 20 October 1889 the British crown implemented a Royal Order in Council constituting Tobago as a ward of Trinidad, thus terminating local government on Tobago and forming a unified colony government.
In 1945 when the county council system was first introduced, Tobago was administered as a single county of Trinidad.
In 1980 provisions were made for the Tobago House of Assembly to be revived as an entity providing local government in Tobago. Under the revived system, Tobago is made up of 12 local electoral districts with each district electing one Assemblyman to the THA.
| No. | Electoral districts<ref>Electoral Districts in the Electoral Area of Tobago in relation to Tobago House of Assembly Elections, Elections & Boundaries Commission of T&T</ref> |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bagotelle / Bacolet |
| 2 | Belle Garden / Glamorgan |
| 3 | Bethel / New Grange |
| 4 | Bethesda / Les Coteaux |
| 5 | Bon Accord / Crown Point |
| 6 | Buccoo / Mt. Pleasant |
| 7 | Darryl Spring / Whim |
| 8 | Lambeau / Lowlands |
| 9 | Mason Hall / Moriah |
| 10 | Mt. St. George / Goodwood |
| 11 | Parlatuvier/L’Anse Fourmi/Speyside |
| 12 | Plymouth/Black Rock |
| 13 | Roxborough/Argyle |
| 14 | Scarborough/Mt. Grace |
| 15 | Signal Hill/Patience Hill |
Demographics
[edit]The population was 60,874 at the 2011 census.<ref name="density" /> The capital, Scarborough, has a population of 17,537. While Trinidad is multiethnic, Tobago's population is primarily of African descent, with a growing proportion of Trinidadians of East Indian descent and Europeans. Between 2000 and 2011, the population of Tobago grew by 12.55 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing areas of Trinidad and Tobago.
Ancestry and ethnicity
[edit]| Racial composition | 2011<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref> |
|---|---|
| Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians | 85.2% |
| Dougla (Indian and Black) | 4.2% |
| Multiracial | 4.2% |
| Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians | 2.5% |
| White Trinidadian/Tobagonian | 0.7% |
| Native American (Amerindian) | 0.1% |
| Chinese | 0.08% |
| Arab (Syrian/Lebanese) | 0.02% |
| Other | 0.1% |
| Not stated | 2.6% |
Religion
[edit]| Religious composition | 2011<ref name="auto"/> |
|---|---|
| Seventh-day Adventism | 16.26% |
| Pentecostalism/Evangelicalism/Full Gospel | 14.69% |
| Anglicanism | 12.80% |
| Spiritual Baptist | 10.56% |
| Roman Catholicism | 6.64% |
| Methodism | 4.93% |
| Moravian | 4.56% |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | 1.62% |
| Orisha-Shango | 1.52% |
| Hinduism | 0.67% |
| Baptists | 0.63% |
| Islam | 0.57% |
| Rastafari | 0.39% |
| Presbyterianism/Congregationalism | 0.18% |
| Other | 10.38% |
| Not Stated | 9.83% |
| None | 5.39% |
Economy
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Trinidad and Tobago, a bird sanctuary
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Tobago's main economy is based on tourism, fishing, and government spending, government spending being the largest. The local governing body, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), employs 62% of the labor force.
Tourism is still a fledgling industry. Conventional beach and water-sports tourism is largely in the southwest around the airport and the coastal strip. Meanwhile, ecotourism is growing in significance, much of it focused on the large area of protected forest in the centre and north of the main island and on Little Tobago, a small island off the main island's northeast tip.
The southwestern tourist area around Crown Point, Store Bay, Buccoo Reef, and Pigeon Point has large expanses of sand and is dominated by resort-type developments. Tobago has many idyllic beaches along its coastline, especially those at Castara, Bloody Bay, and Englishman's Bay. Tobago is linked to the world through the Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson International Airport (formerly Crown Point Airport) and Scarborough harbour. Domestic flights connect Tobago with Trinidad, and international flights connect with the Caribbean and Europe. There is a daily fast ferry service between Port of Spain and Scarborough.Template:Citation needed
Tobago's economy is tightly linked with Trinidad's, which is based on liquefied natural gas (LNG), petrochemicals, and steel.
