Charlotteville is a village lying on the northeastern tip of Tobago on Man-o-War Bay .
85-591: The first European settlement on Man-o-War Bay was part of the colony of Nieuw Walcheren established by Jan de Moor, the burgomaster of Vlissingen in the Netherlands. The first settlement, established in 1633, was abandoned, but the settlement was reestablished by fresh settlers from the Netherlands in 1639. New Walcheren was destroyed by the Spanish from Trinidad in 1636, and most of the colonists were executed. After various failed attempts at European colonisation, Tobago
170-537: A saxophone player is in the band. There are a few small restaurants. There are no large hotels; there are only a few small guesthouses and apartments to rent. There is a beach in the village and Pirate's Bay is twenty minutes' walk along a track. Hidden at the other side of the village is Pirates Bay, also known as "Little Italy" for its popularity in playing football. 11°19′N 60°33′W / 11.317°N 60.550°W / 11.317; -60.550 Nieuw Walcheren The history of Tobago covers
255-672: A cave on the island of Dominica . The name Tabaco was first recorded in a Spanish royal order, issued in 1511. This name references the shape of the island, which resembles the fat cigars smoked by the Taíno inhabitants of the Greater Antilles. Tobago's position between the Lesser Antilles and the South American mainland made it an important point of connection between the Kalinago of
340-466: A clear central area. Many are known from Japan and the southeastern United States, and at least one from South America. The word is of Scandinavian via Middle English derivation (from early Scandinavian; Danish: mødding , Swedish regional: mödding ). The word "midden" is still in everyday use in Scotland and has come by extension to refer to anything that is a mess, a muddle, or chaos. The word
425-580: A colony in Tobago in 1637, but they were attacked by Caribs shortly after their arrival and the colony was abandoned. This was followed by a series of attempts to settle the island by colonists under the patronage of the Earl of Warwick . In 1639 a group of "a few hundred" settlers established a colony, but they abandoned it in 1640 after attacks by Kalinago from St. Vincent. A new group of colonists arrived in 1642 and established tobacco and indigo plantations. This settlement
510-521: A form of sharecropping which had been introduced to the Windward Islands by the French. In this system, planters provided the land, planting stocks, transport and machinery to manufacture sugar while the workers (metayers) provided the labour to cultivate and harvest the canes. In Tobago, metayers were frequently required to provide the labour to operate the sugar mill. The sugar produced was shared between
595-487: A further £740,000 owed to merchant houses. The outbreak of war between the American colonies exacerbated the problem by driving up shipping and insurance costs for the planters. The entry of France into the war in 1778 worsened the situation. While the white and African populations grew quickly, the indigenous population declined. In 1777 there were "a few hundred" Amerindians, but in 1786 there were just 24. Many departed for
680-453: A house in the village. Each household would dump its garbage directly outside the house. In all cases, shell middens are extremely complex and very difficult to excavate fully and exactly. The fact that they contain a detailed record of what food was eaten or processed and many fragments of stone tools and household goods makes them invaluable objects of archaeological study. Shells have a high calcium carbonate content, which tends to make
765-656: A long period between the 6th millennium BCE and the beginning of European colonisation. European shell middens are primarily found along the Atlantic seaboard and in Denmark and primarily date to the 5th millennium BCE ( Ertebølle and Early Funnel Beaker cultures), containing the remains of the earliest Neolithisation process (pottery, cereals and domestic animals). Younger shell middens are found in Latvia (associated with Comb Ware ceramics), Sweden (associated with Pitted Ware ceramics),
850-451: A mixture of Dutch and Courlanders under the command of Willem Mollens, and they renamed the island Neu Kurland. A few months later, a Dutch colony was established on the other side of the island, under the patronage of brothers Adriaen and Cornelius Lampsins , who were wealthy merchants from Walcheren in Zeeland. The Dutch named their settlement Lampsinsstad, which was built on the site of
935-415: A pass, they could be arrested as runaways. Harbouring runaways was a crime, even for white people, and any plantation left abandoned for more than six months, and food crops growing on abandoned plantations, could be destroyed to prevent runaway slaves from gathering there. Plantations were required to plant 1 acre (0.40 ha) of food crops for every five slaves to prevent food shortages. Over time, this
