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.
Indo-Caribbeans or Indian-Caribbeans are people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji indentured laborers from India and the wider subcontinent, 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.
Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians 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.
Makandal Akhenation Daaga was a Trinidad and Tobago political activist and former revolutionary. He was the leader of the 1970 Black Power Revolution. During the unrest he was arrested and charged.
Caribbean literature is the literature of the various territories of the Caribbean region. Literature in English from the former British West Indies may be referred to as Anglo-Caribbean or, in historical contexts, as West Indian literature. Most of these territories have become independent nations since the 1960s, though some retain colonial ties to the United Kingdom. They share, apart from the English language, a number of political, cultural, and social ties which make it useful to consider their literary output in a single category. The more wide-ranging term "Caribbean literature" generally refers to the literature of all Caribbean territories regardless of language—whether written in English, Spanish, French, Hindustani, or Dutch, or one of numerous creoles.
Lakshmi Persaud was a Trinidad-born, British-based writer who resided in London, England. She was the author of five novels: Butterfly in the Wind (1990), Sastra (1993), For the Love of My Name (2000), Raise the Lanterns High (2004) and Daughters of Empire (2012).
Trinidad and Tobago literature has its roots in oral storytelling among African slaves, the European literary roots of the French creoles and in the religious and folk tales of the Indian indentured immigrants. It blossomed in the 20th century with the writings of C. L. R. James, V. S. Naipaul and Saint Lucian-born Derek Walcott as part of the growth of West Indian literature.
Caribbean Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Caribbeans and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. It is a koiné language mainly based on the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects. These Hindustani dialects were the most spoken dialects by the Indians who came as immigrants to the Caribbean from Colonial India as indentured laborers. It is closely related to Fiji Hindi and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani spoken in Mauritius and South Africa.
Chinese Caribbeans are people who are predominantly of Han Chinese ethnic origin living in the Caribbean. There are small but significant populations of Chinese and their descendants in all countries of the Greater Antilles. They are all part of the large Chinese diaspora known as Overseas Chinese.
British Indo-Caribbean people are British citizens, whose recent ancestors came from the Caribbean, and who further trace their ancestry back to India and the wider subcontinent. The UK has a large population of Indo-Caribbean people.
Ramabai Espinet is an Indo-Trinidadian poet, novelist, essayist, and critic from Trinidad and Tobago. Espinet was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. She attended York University in Toronto, Canada before earning a Ph.D. at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. She currently teaches English at Seneca College. Her writings on Euro-Creole women is influenced from works from Jean Rhys and Phyllis Shand Allfrey. Most of Espinet's works relate to her Indo-Caribbean heritage. Sister Vision Press published her first four works in Toronto, Canada.
Beatrice Greig was a Trinidadian writer, editor and women's rights activist in the period between 1900 and 1940. She was one of the most influential voices for women's civil, economic and political equality during this time frame. She was one of the first women to run in an election in Trinidad.
Ronald Jay Williams was a Trinidadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament for the West Indies Federation, Senator of Trinidad and Tobago, and Member of Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. From 1981 to 1986, he served as Minister of State Enterprises. During his tenure in government, his drive to reduce waste and seek cost efficiencies earned him the nickname "Chinese Chopper", a reference to his ethnicity and his willingness to cut expenditures.
Marguerite WykeOBE was an American-born Trinidadian teacher, poet, artist and politician. After growing up in Jersey City, New Jersey, and working as a teacher, she married and moved to Canada for a decade and then relocated to Trinidad. Writing for various journals and newspapers, and cultivating the artistic community in Trinidad, she became active in local politics. Renouncing her U.S. citizenship, Wyke became a Trinidadian citizen in 1953 and became active in the island's governance. With the establishment of the West Indies Federation, she was appointed as one of two senators from Trinidad and Tobago and one of only two women senators to serve in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation. When the Federation dissolved, Wyke returned to her artistic endeavors, publishing poetry and participating in various art media.
Marjorie Ruth Thorpe is a Trinidadian academic, lecturer, former diplomat and the first woman to have chaired the Public Service Commission (PSC) in Trinidad and Tobago. She is also a development practitioner with a particular interest in gender issues.
Stella Piari Abidh (1903–1989) was a Trinidad and Tobago public health physician. She served as the Medical Officer of Health for San Fernando and as medical supervisor of schools in south Trinidad. She is believed to be the first Indo-Trinidadian woman to become a doctor.
The Jumbie Bird is the first novel by Trinidad and Tobago-born novelist Ismith Khan. Published in 1961, the semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of the Khan family, an Indo-Trinidadian Muslim family living in Port of Spain. The novel explores the transformation of formerly indentured Indian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago into Indo-Trinidadians.
Mahmoud Pharouk Alladin (1919–1980) was a Trinidad and Tobago artist, poet, writer, teacher and public servant. Alladin played a major role in the expansion of art education and was an important influence on a wide range of Trinidad and Tobago artists. He helped develop a local artistic identity, and helped legitimise rural Indo-Trinidadian life as a subject for local artists.
Selwyn Ryan was a Trinidad and Tobago political scientist and pollster. Ryan has been described as "the author of record for the nation's modern political history" and "the most prolific and influential intellectual in post-colonial Trinidad". He was Professor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus.