Diving
[edit]Tobago is also a popular diving location, since it is the southernmost of the Caribbean islands that have coral communities. Trinidad, which is further south, has no significant coral because of low salinity and high silt content, the result of its position close to the mouth of Venezuela's Orinoco River. Scuba diving on Tobago tends to be centred at Speyside, almost diametrically across the island from the airport. Template:Citation needed
The island has some of the best diving sites in the Caribbean. There are three wrecks located around its shores, but the one usually considered the best is the Maverick Ferry, which used to travel between Trinidad and Tobago. The ferry is Template:Convert long and has been sunk in Template:Convert just off Rocky Point, Mt. Irvine. The top of the wreck is at Template:Convert. The wreck has an abundance of marine life, including a Template:Convert jewfish, a member of the grouper family. The wreck was purposely sunk for divers, and so all the doors and windows were removed. The waters around the island are home to many species of tropical fish, rays, sharks, and turtles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Golf
[edit]Tobago is home to two golf courses, both of which are open to visitors. The older of the two is Mount Irvine Hotel Golf Course, built in 1968. It was seen throughout the world after hosting the popular golf show "Shell's Wonderful World of Golf". The course is built amongst coconut palms and has a view of the Caribbean Sea from almost every hole. Formerly known as Tobago Plantations Golf Course, the recently renamed Magdalena Grand Hotel & Golf Club was opened in 2001 and has hosted the European Seniors Tour on three occasions. Template:Citation needed
In art
[edit]Robinson Crusoe
[edit]Tobago roughly matches the size and location of the island in Robinson Crusoe,<ref>Rhead, Louis. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: "Tobago Robinson Crusoe's Island", The New York Times, 5 August 1899.</ref><ref>Template:Usurped, Island Guide</ref> described as being located close to Trinidad and the mouth of Orinoco. However, the book is generally thought to be based on the experiences of Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned in the Pacific's Juan Fernández Islands, on the island later named after Robinson Crusoe. On Tobago, there is Crusoe Cave.
Swiss Family Robinson
[edit]Template:See also In 1958, Tobago was chosen by the Walt Disney Company as the setting for a film based upon the Johann Wyss novel Swiss Family Robinson. When producers saw the island for the first time, they "fell instantly in love".<ref name="TCM1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The script required animals, which were brought from all around the world, including eight dogs, two giant tortoises, forty monkeys, two elephants, six ostriches, four zebras, one hundred flamingos, six hyenas, two anacondas, and one tiger.<ref name=TCM1/>
Filming locations include Richmond Bay (the Robinsons beach), Mount Irvine Bay (the Pirates beach), and the Craig Hall Waterfalls. The treehouse was constructed in a 200-foot tall saman in the Goldsborough Bay area. After filming, locals convinced Disney, who had intended to remove all evidence of filmmaking, to let the treehouse remain, without interior furnishing. In 1960, the treehouse was listed for sale for $9,000, a fraction of its original cost, and became a popular attraction before the structure was destroyed by Hurricane Flora in 1963.<ref name="kkidney1">Template:Cite web</ref> The tree still remains, however, and is located on the property of the Roberts Auto Service and Tyre Shop, located in Goldsborough, just off of Windward Road. A local Tobago resident says, "The tree has fallen into obscurity; only a few of the older people knew of its significance. As a matter of fact, not many people know of the film Swiss Family Robinson, much less that it was filmed here in Tobago."<ref name="kkidney2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Ecology
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The Tobago Forest Reserve (Main Ridge Reserve) is the oldest protected rain forest in the Western hemisphere and is biodiverse. It was designated a protected Crown reserve on 17 April 1776 after representations by Soame Jenyns, a Member of Parliament in Britain responsible for Tobago's development. It has remained a protected area since.<ref name=MainRidge>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=UNESCO>Template:Cite web</ref>
This forested area has great biodiversity, including many species of birds (such as the dancing blue-backed manakin), mammals, frogs, (non-venomous) snakes, butterflies and other invertebrates.<ref name=MainRidge /><ref name=UNESCO /> Tobago also has nesting beaches for the leatherback turtle, which come to shore between April and July.Template:Citation needed
The island of Tobago has multiple coral reef ecosystems.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> The Buccoo Reef, the Culloden Reef and Speyside Reef are the three largest coral reef marine ecosystems in Tobago.<ref name=":32">Template:Cite journal</ref> These coral reef systems protect the shores of Tobago from eroding.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Little Tobago, the small neighbouring island, supports some of the best dry forest remaining in Tobago. Little Tobago and St Giles Island are important seabird nesting colonies, with red-billed tropicbirds, magnificent frigatebirds and Sargasso shearwaters, among others.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Environmental problems
[edit]Coral reefs have been damaged recently by silt and mud runoff during construction of a road along the northeast coast. There has also been damage to the reef in Charlotteville village caused by sealing the road at Flagstaff Hill and diverting more silty water down the stream from Flagstaff down to Charlotteville. Template:Citation needed
Notable Tobagonians
[edit]- The Mighty Shadow (Winston McGarland Bailey), singer
- Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Olympic sprinter
- Edwin Carrington, politician
- Winston Duke, actor
- Lalonde Gordon, Olympic sprinter
- Makan Hislop, Footballer
- Dominique Jackson, model and actress
- A. P. T. James, politician
- Buzz Johnson, publisher
- Renny Quow, Olympic sprinter
- Keith Rowley, politician
- A. N. R. Robinson, politician
- Calypso Rose (Linda Sandy-Lewis), singer
- Dwight Yorke, footballer
References
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External links
[edit]Template:Commons Template:Wiktionary Template:Wikivoyage
- Tobago House of Assembly
- Tobago at worldstatesmen.org.
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