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#17328522708501020-626: A period from the earliest human settlements on the island of Tobago in the Archaic period , through its current status as a part of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago . Originally settled by indigenous people, the island was subject to Spanish slave raids in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century and colonisation attempts by the Dutch, British, French, and Courlanders beginning in 1628, though most colonies failed due to indigenous resistance. After 1763 Tobago
1105-465: A split between royalists and revolutionary sympathisers among the French inhabitants of the island. A new governor sent to restore royal authority in 1792 left for Grenada in 1793 and was replaced by a revolutionary governor. The outbreak of war between Britain and Revolutionary France in 1793 allowed Britain to recapture the island. British forces from Barbados under the command of Cornelius Cuyler landed at Great Courland Bay on April 14 and attacked
1190-483: A style of pottery described as "cord-marked", translated as " Jōmon ", which came to be used to refer to the early period of Japanese history when this style of pottery was produced. Shell middens were studied in Denmark in the latter half of the 19th century. The Danish word køkkenmødding (kitchen mound) is now used internationally. The English word "midden" (waste mound) derives from the same Old Norse word that produced
1275-425: A useful resource for archaeologists who wish to study the diets and habits of past societies. Middens with damp, anaerobic conditions can even preserve organic remains in deposits as the debris of daily life are tossed on the pile. Each individual toss will contribute a different mix of materials depending upon the activity associated with that particular toss. During the course of deposition sedimentary material
1360-537: Is deposited as well. Different mechanisms, from wind and water to animal digs, create a matrix which can also be analysed to provide seasonal and climatic information. In some middens individual dumps of material can be discerned and analysed. A shell midden or shell mound is an archaeological feature consisting mainly of mollusc shells. The Danish term køkkenmøddinger (plural) was first used by Japetus Steenstrup to describe shell heaps and continues to be used by some researchers. A midden, by definition, contains
1445-477: Is over 9 metres (30 ft) deep and spans over 10,000 years of continuous occupation. Shell middens created in coastal regions of Australia by Indigenous Australians exist in Australia today. Middens provide evidence of prior occupation and are generally protected from mining and other developments. One must exercise caution in deciding whether one is examining a midden or a beach mound. There are good examples on
1530-638: Is used by farmers in Britain to describe the place where farm yard manure from cows or other animals is collected. Grants are sometimes available to protect these from rain to avoid runoff and pollution . In the animal kingdom, some species establish ground burrows , also known as middens, that are used mostly for food storage. For example, the North American red squirrel ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) usually has one large active midden in each territory with perhaps an inactive or auxiliary midden. A midden may be
1615-442: The 1961 general elections to A.N.R. Robinson , a founding member of the ruling People's National Movement (PNM). Midden#Shells A midden is an old dump for domestic waste . It may consist of animal bones , human excrement , botanical material, mollusc shells , potsherds , lithics (especially debitage ), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation. These features provide
1700-580: The Black Caribs , were among the groups who settled there in this period. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended Tobago's status as a neutral territory and brought it under British control. A plantation economy was quickly established on the island. Under the direction of the Board of Trade , the island was surveyed, divided into 100–500 acres (40–202 ha) plots, and sold to planters. Between 1765 and 1771 over 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of land were sold by
1785-758: The Dreamtime , such as those of the Anbarra group of the Burarra people of Arnhem Land . The Ohlone and Coast Miwok peoples built over 425 shell mounds in the San Francisco Bay Area. These mounds were used as: The mounds were constructed over thousands of years. They were often discovered by accident during construction, mining, or farming. Some of the largest mounds in the Bay Area include: Emeryville Shellmound Located between Oakland and Berkeley, this mound
