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Total population | |
---|---|
452,536 (2011 census) [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Trinidad and Tobago Concentrated in the North and Southwest of Trinidad with pockets in East and Central Trinidad and the overwhelming majority in Tobago | |
Languages | |
Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English Creole, Tobagonian English Creole, Anitillean French Creole (Patois) | |
Religion | |
Majority: Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism, Anglicanism, Seventh-day Adventism, Presbyterianism, Jehovah's Witnesses) Minority: Spiritual Baptist, Islam, Trinidad Orisha (Yoruba), Rastafari, Trinidadian Vodunu, Afro-American religions, Traditional African religions, Sathya Sai Baba movement, Baháʼí | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Merikins, Afro-Caribbean, African diaspora in the Americas, African Americans, Igbos, Akans, Kongos, Mandinkas, Ibibios, Yoruba |
Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, also known as Afro-Trinbagonians or Black Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people from Trinidad and Tobago who are of Sub-Saharan African descent, mostly from West Africa. Social interpretations of race in Trinidad and Tobago are often used to dictate who is of West African descent. Mulatto-Creole, Dougla, Blasian, Zambo, Maroon, Pardo, Quadroon, Octoroon or Hexadecaroon (Quintroon) were all racial terms used to measure the amount of West African ancestry someone possessed in Trinidad and Tobago and throughout North American, Latin American and Caribbean history.[ citation needed ]
Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians accounted for 34.22 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago according to the 2011 Census. [2] An additional 22.8 percent of Trinidadians described themselves as being multiracial, of whom 7.7 percent were Dougla (mixed African and Indian ethnicity). [2]
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago (united in 1888) have a different racial history. The island of Trinidad is mainly multiracial, while the population of Tobago is primarily what is considered Afro-Tobagonian, which is synonymous with Afro-Trinidadian, with the exception that the people of Tobago are almost exclusively of direct African ancestry. In an effort to bridge the cultural and ethnic split between the two islands, many people choose to be called Trinbagonians as a gesture of unification.[ citation needed ]
African ethnicities over 500 in Trinidad (1813) | ||
---|---|---|
Igbo | 2,863 | |
Kongo | 2,450 | |
Ibibio | 2,240 | |
Malinke | 1,421 | |
Total Africans | 13,984 | |
Origins of Creoles over 400 in Trinidad (1813) | ||
Trinidad | 7,088 | |
Martinique | 962 | |
Grenada | 746 | |
Saint Vincent | 438 | |
Guadeloupe | 428 | |
Total Creoles | 11,633 |
The ultimate origin of most African ancestry in the Americas is in West and Central Africa. The most common ethnic groups of the enslaved Africans in Trinidad and Tobago were Igbo, Kongo, Ibibio, Yoruba and Malinke people. All of these groups, among others, were heavily affected by the Atlantic slave trade. The population census of 1813 shows that among African-born slaves the Igbo were the most numerous. [3]
Around half of Afro-Trinidadians were the descendants of emigrants from other islands of the Caribbean, especially Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Vincent and Grenada. Other Afro-Trinidadians trace their ancestry to American slaves recruited to fight for the British in the War of 1812 or from indentured labourers from West Africa.[ citation needed ]
In 1498, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Trinidad, where he encountered the indigenous Taíno people. A while after Columbus's landing, Trinidad became a territory of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish enslaved the native population and over time mixed with them, their offspring creating the Mestizo identity. The Mulattos came about after Spain started transporting enslaved Africans to Trinidad in 1517 via the Atlantic slave trade. [4] By the time the African, Mulattoes and Mestizos started intermixing, the Amerindians had become almost nonexistent.[ citation needed ]
In 1783, the King of Spain passed the Cedula of Population law, which promised free land to Europeans willing to relocate to Trinidad to work. With this law French settlers migrated to Trinidad from the French Antilles to work the sugar cane plantations. They, too, added to the ancestry of Trinidadians, creating the creole identity; Spanish, French and Patois were the languages spoken.[ citation needed ]
In 1802, Great Britain took over the island and slavery was eventually abolished in 1834. The abolition of slavery led to an influx of indentured servants from places such as China. While some left, many stayed and married into the Trinidadian populace. In 1911, many more Chinese came after the Chinese Revolution.[ citation needed ]
In the 1840s, European indentured servants began arriving, including the French, Spanish, Germans, Swiss, Portuguese, English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Corsican, Italians, Dutch, Norwegian and Polish. Over time, many of these settlers married into the families of the freed slaves.[ citation needed ][ clarification needed ]
On 30 May 1845, the British transported indentured servants from India to Trinidad. This day is known as Indian Arrival Day. A small portion of the group of Indians also began to racially mix into the Trinidadian populace, their descendants became known as the Dougla people. After the use of indentured servants was abolished 1917, a second group of Indians steadily migrated to Trinidad from India, mostly for business. [5] [ relevant? ]
