Climate

Trinidad and Tobago, well within the tropics, both enjoy a generally pleasant maritime tropical climate influenced by the northeast trade winds. In Trinidad the annual mean temperature is 26 °C, and the average maximum temperature is 34 °C. The humidity is high, particularly during the rainy season, when it averages 85 to 87 %. The island receives an average of 211 centimeters of rainfall per year, usually concentrated in the months of June through December, when brief, intense showers frequently occur. Precipitation is highest in the Northern Range, which may receive as much as 381 centimeters. During the dry season, drought plagues the island’s central interior. Tobago’s climate is similar to Trinidad’s but slightly cooler. Its rainy season extends from June to December; the annual rainfall is 250 centimeters. The islands lie outside the hurricane belt; despite this, Hurricane Flora damaged Tobago in 1963, and Tropical Storm Alma hit Trinidad in 1974, causing damage before obtaining full strength.

Europeans

The White population is primarily descended from early settlers and immigrants. About half are of British origin, and the remainder are of French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German heritage. The recent census counted 11,000 British, 4,100 Spanish, 4,000 French, 2,700 Portuguese and 2,700 Germans, and 600 Jews. These numbers do not account for the significant numbers of people who have at least some white ancestry but identify as Black or Indian. The Spanish may be descended from settlers from Spain, or from mixed raced immigrants from Venezuela commonly referred to as Cocoa Panyols. The French arrived mostly during the Spanish period to take advantage of free agricultural lands. The Portuguese were brought to replace freed black slaves when they refused to accept low wages. Most whites have not maintained their native language. Trinidadian Whites are commonly referred to as French Creoles regardless of their actual heritage. Almost all whites live on Trinidad in the areas in and around Port of Spain. In Tobago, most whites are retirees from Germany and Scandinavia. Whites once made up a larger proportion of the country’s population, but many fled following the 1970 Black Power Revolution or during the economic crises of the late 1980s. Although modern Whites in Trinidad and Tobago have lost their political and economic dominance, some of them retain a relatively upscale lifestyle while others are part of the middle class.

Society

Ethnic structure: 40% of Hindus, race negroidalna 43%, 18.4% mixed race, white race 0.6%

Religion: Roman Catholic 29.4%, hinduiści 23,8%, Britain 10.9%, Muslims 5.8%, Prezbiterianie 3.4%

In 1932 in the vicinity of Port-of-Spain was born here in the family of Indian Brahmins Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul British writer (in 2001 – the Nobel literary prize). On Trynidadzie among hinduistów played on, inter alia, shares his novel “Masseur magician” (1957) and “Elections in Elwirze” (1958).

General

Originally were in Trinidad cane plantations and other crops grown for export. Today, there are still sugar and cocoa cultivation. In recent times, were always more agricultural products grown on their own. The forestry sector is limited to the removal of teak and some other tropical timbers. The few remaining tropical rain forest is protected.

Important for the development of the island was the production of crude oil. It is a whole industry (natural gas liquefaction, etc.) emerged. Trinidad is the most industrialized island in the Caribbean. Besides the petrochemical industry, there are many establishments in the food and light industry for the local demand and the supply to the neighboring islands. The industry is partly state, but mostly private. Many state enterprises have been privatized in recent years.

Geography

Trinidad and Tobago are southeasterly islands of the Antilles or West Indies, situated between 10° 2′ and 11° 12′ N latitude and 60° 30′ and 61° 56′ W longitude. At the closest point, Trinidad is just 11 kilometres (7 miles) off the Venezuelan coast. Covering an area of 5,128 square kilometres (1,979 sq mi), the country consists of the two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and 21 smaller islands – including Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos, Gaspar Grande (or Gasparee), Little Tobago, and St. Giles Island.