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#17328522708501870-660: The Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania where wave action currently is combining charcoal from forest fire debris with a mix of shells into masses that storms deposit above high-water mark. Shell mounds near Weipa in far north Queensland that are mostly less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) high (although ranging up to 10 metres (33 ft) high) and a few tens of metres long are claimed to be middens, but are in fact shell cheniers (beach ridges) re-worked by nest mound-building birds. Some shell middens are regarded as sacred sites, linked to
1955-687: The Ortoiroid people . No pottery remains have been found at Ortoiroid sites. The age of archaeological sites associated with the Milford complex have not has not been established with much precision. Artefacts found at the Milford site and other stone artefacts found elsewhere in southwestern Tobago have been dated to between 3500 and 1000 BCE. The similarities between these artefacts and ones from more completely studied sites at St. John and Banwari Trace in Trinidad led Dutch archaeologist Arie Boomert to conclude that
2040-490: The 1860s, it remained the dominant mode of production in Tobago until the end of the nineteenth century, when sugar production was finally abandoned. As Tobago's economy declined, so did its importance to the British government. To reduce the cost of ruling the island, the British government sought to unite Tobago with neighbouring islands, into a single administrative unit. In 1833, Tobago, Grenada and St. Vincent were put under
2125-564: The British West Indies, was designed to ensure that in the course of acting as humans, slaves did not cease to function as property. Striking or wounding a white person, wounding another slave, setting fire to sugar cane fields or buildings, or attempting to leave the island were all punishable by death, transportation , or any other punishment a magistrate might choose. Slaves were required to carry passes authorising them to be away from their owner's plantation. If they were found without
2210-477: The British built Fort King George on a hill overlooking the town. The population of British settlers and enslaved Africans grew quickly, and production of sugar, cotton and cocoa grew significantly. A colonial constitution was granted and an elected House of Assembly was created, with each parish having one elected member. The government was under the control of the Governor-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, who
2295-565: The Caribbean and the end of internal self-government. In 1889 Tobago was combined with Trinidad to form the colony of Trinidad and Tobago , which gained independence in 1962. Internal self-government was re-established in 1980 with the creation of the Tobago House of Assembly . Tobago was first settled in the Archaic period by people who probably originated in Trinidad. The oldest settlements are in
2380-668: The Crown for over £167,000. Through the efforts of Soame Jenyns , a commissioner of the Board of Trade and Member of Parliament, the upper portions of the Main Ridge were reserved as "Woods for the Protection of the Rains" and remained uncleared and uncultivated. The former Dutch town of Lampsinsstad was renamed Scarborough in 1765, and was designated the capital of Tobago in 1779. To defend Scarborough,
2465-493: The Dutch settlement had grown to 1250 white settlers and between 400 and 500 enslaved Africans. The Courlander settlement attempted to maintain good relationships with the local Kalina population, but was attacked by Kalinago from St. Vincent and Arawaks from Trinidad. From a maximum of about 500 settlers, the colony shrank to 50 people by 1658. In 1659, while Courland was at war in Europe, the Dutch colony mutinied and took control of
2550-531: The Financial Board, consisted of three elected members, two members appointed by the governor, and a commissioner also appointed by the governor. The governor was able to dissolve the board without input from the people of Tobago. On the legal front, the Supreme Court in Trinidad gained authority over Tobago and had the power to appoint magistrates. Tobago's status was downgraded to that of a ward in 1899, with
2635-469: The French forces at Fort Castries. The French forces surrendered after a two-pronged attack by the British, and Cuyler reinstated the British colonial constitution that had been in place before the surrender to the French in 1781. Tobago was returned to France in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens , but recaptured by the British when war broke out again in 1803. France formally surrendered Tobago to Britain under
