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Trinidad wasn't a slave society as such,slavery lasted less than 36 years.The first lot of slaves came from America and were virtually free men because the fought for the Brits in 1812.Trinidad's population grew because the British got more slaves from the French and Spanish colonies,and although slavery wasn't abolished officially,these men and women were virtually free.Trinidad's development only started when the Brits sailed into Trinidad in 1797 and literally kicked out the Spanish who discovered Trinidad in 1498,and up until 1797 there was a population of some Spanish,French and Amerindians totalling 417,lazy Panyolas.

In reply to granite

If I recall correctly, Trinidad was not a lucrative colony for Britain, who derived more wealth from sugar and slavery first in Barbados (17th century), then Jamaica (18th century), and then Guyana (19th century). I think Trinidad had less than 20,000 slaves at Emancipation in the 1830s.

I think that those black American slaves who joined the British in the War of 1812 amounted to less than 1,000, though. I believe it's largely because the black workforce was so small that the British colonial authorities resorted to imported indentured servants from India. Of course, the British couldn't do the work themselves, and needed low-paid, dark-skinned labour to work the fields.

In reply to granite

They (descendants)still living near Moruga in South T&T.

In reply to mikesiva
Spot on mate,I did Caribbean History at school in TT and one of the books was by politician Historian Dr.Eric Williams,the book was Capitalism and Slavery among other books.The Spanish just did nothing and TT was the poorest and least productive of the lot.

In reply to sgtdjones

That is a snippet that I vaguely recall somewhere,maybe it was an article in the Guardian about Moruga,I know there were quite a few Americans in Moruga during WW2.Lots of work was done and detection of the German Uboats was very important.Moruga have some great history man.I always wanted to see Moruga but somehow my father never took us there.

In reply to granite

Battering waves reveal a Moruga mystery

In reply to sgtdjones

Brilliant,that article I read in the Guardian,I really would like to visit Moruga,Cedros and TocoI will work on that..

Well the article is still pushing that disrespectful falacy , no European country discovered any lands in the Caribbean, Caribbean people should stop repeating it.

In reply to dayne
True,but we use the word"discovered" knowing fully that it's an invention of the whiteman,I suppose we should say,when Columbus sailed to the Caribbean he met many people living in the islands.

I heard there were no slaves in trinidad. Just nuff fetters down by the river

In reply to Dan_De_Lyan

They couldn't get them to come to work on time after their wild partying on de plantation roads..

Very informative. Thanks to everyone on this thread.

The part about the Spanish doing nothing to develop Trinidad sounds like British propaganda tho!

In reply to mikesiva

Trinidad in the 19th century produced between 20% - 30% of the world's cocoa supply and was one of the three major growers along with Venezuela and Ecuador. Because it was a British colony it became intimately connected to the success of the Quaker companies that came to dominate the British confectionery market - Cadbury's of Birmingham, Rowntree's of York, and Fry's of Bristol.
Of course that only lasted until the British colonial authorities summarily moved all cocoa production to West Africa - leaving Trinidad high and dry, and the French did the same by moving cocoa production to their African colonies.

I was amazed a few years ago that the people who grow the cocoa in the world's largest producer - Ivory Coast, did not even know what their crop was used for. Ivory Coast cocoa farmers taste chocolate for the first time.

In reply to Superfly

Yeah boy that was sad couldn't believe that was this century...and everybody want to go back to Africa and Africa don't even know itself..keep allyuh rass here and enjoy de cocoa-tea and keep creating our own new black history..as dark as the beginnings were,we are very lucky to have ended up in these parts...we are the best off black people on Earth in the region..

In reply to bravos

Really dude...Africa is a vast place...it is indeed stunning, but cool your heels on declaring the entire Continent backward over a little cocoa.

In reply to Ayenmol

There you go with your matter of fact conclusions...no I am saying I think we stood a better chance here because of that same vastness too, among other things..