The history of Trinidad and Tobago begins with the settlements of the islands by Indigenous First Peoples. Both islands were visited by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage in 1498 and claimed in the name of Spain. Trinidad was administered by Spain hands until 1797, but it was largely settled by French colonists. Tobago changed hands between the British, French, Dutch, and Courlanders, but eventually ended up in British hands following the second Treaty of Paris (1814). In 1889, the two islands were incorporated into a single political entity. Trinidad and Tobago obtained its independence from the British Empire in 1962 and became a republic in 1976.
Eric Eustace Williams was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who is regarded as the "Father of the Nation", having led the then British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1956, to independence on 31 August 1962, and republic status on 1 August 1976, leading an unbroken string of general elections victories with his political party, the People's National Movement, until his death in 1981. He was the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and also a noted Caribbean historian, especially for his book entitled Capitalism and Slavery.
The British West Indies (BWI) were the British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago. Other territories include Bermuda, and the former British Honduras. Before the decolonisation period in the later 1950s and 1960s the term was used to include all British colonies in the region as part of the British Empire. Following the independence of most of the territories from the United Kingdom, the term Commonwealth Caribbean is now used.
The Beetham Highway is a major highway in Trinidad and Tobago. It runs from Barataria into downtown Port of Spain where it meets Wrightson Road. It was constructed between 1955 and 1956.
Sir William Robinson was a British colonial governor who was the last Governor of Trinidad and the first Governor of the merged colony of Trinidad and Tobago. He was also the 11th Governor of Hong Kong.
The British Windward Islands was an administrative grouping of British colonies in the Windward Islands of the West Indies, existing from 1833 until 31 December 1959 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, Barbados, Tobago, and Dominica, previously included in the British Leeward Islands.
Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance was a British politician who was the last Governor of British Burma between 1946 and 1948, during the transition from Japanese to British colonial administration. Later he became Governor of Trinidad and Tobago.
Sir Alfred Claud Hollis was British administrator who served as British Resident to the Sultan of Zanzibar between 1923 and 1929 and Governor of Trinidad and Tobago between 1930 and 1936 and author of a historical account of Spanish Trinidad.
Sir John Fearns Nicoll was a British colonial administrator who served as the second Governor of Singapore, serving from 12 April 1952 to 2 June 1955.
Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, was a British colonial administrator.
Major Sir Hubert Winthrop Young, KCMG, DSO was an English soldier, Liberal Party politician, diplomat and colonial governor.
Sir Horace Archer Byatt was a British colonial governor. In the early part of his career he served in Nyasaland, British Somaliland, Gibraltar and Malta. Later, he served in British East Africa, becoming the first governor of the British mandate of Tanganyika. He was then the governor of Trinidad and Tobago.
Mary Matilda Betham, known by family and friends as Matilda Betham, was an English diarist, poet, woman of letters, and miniature portrait painter. She exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1804 to 1816. Her first of four books of verses was published in 1797. For six years, she researched notable historical women around the world and published A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country in 1804.
Sir Stanley Fisher was a British colonial judge who was the 24th Chief Justice of Ceylon.
Sir John Valentine Wistar Shaw was a British colonial administrator. Born in Derby on 14 February 1894, Shaw was educated at Repton, and in the First World War did military service from 1914 to 1919. He then joined the Colonial Administrative Service.
Isabella Beetham was an 18th-century British silhouette artist. She began her career by cutting the silhouette images. After studying painting with successful miniature portraitist John Smart, Beetham painted silhouettes to be framed or miniatures were made for jewelry. From 1785 to 1809, she had a business on 27 Fleet Street in London, where she produced silhouettes of men and women. She is considered one of the great 18th century silhouette artists, along with John Miers.
Sir Selwyn Macgregor Grier was a British colonial administrator, Governor-in-Chief of the Windward Islands from 1935 to 1937.
Sir Henry Grattan Bushe, was a British colonial governor and lawyer.
Charles William Warner was a Trinidadian lawyer who served as the Attorney General of Trinidad from 1845 to 1870. As attorney general he was considered the most powerful person in the colony after the governor. An angliciser who sought to make Trinidad more English, Warner played an important role in replacing the Spanish Law of the Indies in Trinidad with English law and in shaping education policy.