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2720-503: The French government demanded that the Assembly provide an annual payment of 200,000 livres tournois , which they agreed to in 1786. A new Colonial Assembly was established with two elected members from each parish and two from Port Louis, and four unelected members—the governor and the three other senior government officials. Under this new structure, and with far less independence, the Assembly functioned primarily to approve edicts sent by
2805-451: The French government. While some British settlers left the island after 1783, most remained, and there was little French emigration to the island, so the white population remained predominantly British. Between 1782 and 1790, the white population grew from 405 to 541, while the free coloured population (which included both black and those of mixed ancestry) rose from 118 to 303. The slave population grew from 10,530 to 14,171, mostly due to
2890-529: The Governor and eight which elected by the planters. The planters initially objected to this reduction in their power, but this changed after the Belmanna riots in 1876. Faced with growing militancy by the black population, the planters voted to dissolve their representative government and convert the island to a Crown colony . The collapse of London-based financier A.M. Gillespie and Company in 1884 further weakened
2975-532: The Legislative Council. On the legislative council, Biggart campaigned for the development of infrastructure and education in Tobago, and the improvement of communications by sea between the islands. Biggart was able to improve infrastructure in Tobago and communications between the islands, and in 1925 Bishop's High School was established in Tobago by the Anglican Church , and received support in
3060-637: The Lesser Antilles and their Kalina allies and trading partners in the Guianas and Venezuela . In the 1630s Tobago was inhabited by the Kalina, while neighbouring Grenada was shared by the Kalina and Kalinago. The Spanish raided Tobago to provide slave labour to the pearl fisheries in Margarita . This was authorised under a 1511 Spanish royal order which allowed the Spanish of Hispaniola to wage war on and enslave
3145-446: The Netherlands (associated with Corded Ware ceramics) and Schleswig-Holstein ( Late Neolithic and Iron Age ). All these are examples where communities practised a mixed farming and hunting/gathering economy. On Canada 's west coast, there are shell middens that run for more than 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) along the coast and are several meters deep. The midden in Namu, British Columbia
3230-557: The Turpin family in 1853, constitute Charlotteville. The history of the village is closely linked to sugar farming, and Charlotteville's harbour was also of importance for the town's development. In more recent times fishing has been important for Charlotteville's economy. Charlotteville has one of the few remaining tamboo bamboo bands in which rhythms are produced by banging bamboo on the ground. This originated in slavery times when slaves were not allowed to play musical instruments. Today
3315-641: The actual age of the Milford complex sites in Tobago is likely to be on the older end of the date range. In the first century of the Common Era , Saladoid people settled in Tobago. Like the Ortoiroid people who preceded them, these Saladoid people are believed to have come from Trinidad. They brought with them pottery-making and agricultural traditions, and are likely to have introduced crops which included cassava , sweet potatoes , Indian yam , tannia and corn . Saladoid cultural traditions were later modified by
3400-566: The authority of the Governor of Barbados, but this had little effect on the power of the Assembly. After Emancipation, the participation of the elected members in the business of the Assembly declined. Given limited participation and high rates of absence from the meetings, the Assembly voted to abolishe itself in 1874 and replaced the bicameral legislature with a single chamber called the Elected Legislative Council. This chamber consisted of fourteen members, six of whom were nominated by
3485-462: The colonisers; in 1628 a visiting warship from Zeeland lost 54 men in an encounter with a group of Amerindians whose identity was not recorded. The town was also subject to attack by Kalinago from Grenada and St. Vincent. The colony was abandoned in 1630, but was reestablished in 1633 by a fresh group of 200 settlers. The Dutch traded with the Nepoyo in Trinidad and established fortified trading posts on
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3570-520: The colony in 1668, but were attacked by Nepoyo from Trinidad. They were able to fend off the attacks with the help of Tobagonian Kalina, but were attacked again by Kalinago from St. Vincent . At the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War , the colony was captured and looted by Barbadians. After the end of that war, a new Dutch colony was established in 1676, but was attacked by the French in March of
