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| > Tracking Carnival > In Trinidad and the Caribbean > In Britain | |
In Trinidad and
the Caribbean
The earliest traceable inhabitants of Trinidad: The earliest traceable inhabitants of Trinidad were Arawaks. They called the island ‘Kairi’, meaning ‘the island near to the mainland’, Trinidad is only separated from Venezuela on the South American mainland by a few tribes, misidentified by Europeans as Asian Indians, and the most prominent were Arawaks and Caribs (after whom the Caribbean Sea got its name). back 1492 Christopher Columbus first arrived in the Caribbean: In 1942 Christopher Columbus first arrived in what is known today as the West Indies or the Caribbean. His expedition was financed by Spain. At that time Europeans had no idea of what lay west of Europe and Africa. The journey he set out on was risky but potentially enriching to countries and individuals beyond all dreams and expectations. Columbus’s arrival on the island, which was subsequently named Hispaniola and claimed for Spain, was followed by events which changed the course of Western history, and world history too. Columbus was seeking sources of gold for Spain as he and subsequent adventures and expeditionary forces continued to do. He believed he had sailed round the world and come to West Indies and the inhabitants referred to as Indian. back 1498 Columbus first landed on the island he named Trinidad: In 1498, Columbus first landed on the island he named Trinidad (from the Spanish for ‘Trinity’) and claimed it for Spain. Trinidad continued to be ruled by the Spanish until 1797. Unlike some of the other islands, Trinidad was not intensively developed for growing crops until well into the 18th century. Although enslaved Africans were brought to Trinidad to replace the local population of Arawaks who mostly died out from European diseases and forced labour, the total population of Trinidad remained small. back Through the 16th and 17th centuries: Through the 16th and 17th centuries Trinidad was visited by gold-seekers, pirates and expeditionary forces from the European seafaring nations, including England. In the late 1500s Sir Walter Raleigh, from the court of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, landed in Trinidad, though he was more interested in moving on to find El Dorado, the legendary ruler of a land of gold, thought to exist somewhere in the north-east of South America. back The slave trade: The slave trade continued to increase through the seventeenth century. Slavery has been common in societies and civilisations throughout history amongst those who have the power and the will to exploit the labour of others without reward to them or care for them. Indeed it continues, in some parts of the world to this day. But the European trade in human beings from West to Central Africa to the Americans has been the most significant in terms of its consequences on world history- in terms of migrations of people and the development of capitalism, to mention but two out of many. The ships which carried enslaved people from Africa to the Caribbean, then carried the raw produce such as sugar, tobacco, cotton and cocoa, together with the rum produced from sugar cane, from the Caribbean to Europe; manufactured goods such as cloth, glassware, pots and pans, guns and ammunition were then shipped from Europe to West Africa and were traded for further human beings to transport to the Caribbean. It is the ‘trade triangle’ on which European empires were built. Trinidadian scholar J.D Elder identifies the following tribal origins of Africans in Trinidad today, Congo, Yoruba, Hausa, Ibo, Rada, Koromantyn, Mandingo, and Temne. Note: there are various spellings for some of these names. Present-day states in the African continent generally have names and borders defined by European colonists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. back In the late eighteenth century: In the late eighteenth century the Spanish recognized the possibility of making money out of Trinidad by vastly increasing crop cultivation. They needed first to increase the population of both whites, to run plantations, and Africans, to work them. In 1783 Spain issued a proclamation or Cedula inviting French Catholic allies-mainly plantation owners from other Caribbean islands where they felt threatened by slave revolts- to take up offers of free land in Trinidad. The population of the island increased rapidly. Soon, though the island’s administration and government remained Spanish, the white population was predominantly French, and the workforce (by far the largest number of inhabitants) was made up of enslaved Africans. There were also free people of African origin and of mixed race. French language and culture became the currency of Trinidad. The French elite, both in France and in their colonies celebrated Mardi Gras with masquerade balls, parading in costume between one great plantation house and another. They masqueraded as pirates, sultans and Pierrots (clowns) and in the Caribbean developed new masquerades, such as ‘mulatress’ (the female house servant) and neuge jadin (the garden boy). Slaves were not officially permitted to celebrate carnival as the masters did. However after Emancipation in 1834/8, the now free African-Trinidadians took the opportunity of the French Mardi Gras to come onto the streets and claim their own right to occupy these public spaces, celebrating with their own inherited cultural practices from Africa, actively retained during enslavement. They also adapted elements of French carnival where they wished. Within a short while, the French elite abandoned the streets in carnival, alarmed by the new style of revels. back Rebellion, revolution and freedom: Toussaint l’Ouverture: Rebellion and revolution by slaves against their masters was an ever-present threat to the planters and was much feared by them. The eighteenth century saw increased unrest amongst slave