Between 1968 and 1970, the "Black Power Revolution" gained strength in Trinidad and Tobago. The National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) was formed by a group of undergraduates at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies. Influenced by people such as Fidel Castro, Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X. The National Joint Action Committee demonstrated to bring about Black Power and a return to African heritage and African culture.[ citation needed ] [6]
On 6 April 1970, protester Basil Davis, was killed by the police. This was followed on 13 April by the resignation of A. N. R. Robinson, Member of Parliament for Tobago East. On 18 April, sugar workers went on strike and there was talk of a general strike. In response to this, Williams proclaimed a State of Emergency on 21 April and arrested 15 Black Power leaders. Responding in turn, a portion of the Trinidad Defence Force, led by Raffique Shah and Rex Lassalle, mutinied and took hostages at the army barracks at Teteron. Through the action of the Coast Guard and negotiations between the Government and the rebels, the mutiny was contained and the mutineers surrendered on 25 April. It was around this time that the term Afro-Trinidadian started to be used.[ citation needed ]
The massive influx of enslaved Africans to Trinidad and Tobago shores that happened in the 19th century was important in shaping the cultural space of Trinidad and Tobago. Afro-Trinidadian culture is immanent within and encapsulates all other cultures. Afro-Trinidadian culture is decisive in steelpan culture, Carnival culture, soca culture, and calypso culture and also helped in many ways to shape.[ citation needed ]
Most Afro-Trinidadian and Tobagonians are Christian, with the largest group being Roman Catholics, Anglicans and (in Tobago) Methodists. Smaller numbers follow Afro-Caribbean syncretic faiths such as the Spiritual Baptist Church and the Rastafari movement. Non-Christians include adherents of Islam, the Orisha-Shango (Yoruba) faith, Afro-American religions, the Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism or are followers of Sai Baba.[ citation needed ]
This article is about the demography of the population of Trinidad and Tobago including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The music of Trinidad and Tobago is best known for its calypso music, soca music, chutney music, and steelpan. Calypso's internationally noted performances in the 1950s from native artists such as Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. The art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte. Along with folk songs and African- and Indian-based classical forms, cross-cultural interactions have produced other indigenous forms of music including soca, rapso, parang, chutney, and other derivative and fusion styles. There are also local communities which practice and experiment with international classical and pop music, often fusing them with local steelpan instruments.
Indo-Caribbean people or Indian-Caribbean people are people in the Caribbean who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. They are descendants of the Jahaji indentured laborers from British India, who were brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. A minority of them are descendants from people who immigrated as entrepreneurs, businesspeople, merchants, engineers, doctors, religious leaders, students, and other professional occupations beginning in the mid-20th century and continuing to the present.
Indo–Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Trinidadian and Tobagonian Indians are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845 during the period of colonization.
Dougla people are Caribbean people who are of mixed African and Indian descent. The word Dougla is used throughout the Dutch and English-speaking Caribbean. Afro-Indo people may also be another term used to describe them.
The Panyols are a pardo or moreno (tri-racial) ethnic group in Trinidad and Tobago of Afro-Spanish-Indigenous descent, primarily of mixed South American Amerindian, Trinidad and Tobago Amerindian, Afro-Trinidadian, Afro-Venezuelans and Spanish descent. The name is a derivation of the word 'español', as well as the community's settlement in what became predominantly cocoa cultivated regions of Trinidad. Also referred to as Pagnols or Payols, the panyol communities draw cultural influence from both sides of the Gulf of Paria, and are predominantly found within the Northern Range rainforest mountains and valleys of Trinidad, with South American cultural influences most predominantly derived from regions around the Orinoco, and Caura River, Venezuela.
Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbeanpeople are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries to work primarily on various sugar plantations and in domestic households. Other names for the ethnic group include Black Caribbean, Afro- or Black West Indian, or Afro- or Black Antillean. The term West Indian Creole has also been used to refer to Afro-Caribbean people, as well as other ethnic and racial groups in the region, though there remains debate about its use to refer to Afro-Caribbean people specifically. The term Afro-Caribbean was not coined by Caribbean people themselves but was first used by European Americans in the late 1960s.
Trinidadian English Creole is an English-based creole language commonly spoken throughout the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. It is distinct from Tobagonian Creole – particularly at the basilectal level – and from other Lesser Antillean English creoles.
