The earliest known inhabitants of Trinidad were Amerindian peoples who are believed to have first settled on the island as much as 6,000 years before the 1498 visit of Columbus. These peoples, who were subdivided into a number of different tribes, were found not only on other islands in the Caribbean but also on the mainland of South America, which lies very close to portions of the island. By the time of Columbus's visit, the Amerindians fell into two main groups, Arawak and Carib, identified mostly by the language each spoke. Although the number of pure-blood Amerindians in Trinidad is relatively small today, many Trinidadians have some Amerindian blood, testifying to the widespread intermarriage between the island's diverse racial and ethnic groups.
The first European visitor to Trinidad was Christopher Columbus who landed on the island in late July 1498 during the course of his third voyage to the New World. He first made landfall on the southern shores of the island, not far from three hills that have come to be known as the Trinity Hills or Three Sisters. However, the hills themselves are believed to have nothing to do with Columbus's decision to name the island Trinidad, which is Spanish for "trinity" and was selected by the explorer as a tribute to the Holy Trinity---Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Although Columbus had claimed Trinidad for Spain, the first permanent European settlement on the island did not come until almost a century later, when Domingo de Vera and Antonio de Berrio founded San Jose de Oruna in 1592. The settlement served as capital of the Spanish colony of Trinidad for the next two centuries. British forces captured the island in 1797, but for the next decade or so, Britain and France fought over control of Trinidad. Britain eventually gained the upper hand, and for the next century much of island's arable land was planted in sugar cane to supply Britain's growing sweet tooth.
To supply all the labor that was needed to work the cane fields, Britain brought in large numbers of Chinese and East Indians, as well as slaves of African origin. For the most part the Chinese and East Indians were brought to Trinidad as indentured servants, who were required to work a specific number of years to cover the cost of their passage to the island. In 1888 Britain linked Trinidad with nearby Tobago as a single Crown Colony.
In 1958 Britain created a loose coalition of its Caribbean colonies, calling it the West Indies Federation. This group included Trinidad and Tobago, which had been granted self-government two years earlier. The idea behind the federation was to provide a means of transitioning the islands from colonies of Britain to independence. The latter came for Trinidad and Tobago in 1962. The two-island nation has enjoyed a high degree of economic prosperity, thanks in large part to the production and processing of oil and natural gas.
