Wanderlust World Wanderlust World - The first people to inhabit Trinidad and Tobago were the Amerindians. They arrived in Trinidad around 7000 BC from the South American mainland. The main groups were the Arawaks, Caribs, and Warao.
Europeans:
- Christopher Columbus arrived in Trinidad on July 31, 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas.
- Between 1530-1550 Spain established settlements for administrative and religious purposes.
- In 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh visited the islands in search of El Dorado.
- In 1628 King Charles I of England granted a patent to the Earl of Carlisle for the colonization of the Caribbean islands including Trinidad.
- European settlers mainly French and Spanish migrated to Trinidad in the mid 17th century and set up cocoa and sugar plantations.
- In 1797 the British conquered the islands and Trinidad was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.
Africans:
- The first Africans arrived in Trinidad and Tobago in the 16th century as slaves. They came mainly from West Africa, including present day Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Angola.
- Between the 17th and 19th centuries, Trinidad was a major transit point for the transatlantic slave trade.
- The population of Africans continued to increase through legal and illegal importation of slave labour.
Other groups that also migrated and contributed to the development of the country's multi-ethnic society were the Chinese, Portuguese, Syrians and Lebanese.