Tobago / History, Population, Politics

Tobago lies 11 degrees north of the equator and just 22 miles north-east of its sister island Trinidad. The island is not volcanic in origin, rather it is made of rubble that has been pushed up by the movement of the Caribbean tectonic plate on its eastward journey along the northern side of South America and against the Atlantic plate. The island lies at a slant from southwest to northeast, with the higher, forested land in the east, topping 1860ft at the island’s highest point, Pigeon Peak. The lower, western end of the island has become clad with coral limestone as the sea has risen and fallen around it over the millennia. At 26 miles long and 7 miles across at its widest point Tobago is 116 square miles in size. 

The earliest inhabitants of Tobago were Amerindians that made their way across from South America. The Arawaks and more warlike Caribs had been living in Tobago for hundreds of years, and when Christopher Columbus is thought to have spotted Tobago (he never set foot on the island) on his third voyage in 1498, the island was already inhabited by Caribs. It is thought that the name Tobago actually derives from the word tavaco/tobaco, the Carib Indian name for the yard-long, Y-shaped tube used to blast hallucinatory powder up one anothers’ noses. It was the Spanish who later took the name tobacco and used it for the plant rather than the pipe. Early variations of the name Tobago were Tabagua and Tabago. 

Tobago remained undisturbed by Europeans for many years and the Spaniards never sought to establish a settlement there. It was not until 1580 that passing British navigators thrust a flag into the soil, and then it took until 1608 before King James I actually claimed sovereignty. 

It appears that the first attempt to settle Tobago began in 1625 when Englishmen came from Barbados, but it failed. Over the next two centuries the island was the scene of an enormous number of settlements and subsequent battles over sovereignty. They were fought by the Dutch (who introduced sugar to the island in the 1630s), the French, Spaniards and the English. At one point it was even colonised by a group of Courlanders, who came from the Duchy of Kurland/Courland which is now part modern day of Latvia. They settled around the Plymouth area, hence the name of Great Courland Bay. The island was left unclaimed by a treaty in 1684 and so it became a favourite pirate hideout. It is estimated that it changed hands as many as 22 times during its turbulent history. In 1814 the island was finally ceded to the British in the Treaty of Paris. In the lull between the battles planting went on in earnest and Tobago became a wealthy island for a while. Long enough fo the phrase ‘as rich as a Tobago planter’ to be coined. 

Population

Tobago has a population of approximately 54,000, of whom 90% are of African origin. The adult literacy rate is approximately 80-85%.

Tobago’s population is completely different from its sister-island Trinidad’s. The Tobagonians are mainly of African descent, brought to the island as slaves in the 1700s rather than as indentured labourers in the 1840s and later. Of course a few Trinidadians have come to live on the island, and so you will see clusters of prayer flags on bamboo poles and one minaret.

Politics

Tobago’s economy failed when the bottom fell out of the cane sugar market in the late 1880s (caused by the introduction of sugar beet in Europe) and in 1889 Tobago was placed under Trinidad’s administrative control, largely unwanted, becoming simply a ‘ward’ of the larger island. Independence from Britain was granted to the twin island colony on August 31st 1962, and the country became the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago on August 1st 1976. Trinidad & Tobago is a member of the British Commonwealth. 

A bicameral legislature exists with the President, currently HE President George Maxwell Richards, as head of state. The executive power lies with the Prime Minister, Patrick Manning of the PNM (Peoples National Movement) and his cabinet. Parliament consists of an elected House of Representatives (33 seats), and an appointed Upper House (38 seat), the Senate. 

In 1980 The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) was formed and in 1996 new legislation gave it more autonomy over political, financial and social issues. It has no law making powers, but the THA is responsible for the administration of Tobago, and reports directly to the Minister of Tobago Affairs, who acts on its behalf in the Cabinet and the House of Representatives.