3655-684: The colony was a small group of settlers encountered by a Danish ship in 1693. Claimed by both Britain and France, Tobago was left in the hands of its indigenous population after the 1690s. European settlement in Tobago had been "thwarted", to a large extent, by the combined resistance of the indigenous Kalina of Tobago and the mainland, and the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle in 1748 designated Tobago neutral territory. Amerindians from Venezuela who sought to avoid being forced to settle in Capuchin mission villages, and Island Caribs from St. Vincent who sought to escape conflict with
3740-606: The creation of tropical hardwood hammocks , one example being the Otter Mound Preserve in Florida , where shell deposits from Calusa natives provided flood free high areas in otherwise large watered areas. There are instances in which shell middens may have doubled as areas of ceremonial construction or ritual significance. The Woodland period Crystal River site provides an example of this phenomenon. Some shell mounds, known as shell rings , are circular or open arcs with
3825-508: The current capital, Scarborough . When the Courlanders discovered the presence of the Dutch colony, they attacked it and forced the Dutch settlers to accept Couronian sovereignty. Lampsinsstad grew through the arrival of Jews, French Huguenots, and Dutch planters from Brazil who brought African slaves and Amerindian allies with them after they were forced out of Brazil by the Portuguese. By 1662,
3910-413: The debris of human activity, and should not be confused with wind- or tide-created beach mounds. Some shell middens are processing remains: areas where aquatic resources were processed directly after harvest and prior to use or storage in a distant location. Some shell middens are directly associated with villages, as a designated village dump site. In other middens, the material is directly associated with
3995-432: The declining value of sugar exports meant declining revenue. In eleven of the 21 years between 1869 and 1889, the government operated at a deficit. The 1884 bankruptcy of A.M. Gillespie and Company, a London-based financier which had provided credit, marketing and shipping to many of the planters, was a severe blow to the economy of Tobago. Given a lack of money to pay labourers, planters in Tobago resorted to metayage ,
4080-544: The east and south coasts of that island. They allied with Hierreyma, a Nepoyo chief, in his rebellion against the Spanish. In retaliation, the Spanish destroyed the Dutch outposts in Trinidad before gathering a force which captured the Dutch colony in Tobago in December 1636. In violation of the terms of their surrender agreement, all but two of the Dutch prisoners were shipped to Margarita, where almost all of them were executed. English settlers from Barbados attempted to establish
4165-521: The economy of Tobago. In 1885 the British government combined Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia into a single entity, the Windward Islands . This was a loose union while combined the islands under a single governor, but left local institutions intact. In 1887, the British Parliament passed the Trinidad and Tobago Act, which authorised the union of Trinidad and Tobago. The goal of
4250-523: The election of A.P.T. James to the Legislative Council. James was a strong advocate for Tobago and pushed for increased infrastructural development. He was successful in getting pipe-borne water, schools, health centres, a deep-water harbour, and, in 1952, electricity. He advocated for increased representation for Tobago in the legislature, for separate representation in the West Indies Federation , and, later, for full independence. James lost
4335-622: The enslaved population rose to 16,190 and reached 18,153 in 1807, the year the slave trade was abolished . With the death rate among enslaved Tobagonians greatly exceeding the birth rate, the slave population declined to 16,080 by 1813. Slavery was regulated by the Slave Act (formally An Act for the Good Order and Government of Slaves ) of 1775. Slaves were considered property, with no intrinsic rights, but were in fact humans with "faculties of reasoning and will". The Slave Act, like other slave laws in
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#17328522708504420-438: The existing constitution and laws in place and allowed the British inhabitants to retain their property and religion. The capital, Scarborough, was renamed Port Louis in 1787, and Fort King George was renamed Fort Castries. Elections in 1784 left the Assembly in the control of British planters. In 1785 they refused funding for the island's government, arguing that their financial position was too precarious. In response to this,