The culture of Trinidad and Tobago reflects the influence of Indian-South Asian, African, Indigenous, European, Chinese, North American, Latino, and Arab cultures. The histories of Trinidad and Tobago are different. There are differences in the cultural influences which have shaped each island. Trinidad and Tobago is an English-speaking country with strong links to the United Kingdom.
Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago is the second largest religion. Hindu culture arrived to Trinidad and Tobago in 1845, with the arrival of the first Indian indentured laborers, the overwhelming majority of which were Hindu. According to the 2011 census there were 240,100 declared Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidadian and Tobagonian Americans are people with Trinidadian and Tobagonian ancestry or immigrants who were born in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a result, people of Trinidadian and Tobagonian descent do not equate their nationality with ethnicity. The largest proportion of Trinidadians lives in the New York metropolitan area, with other large communities located in South Florida, Central Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, and Massachusetts. There are more than 223,639 Trinbagonian Americans living in the United States.
Chinese Trinidadians and Tobagonians are Trinidadians and Tobagonians of Han Chinese ancestry. The group includes people from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Overseas Chinese who have immigrated to Trinidad and Tobago and their descendants, including those who have emigrated to other countries. The term is usually applied both to people of mixed and unmixed Chinese ancestry, although the former usually appear as mixed race in census figures. Chinese settlement began in 1806. Between 1853 and 1866 2,645 Chinese immigrants arrived in Trinidad as indentured labour for the sugar and cacao plantations. Immigration peaked in the first half of the twentieth century, but was dramatically lowered after the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949. After peaking at 8,361 in 1960, the unmixed Chinese population in Trinidad declined to 3,800 in 2000, however slightly increased to 3,984 in 2011.
The people of Guyana, or Guyanese, come from a wide array of backgrounds and cultures including aboriginal natives, African and Indian origins, as well as a minority of Chinese and European descendant peoples. Demographics as of 2012 are Indo-Guyanese 39.8%, Afro-Guyanese 30.1%, mixed race 19.9%, Amerindian 10.5%, other 1.5%. As a result, Guyanese do not equate their nationality with race and ethnicity, but with citizenship. Although citizens make up the majority of Guyanese, there is a substantial number of Guyanese expatriates, dual citizens and descendants living worldwide, chiefly elsewhere in the Anglosphere.
Afro-Guatemalan or Black Guatemalans are people who lives in Guatemala, but has predominantly or total Black African ancestry in their historical and cultural roots. This term intertwines the conquest of America by the Spanish. The Afro-Guatemalan population is not numerous today. Although it is difficult to determine specific figures, it is reported that Afro-Guatemalans represent only between 1% and 2% of the country's population. According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. They are of mainly English-speaking West Indian (Antillean) and Garifuna origin. They are found in the Caribbean coast, in Livingston, Puerto Barrios and Santo Tomas. In the 17th century, many enslaved blacks were able to secure for themselves or at least their future children through marriage to free people. Many of these marriages were with Mayans or Europeans, which created a mix between blacks, Mayans and Europeans. This resulted in a significant mestizo population that, over the years, has continued to dilute traces of African ancestry in many cases. Today this can be referred to as Afro-mestizos due to miscegenation.
Afro-Nicaraguans are Nicaraguans of Sub-Saharan African descent. Five main distinct ethnic groups exist: The Creoles who descend from Anglo-Caribbean countries and many of whom still speak Nicaragua English Creole, the Miskito Sambus descendants of Spanish slaves and indigenous Central Americans who still speak Miskito and/or Miskito Coast Creole, the Garifunas descendants of Zambos expelled from St. Vincent who speak Garifuna, the Rama Cay zambos a subset of the Miskito who speak Rama Cay Creole, and the descendants of those enslaved by the Spanish.
For a history of Afro-Caribbean people in the UK, see British African Caribbean community.
Afro-Saint Lucians or West African-Saint Lucians, are Saint Lucians whose ancestry lies within West and Central Africa. However, many Afro-Saint Lucians also have small amounts of other ancestry such as Arawak, European and Indian.
White Trinidadians and Tobagonians are Trinidadians of European descent. However, while the term "White Trinidadian" is used to refer collectively to all Caucasians who are Trinidadian, whether by birth or naturalization, the term "local-white" is used to refer more specifically to Trinidad-born Caucasians and, in particular, those who trace their roots back to Trinidad's early settlers.
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a result, Trinidadians do not equate their nationality with race and ethnicity, but with citizenship, identification with the islands as whole, or either Trinidad or Tobago specifically. Although citizens make up the majority of Trinidadians, there is a substantial number of Trinidadian expatriates, dual citizens and descendants living worldwide, chiefly elsewhere in the Anglosphere.