User:Guettarda/Immigration

Although there is a small indigenous Carib population, most of the people who inhabit Trinidad and Tobago descend from people who immigrated to the country since the Spanish settlement in the Caribbean in the sixteenth century.

Amerindians in Trinidad and Tobago
Human settlement in Trinidad dates back at least 7000 years. The earliest settlers, termed Archaic or Ortoiroid, are believed to have settled Trinidad from northeastern South America around 5000 BC. Twenty-nine Archaic sites have been identified, mostly in south Trinidad; this includes the 7000-year-old Banwari Trace site which is the oldest human settlement in the eastern Caribbean. Archaic populations were pre-ceramic, and dominated the area until about 200 BC.

Around 250 BC the first ceramic-using people in the Caribbean, the Saladoid people, entered Trinidad. Earliest evidence of these people come from around 2100 BC along the banks of the Orinoco River in Venezuela. From Trinidad they are believed to have moved north into the remaining islands of the Caribbean. Thirty-seven Saladoid sites have been identified in Trinidad, and are located all over the island.

After 250 AD a third group, called the Barrancoid people settled in southern Trinidad after migrating up the Orinoco River toward the sea. The oldest Barrancoid settlement appears to have been at Erin, on the south coast.

Following the collapse of Barrancoid communities along the Orinoco around 650 AD, a new group, called the Arauquinoid expanded up the river to the coast. The cultural artifacts of this group were only partly adopted in Trinidad and adjacent areas of northeast Venezuela, and as a result this culture is called Guayabitoid in these areas.

Around 1300 AD a new group appears to have settled in Trinidad and introduced new cultural attributes which largely replaced the Guayabitoid culture. Termed the Mayoid cultural tradition, this represents the native tribes which were present in Trinidad at the time of European arrival. Their distinct pottery and artifacts survive until 1800, but after this time they were largely assimilated into mainstream Trinidad society. These included the Nepoya and Suppoya (who were probably Arawak-speaking) and the Yao (who were probably Carib-speaking). They have generally been called Arawaks and Caribs, though many modern scholars take issue with these designations. These were largely wiped out by the Spanish colonizers. The survivors were first organised into Missions by the Capuchin friars, and then gradually assimilated. The oldest organised indigenous group in Trinidad is the Santa Rosa Carib Community centred in the town of Arima, although several new groups have developed in recent years.

First contact with Europeans, led by Christopher Columbus, took place on July 31, 1498. Columbus is reported to have promised to name the next land he discovered for the Holy Trinity, and considered it a miracle when the first land he sighted was the three peaks of the Trinity Hills. However, it is unlikely that he saw the Trinity Hills, since their position on the south coast of Trinidad makes it difficult for them to be the first land spotted by a sea-traveller.

Amerindians on Trinidad were initially classified as friendly (and thus Arawak). The location of Trinidad between the Island Caribs (or Kalinago) of the Lesser Antilles and those of the South American mainland made the island prone to slave raiding even before Spanish settlement and a more warlike population than was found among their Taino Arawak kin in the Greater Antilles.

Trinidad is reported to have been densely populated at the beginning of the colonial period. Although in 1510 Trinidad was said to have the only "peaceful Indians" along the whole South American coast, demand for slaves to supply the pearl-fisheries in nearby Isla Margarita led to them being declared "Caribs" (and thus, fair game for slavers) in 1511. As a consequence of this Trinidad became the focus of Spanish slaving raids, especially to supply the pearl fisheries in nearby Margarita.

In 1530 Antonio Sedeño was granted a contract to settle Trinidad, with an eye toward discovering El Dorado and controlling the trade in slaves. In 1532 he attempted to settle, but was driven off following the Battle of Cumucurapo (= The Place of the Silk Cotton Tree). He withdrew to Margarita and returned the following year and built a settlement at Cumucurapo (modern Mucurapo in Port of Spain). After failing to attract more settlers to Trinidad, Sedeño was forced to withdraw in 1534.

In 1553 Juan Sedano was authorised to settle Trinidad, but the contract was never fulfilled. In 1569 Juan Troche Ponce de León built the "town of the Circumcision", probably around modern Laventille. In 1570 this settlement was abandoned. In 1592 Antonio de Berrio established the first lasting settlement, the town of San José de Oruña (the modern St. Joseph).

Missions were established as part of the Spanish colonisation. In 1687 the Catalonian Capuchin friars were given responsibility for the conversion of the indigenous population of Trinidad and the Guianas. In 1713 the missions were handed over to the secular clergy. Due to shortages of missionaries, although the Missions were established they often went without Christian instruction for long periods of time. Tensions between priests and Amerindians led to the Arena Massacre of 1699, wherein the Amerindians murdered the priests. After being hunted by the Spanish, the survivors are reported to have committed suicide by jumping off cliffs into the sea.

See also: Spanish missions in Trinidad

Spanish immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * First phase - 1500s-1700s
 * At the turn of the 20th Century

Venezuelan immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Continued exchange between Trinidad and Venezuela
 * Payols and cocoa

African immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Slavery
 * From captured vessels after 1807
 * Free African immigration (indentureship)

French immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * The French in Tobago?
 * Cedula de Populacion
 * French and Haitian revolutions

German immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Stollmeyer, Boos.

Irish immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Sylvester Devensih
 * Priests

American immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * "Merikens" after the War of 1812

West Indian immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Francophone "free coloured" during the 1780s and 90s
 * West Indians after emancipation
 * Immigration to the oilfields
 * Post 1960 immigration

Chinese immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Chinese indentureship

Indian immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Indian indentureship

Corsican immigration to Trinidad and Tobago

 * Several prominent families of Corsican origin (Cipriani, Agostini)
 * Migrated in the late 1800s