4505-412: The following year. The resulting naval battle resulted in serious losses on both sides, and the French forces withdrew, but returned the following year, captured the island, and destroyed the settlement. Fresh Courlander attempts to establish a colony in Tobago in 1680 and 1681 were abandoned in 1683. A final Courlander attempt to settle the island in 1686 was largely abandoned by 1687; the last mention of
4590-416: The form of a government grant. Biggart held the Tobago seat until his death in 1932. A white planter and businessman, Isaac A. Hope, won the by-election to succeed Biggart. In the 1938 elections Hope was replaced by George de Nobriga . The County Council Ordinance of 1946 divided Tobago into seven wards, each represented by two councillors. The introduction of universal adult suffrage in 1946 saw
4675-484: The importation of new slaves, as the death rate greatly exceeded the birth rate. According to the census of 1790, the population of Tobago consisted of 15,019 people, 14,170 of whom were enslaved. The white population skewed male—434 of the 541 whites were male—while the free non-white population skewed female—198 of the 303 free people of colour were female, reflecting in part the fact that twice as many female slaves were manumitted as male slaves. In 1785, cotton
4760-412: The inhabitants of the Windward Islands, Barbados, Tobago and Trinidad . After the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement in Trinidad in 1592, Tobago became the focus of their slave raids. Spanish slave raids from Margarita and Trinidad continued until at least the 1620s, decimating the island's population. In 1628 Jan de Moor, the burgomaster of Vlissingen in the Netherlands, acquired
4845-610: The introduction of the Barrancoid culture. People of the Barrancoid culture settled in the Orinoco Delta by about 350 CE and settled in south Trinidad starting around 500 CE, resulting in a cultural exchange that modified the pottery styles in Trinidad. Elements of this culture made it to Tobago, either by trade or a combination of trade and settlement. After 650 CE, the Saladoid culture
4930-456: The island Belaforme , "because from a distance it seemed beautiful". Spanish friar Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa recorded that the Kalina (mainland Caribs) called the island Urupaina because of its resemblance to a big snail, while the Kalinago (Island Caribs) called it Aloubaéra , believed to be a reference to the fact that it resembled alloüebéra , the giant snake which was supposed to live in
5015-480: The island. Fort Jacobus was renamed Fort Beveren after Hubert van Beveren , governor of the Dutch colony. In 1666, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War , Lampsinsstad was captured and looted by Jamaican buccaneers. The fort was occupied by English forces from Barbados and then captured by French forces from Grenada before being recaptured by the Dutch in 1667. New settlers from the Netherlands re-established
5100-581: The island. A.H. Cipriani, a Trinidad resident who owned large coconut estates in Tobago, was appointed to the position instead. Between 1920 and 1925, Tobago's interests were represented by residents of Trinidad. Black Tobagonians were willing to serve on the council, but the prospect was not acceptable to the political establishment. In 1925, the Legislative Council was expanded from 21 to 25 members, including seven elected members. Its one elected member gave Tobago its first elected representatives since 1877, when Crown colony government had been instituted. Voting
5185-418: The land-owner and the metayers. Normally, half the sugar went to the metayer, but if the land-owner provided a field of ratoons (resprouting canes that had been planted in a prior year) the metayer's share was only one-third to one-fifth of the sugar. The system was first introduced in Tobago in 1843, and by 1845 it was generally adopted. While the system was largely abandoned in the other Windward Islands by
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#17328522708505270-601: The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was completely dependent on slavery, both for plantation and domestic labour. Slaves also provided labour as artisans, on fishing boats and merchant ships, and helped man the island's defensive fortifications. Sugar production dominated the island's economy, and more than 90% of the enslaved population was employed on the sugar estates. The remainder were employed in Scarborough or Plymouth, largely as domestic servants. The 1790 census recorded 14,170 enslaved people in Tobago. By 1797,
5355-508: The middens alkaline . This slows the normal rate of decay caused by soil acidity, leaving a relatively high proportion of organic material (food remnants, organic tools, clothing, human remains) available for archaeologists to find. Edward Sylvester Morse conducted one of the first archaeological excavations of the Omori Shell Mounds in Tokyo, Japan in 1877, which led to the discovery of
