Trinidad and Tobago , [ a ] officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago , is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago , along with numerous smaller islands , it is located 11 kilometres 6 nautical miles northeast off the coast of Venezuela , kilometres 70 nautical miles south of Grenada , and west of Barbados.
Indigenous peoples inhabited Trinidad for centuries prior to Spanish colonization , following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in Unlike most Caribbean nations and territories, which rely heavily on tourism, the economy is primarily industrial, based on large reserves of oil and gas. Trinidad and Tobago is well known for its African and Indian cultures, reflected in its large and famous Carnival , Diwali , and Hosay celebrations, as well as being the birthplace of the steelpan , the limbo , and musical styles such as calypso , soca , rapso , parang , chutney , and chutney soca.
Historian E. However, other authors dispute this etymology with some claiming that cairi does not mean hummingbird tukusi or tucuchi being suggested as the correct word and some claiming that kairi , or iere , simply means island. Indo-Trinidadians called the island Chinidat or Chinidad which translated to the "land of sugar". The usage of the term goes back to the 19th century when recruiters in India would call the island Chinidat as a way of luring workers into indentureship on the sugar plantations.
The islands that make up modern-day Trinidad and Tobago lie at the southern end of the Lesser Antilles group. Both Trinidad and Tobago were originally settled by Indigenous people who came through South America. Several waves of migration occurred over the following centuries, which can be identified by differences in their archaeological remains. Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Trinidad, on his third voyage to the Americas in Meanwhile, there were numerous attempts by European powers to settle Tobago during the —40s, with the Dutch, English and Couronians people from the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia , now part of Latvia all attempting to colonise the island with little success.
The 17th century on Trinidad passed largely without major incident, but sustained attempts by the Spaniards to control and rule over the Indigenous population was often fiercely resisted.
