The history of Trinidad & Tobago has been one of invasion and conquest since its discovery by Christopher Columbus, who claimed it for Spain in 1498. A Spanish colony was founded on Trinidad in 1532 but was destroyed by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595. The Spanish recovered their possession and held on to it until 1797, when it was captured by a British naval expedition. Trinidad was formally ceded to the British crown under the treaty of Amiens in 1802. Tobago was raided and settled by the Dutch in the 1630s and they introduced sugar cane to the island. The French – with the Spanish as their
allies on this occasion – took over in 1781, expanding sugar production using slave labor. The British took possession of Tobago in 1814, after the Napoleonic wars. In 1888, Tobago was amalgamated with Trinidad and administered as a single colony thereafter.
Reforms began after World War II, with the introduction of adult suffrage in 1945. The British sponsored the West Indies Federation as a potential post-colonial model, in the belief that most of the Caribbean islands would be unable to survive politically or economically on their own. The Caribbean peoples thought otherwise and the Federation collapsed in the early-1960s. By this time, Trinidad & Tobago had already been granted internal self-government and achieved full independence in 1962. The islands’ leading political figure for the next two decades was Eric Williams, who served as prime minister from independence until his death in 1981. His party, the People’s National Movement (PNM), has dominated the country’s politics since independence, winning every general election from independence until the mid-1980s.
The PNM’s main support comes from the Afro-Caribbean population. However, during the mid-1980s, the nation’s other ethnic groups, especially those of South Asian origin – descendants of those transported as indentured labor to work the sugar plantations in the 19th century – became more involved in politics and began to pose a threat to the hegemony of the PNM. And so, at the 1986 general election, the three-year-old National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), a coalition of four opposition parties under the leadership of Arthur Robinson, formed a government for the first time. The Robinson government took Trinidad into the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) in 1988, although the benefits were more than offset by the unfortunate, simultaneous collapse of oil prices, which cut government revenues and plunged the country into recession.
Over the next two years, popular discontent with the government was greater than normal but by no means a serious threat. An attempted coup in July 1990, staged by a 100-strong group of Islamic extremists, thus came as a considerable surprise. Militant Islam had been non-existent in Trinidad and has made no appearance since. The coup was easily suppressed after 5 days. Voters now tend to divide along ethnic lines and there is very little of the political violence of the type seen in Jamaica or Guyana. However, the NAR was fatally damaged by the incident and, in December 1991, it was heavily defeated at the polls by the PNM, under Patrick Manning. The NAR has since been wiped out – even in its Tobago stronghold – as an electoral force.
The predominantly Asian United National Congress (UNC), under the leadership of Basdeo Panday, now became the principal opposition to the PNM and narrowly won the December 1995 election. The Indian and Afro-Caribbean populations both account for around 40 per cent of the electorate and both main parties therefore competed fiercely for the 20 per cent mixed-race vote. The election of December 2000 followed a similar pattern, with the UNC once again coming out on top with a small majority. Panday continued as prime minister but his government was brought down by a serious corruption scandal (the UNC has been persistently dogged by such allegations) after less than a year. At the December 2001 poll, the UNC and Patrick Manning’s PNM were tied on 18 seats each. After 12 months of almost paralyzed government, the country went to the polls once again, in October 2002. This time, the PNM, with Patrick Manning still at the helm, was returned with a small working majority.
GovernmentThe president is the constitutional head of state. Executive power is vested in a prime minister and a cabinet drawn from the largest parties in the bicameral parliament. This comprises the Senate, with 31 appointed members, and the House of Representatives, with 36 members elected by universal adult suffrage. Since 1980, Tobago has had its own 15-seat House of Assembly, with 12 members elected and three selected by the ruling party. Tobago was granted full internal self-government by the national government in January 1987.
EconomyThe oil and gas industry has been the most important in Trinidad & Tobago for some time. It had been in long-term decline from the 1980s due to falling yields and low world prices. More recently, however, new discoveries, increased foreign investment and a steady increase in world prices have reversed the trend.
In the summer of 2003, Trinidad signed a landmark agreement with nearby Venezuela, one of the world’s largest producers, to collaborate in all aspects of the oil and gas industries. This should ensure the long-term future of the sector for Trinidad. Apart from oil and gas, Trinidad has the world’s largest deposits of asphalt.
The non-oil industrial sector is concentrated in relatively new industries established with oil and gas revenues, such as plastics and electronics. The agricultural sector is small, with sugar cane, coffee, cocoa and citrus fruits as the main commodities. Once a net exporter of foodstuffs, Trinidad now imports the bulk of its requirements.
The government has also sought to address historic under-investment in the tourism industry, a promising part of the economy which has undergone steady growth. The islands now cater to about 400,000 visitors annually; the industry is worth about US$275 million to the Trinidadian economy.
Trinidad & Tobago formerly had the most heavily regulated economy in the region but the state-controlled edifice was dismantled during the 1990s as part of an IMF-approved package of privatization, fiscal and trade liberalization. The external debt has been substantially reduced. The economy grew by around 12% in 2006, while unemployment fell to a record low of 5.9%.
Trinidad & Tobago is a member of the Caribbean trading bloc, CARICOM.
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