5440-472: The modern Danish one. Shell middens are found in coastal or lakeshore zones all over the world. Consisting mostly of mollusc shells, they are interpreted as being the waste products of meals eaten by nomadic groups or hunting parties. Some are small examples relating to meals had by a handful of individuals, others are many metres in length and width and represent centuries of shell deposition. In Brazil , they are known as sambaquis , having been created over
5525-572: The north coast of Trinidad, where they settled in the Toco area. The last records of Amerindians in Tobago are from Sir William Young , who served as Governor of Tobago until 1815. In 1781, as part of the Anglo-French War (an outgrowth of the American Revolutionary War), France captured Tobago . The island was ceded to France in 1783 under the terms of the Treaty of Paris , which left
5610-454: The plantation owner. Urban slaves were unable to cultivate gardens, both because land was unavailable and, in the case of domestic workers, because they were not given the time to do so. After peaking in 1799, sugar production experienced a long, slow decline. Income for planters fell more sharply as sugar prices fell from a high of 87 shillings per hundredweight in 1799 to less than half that (32 to 38 shillings) in 1807. The abolition of
5695-404: The price of sugar fell from about 34 shillings per hundredweight in 1846, to 23 shillings in 1846 and 21 shillings in 1854. The 1846 Sugar Duties Act removed protections for British West Indian sugar, forcing it to compete with foreign-grown sugar, which was cheaper to produce, and beet sugar , which was subsidised. The main revenue stream for the government of the island was customs duties, so
5780-539: The relatively large mammals. Troumassoid traditions were once thought to represent the settlement of the Island Caribs in the Lesser Antilles and Tobago, but this is now associated with the Cayo ceramic tradition. No archaeological sites exclusively associated with the Cayo tradition are known from Tobago. Tobago was seen by Christopher Columbus on 14 August 1498, during his third voyage. Columbus did not land, but named
5865-489: The rights to colonise Tobago from the Dutch West India Company . He established a colony of a hundred settlers called Nieuw Walcheren at Great Courland Bay and built a fort, Nieuw Vlissingen, near the modern town of Plymouth . The goal of the colony was to grow tobacco for export, but the colonists were also permitted to trade with the indigenous inhabitants. The indigenous inhabitants of Tobago were hostile to
5950-475: The slave trade in 1807 put further pressure on the planters; because the death rate among slaves exceeded the birth rate, the slave population was not self-sustaining. This drove up the cost of slaves, which impacted the cost of sugar production. Declining sugar prices led to a downturn in the economy of the West Indian islands, including Tobago. After Emancipation in 1838, economic conditions did not improve;
6035-575: The southwest of the island near the Bon Accord Lagoon , and belong to a culture known as the Milford complex, which was named for the shell midden near Milford, Tobago . These first Tobagonians were hunters and gatherers (possibly "incipient horticulturalists") who relied on, and probably managed, a range of edible roots, palm starch, and seeds. They fished and hunted sea turtles, shell fish, crabs and land mammals (primarily collared peccaries and agoutis ). Culturally, they have been associated with
6120-443: The terms of the 1814 Treaty of Paris . The Haitian Revolution resulted in the elimination of sugar exports from the former French colony of Saint-Domingue . Planters in Tobago were able to take advantage of this shortfall and greatly increased sugar production. In 1794, 5,300 long tons (5,390 t) of sugar were exported from Tobago, and this rose to a peak of 8,890 long tons (9,030 t) in 1799. The Tobagonian economy in
6205-515: The union was to pass the cost of administering Tobago from the British crown to the more prosperous colony of Trinidad. On 17 November 1888, the Act was proclaimed, and the union took effect on 1 January 1889. The islands were united under a single administrative structure, which was based in Port of Spain , and a single governor , who had formerly been the governor of Trinidad. The last vestige of self government,
6290-556: The warden of Tobago as the chief government official on the island. The lack of Tobagonian representation on the Legislative Council led to calls for someone to be appointed to the council to represent the interests of Tobago. In 1920, Governor John Chancellor invited T. L. M. Orde, manager of the Louis D'Or Estate in Tobago, to serve on the council, but Orde declined the invitation because it would have required lengthy absences from