populations in several islands and successful rebellions. The French were especially alarmed in the Caribbean islands they were ruled. They feared that their slaves and free blacks would be inspired by the peasents’ actions against the landowning aristocracy in France and the success of the French Revolution in 1789, which was accompanied by the guillotining of French royalty and aristocrats. It was such fears that made the Spanish offer of Free land in Trinidad so appealing to French planters. Amongst many who led rebellion in French-ruled Saint Domingue (now known as Haiti) was a man named Francois Dominique Toussaint. Born in 1774 to a black slave mother and a free black father, his fight against slavery, his courage, intelligence and sense of justice made him a hero for all time. As a revolutionary he adopted the name L’Ouverture, which in French means ‘The Opening’. Throughout the 1790s he held a leadership role in training the rebel armies, planning military strategy and taking men into battle. He was an equally skilled negotiator with both rebel factions and the French military leaders and governors. He had an outstanding reputation for keeping his word and acting justly. When, in 1801, Toussaint was handed the keys of the capital of Santo Domingo (the Spanish half of the island) by the Governor himself, his first administrative act was to abolish slavery throughout the colony and free those held on slave ships in port. Although there was further fighting in the following four years, Toussaint L’Ouverture had laid the foundations of freedom. In 1804 Saint Dominque broke with France and declared independence, renaming the island ‘Haiti’ after the indigenous name meaning ‘mountainous land’. Meanwhile Toussaint had retired, having achieved successful negotiation with the French in 1802 and guarantees for the freedom of all blacks. Subsequently in the same year, he was invited to attend a meeting at French military headquarters and, unaware that he was in danger, attended the meeting and was arrested and taken to France where he died a prisoner in 1803. The life and example of Toussaint L’Ouverture as a leader and freedom fighter and widely celebrated to this day. back 1797 Britain seized and claimed Trinidad from the Spanish: Britain seized and claimed Trinidad from the Spanish in 1797. The administration became British but the plantations continued to be French owned and worked by enslaved Africans. In the late eighteenth century European states constantly contested ‘ownership’ of Caribbean islands. Some islands, like Tobago, ‘changed hands’ every few years. back 1807 Cessation of slave trading in British colonies: In 1807 The British government required by law that slave trading in British colonies should cease. However those already enslaved did not yet gain their freedom. back 1834-38 Abolition of slavery in British colonies: Emancipation of slaves was planned to take place over six years, during which freedom would be granted gradually through a period of apprenticeship. By 1838, Africans had taken their freedom and the British gave up on attempts to complete the apprenticeship period. Emancipation Day is celebrated on 1 August in the English-speaking Caribbean, including Trinidad. But within a few years of 1834, the French pre-Lenten Mardi Gras in Trinidad had taken on the character of an African Emancipation carnival. It is from this point that Caribbean and Caribbean-derived carnivals, as we know them today, have grown, with strong elements and influences from the cultural roots of freed Africans. back Following Abolition of Slavery: Introduction of indentured labour: Following Emancipation, African Trinidadians, no longer enslaved, tended to leave the plantations, to work on their own account, growing crops, or moving to town to look for work. In the 1840’s plantation owners, bereft of their labour force, sought immigrant labour from Europe. Europeans proved poor plantation workers in the climate, and in 1845, recruitment of indentured labour from the Indian subcontinent began and continued into the early twentieth century. Between 1853- 86 Chinese immigration was encouraged, but this was never on the scale of Indian indentureship. Today about 43% of Trinidadians are of African origin, about 43% are of Asian Indian origin. back 1962 Independence from Britain: In 1962 Trinidad gained independence from Britain and became The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The first Prime Minister, Eric Williams, recognized the role of the arts in fostering national pride and identity and in giving different ethnic groups opportunities to share distinctive aspects of their cultures. Significantly for carnival, the new government took over the administration of carnival from private management, increased prize money to calypsonians and brought to an end the beauty pageant which had previously been held in carnival. back 1970s Black Power in Trinidad: The 1970s was a period of Black Power in Trinidad, influenced by black political activity in the U.S.A. Although Trinidad was now independent and black governed, many Trinidadians looked for more significant changes in how the country was governed. In the 1960s in the U.S.A. the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King and the Black Power Leader, Malcolm X, were influential in many parts of the world in their fight for equal rights irrespective of race or colour. Rapso, a song form based on calypso, but influenced by African story-telling traditions and a range of black music forms, developed within this period of the Black Power Movement in Trinidad. Its leading practitioner, Brother Resistance, a follower of Rastafari, believes in the power of song and music to inform and to engage young people in debate and action about their lives. Rapso bands today included 3 Canal, Ataklan and Kindred and all play an important role in carnival as well as year-round. back |
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