6375-449: Was abandoned as a consequence of Carib attacks and a shortage of supplies. A fourth English colony was established in 1646 but only lasted a few months. Duke Friedrich Kettler of Courland tried to establish a colony on Tobago in 1639, but the colony failed. Duke Friedrich's successor, Jacob Kettler , made a second attempt in 1642 when he sent a few hundred colonists from Zeeland under the leadership of Cornelius Caroon . This settlement
6460-471: Was attacked by Kalinago from St. Vincent and the survivors were evacuated to the Guiana coast by Arawaks from Trinidad. A new colony was established on Great Courland Bay in 1654 near the ruins of the old Dutch fort at Plymouth. The fort was rebuilt and renamed Fort Jacobus. The settlement around the fort was named Jacobusstadt and included the first Lutheran congregation in the Caribbean. The settlers were
6545-502: Was based in Grenada. A credit crisis in the British economy in 1772 resulted in the bankruptcy of several of the merchant finance houses upon which the West Indian planters were dependent for credit. The sugar plantations depended on credit from these lenders to operate, and the loss of easy credit created hardships for the planters in Tobago. In 1776, they still owed the crown £69,000 for the land they had purchased, £30,000 in interest, with
6630-550: Was converted to a plantation economy by British settlers and enslaved Africans. Tobago came under French control in 1781 during the Anglo-French War , returned to British control in 1793 during the War of the First Coalition , but was returned to France in 1802. The island was recaptured by the British in 1803, and remained under their control until independence in 1962. The economy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
6715-635: Was designated a neutral island in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle . The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended Tobago's status as a neutral territory and brought it under British control, and a plantation economy was established on the island. By the middle of the 19th century, the area now occupied by Charlotteville was dominated by two sugar estates, the Pirates' Bay Estate and the Charlotteville Estate which together consisted of approximately 11,000 acres (4,500 ha). These estates, which were purchased by
6800-441: Was entirely dependent on slavery, and most aspects of the lives of enslaved Tobagonians was governed by the Slave Act. The end of slavery came in 1838; coupled with a lack of money to pay labourers, Tobago planters resorted to metayage , a form of sharecropping, which remained the dominant mode of production until the end of the nineteenth century. Declining sugar prices led to Tobago's consolidation with other British colonies in
6885-504: Was estimated to be 60 feet high and 350 feet in diameter. It was demolished in 1924. Huichuin Located in Berkeley, this mound was 20 feet high and was the site of the first human settlement on the shores of San Francisco Bay. West Berkeley and Ellis Landing These mounds measured almost 200 meters in diameter and rose 9 meters above the shoreline. Shell mounds are also credited with
6970-404: Was limited to literate men who were 21 or older, and came with property and income requirements. Requirements for candidates were even higher. The elections took place on 7 February 1925. Only 5.9% of the population were eligible to vote, and in Tobago only 547 people out of 1,800 eligible voters actually participated. James Biggart , a black Tobagonian pharmacist, was elected to represent Tobago in
7055-438: Was replaced by allowing slaves to cultivate their own provision grounds. Slaves were given Sundays and, on larger plantations, Thursdays, to work on their provision grounds and were allowed to eat or sell the production from these gardens as they chose. On plantations which allowed larger provision grounds, slaves were expected to use their own money to buy meat and fish. Where provision grounds were smaller, these were provided by
7140-583: Was replaced by the Troumassoid tradition in Tobago. While Tobago and Trinidad were culturally connected during the Saladoid period, there was now a cultural split as the Arauquinoid tradition became established in Trinidad, while Tobago became culturally aligned with the Windward Islands and Barbados . Diets remained similar to the Saladoid times, but the remains of collared peccaries are rarer, which archaeologists have interpreted as evidence of over-hunting of
7225-562: Was the dominant crop in Tobago; 12,491 acres (5,050 ha) were dedicated to cotton cultivation and 1,584,000 pounds (718,000 kg) were exported. Sugar cane was cultivated on 4,241 acres (1,720 ha) and 1,102 long tons (1,120 t) of sugar and 133,600 imperial gallons (607,000 L) of rum were exported. By 1791, cotton exports had fallen to 516,000 pounds (234,050 kg) while sugar (1,991 long tons (2,023 t)) and rum exports (261,840 imperial gallons (1,190,300 L)) had almost doubled. The French Revolution in 1789 caused
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