Trinidad is 4,768 square kilometres (1,841 sq mi) in area (comprising 93.0% of the country’s total area) with an average length of 80 kilometres (50 mi) and an average width of 59 kilometres (37 mi). Tobago has an area of about 300 square kilometres (115 sq mi), or 5.8% of the country’s area, is 41 kilometres (25.5 mi) long and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) at its greatest width.

Politics

Trinidad and Tobago is a liberal democracy with a two-party system and a bicameral parliamentary system based on the Westminster System. The Head of State of Trinidad and Tobago is the President, currently George Richards. The Head of Government is the Prime Minister. The President is elected by an Electoral College consisting of the full membership of both houses of Parliament. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President. The President is required to appoint the leader of the party who in his opinion has the most support of the members of the House of Representatives to this post; this has generally been the leader of the party which won the most seats in the previous election (except in the case of the 2001 General Elections).

The Parliament consists of two chambers, the Senate (31 seats) and the House of Representatives (41 seats[2]). The members of the Senate are appointed by the president. Sixteen Government Senators are appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, six Opposition Senators are appointed on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition and nine Independent Senators are appointed by the President to represent other sectors of civil society. The 41 members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people for a maximum term of five years in a “first past the post” system.

Since December 24, 2001, the governing party has been the People’s National Movement led by Patrick Manning; the Opposition party is the United National Congress led by Basdeo Panday. Another recent party called Congress of the People, or COP, led by Winston Dookeran was founded on December 10, 2006. Support for these parties appears to fall along ethnic lines with the PNM consistently obtaining a majority Afro-Trinbagonian vote, and the UNC gaining a majority of Indo-Trinbagonian support. COP had many supporters but not enough to get a single seat in the last elections as being a new party. At present the PNM holds 26 seats in the House of Representatives and the UNC Alliance (UNC-A) holds 15 seats, following elections held on the 5th November 2007.

Voter turnout in General Elections usually comes in at about 60-70%, about average for established democracies.

In addition to the Parliamentary system, there are 14 Municipal Corporations, 3 Boroughs and 2 Cities which have a limited level of autonomy. The various councils which make up “Local Government” are made up of a mixture of elected and appointed members. Elections are due to be held every 3 years, but have not beem held since 2002, 2 extensions having been sought by the government. Local Government elections are next due in July 2008

Trinidad and Tobago is a leading member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), of which only the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) is in force. It is also the seat of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which was inaugurated on 16th April 2005. The CCJ is intended to replace the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the final Appellate Court for the member states of the CARICOM. Since its inauguration, only two states, Barbados and Guyana, have acceded to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ. The CCJ also serves has an original jurisdiction in the interpretation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, to which all members of CARICOM have acceded. However, to date, only one matter has been filed under the original jurisdiction.

When to Go

Carnival, two days before Ash Wednesday in either February or March, is the best reason to go to Trinidad. However, accommodation is steeply discounted and crowds almost nonexistent in the shoulder seasons – October to December and April to June – though you should do a little dance to keep the rain lords from weeping on your beach blanket.

Port of Spain

Port of Spain is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the country’s third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 (2000 census)^[1] and a metropolitan population of 128,026 (1990 estimate)^[2] residents, It is located on the Gulf of Paria, on the northwest coast of the island of Trinidad.

The city serves primarily as a retail and administrative center. It also serves as a financial services center and is home to two of the largest banks in the Caribbean. It is one of the major shipping hubs of the Caribbean, with exports of agricultural products and asphalt. Bauxite from the Guianas and iron ore from Venezuela are trans-shipped via facilities at Chaguaramas, about five miles (8 km) west of the city. The tallest building in Port of Spain (and country as a whole) is the 21-storey Nicholas Tower; the proposed Waterfront International Project is slated to include a 26-story office tower

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (pronounced /ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ/) is an archipelagic state^[2] in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American nation of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It also shares maritime boundaries with Barbados to the northeast and Guyana to the southeast. The country covers an area of 5,128 square kilometers (1,979 sq mi) and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and 21 smaller islands. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands; Tobago is much smaller, comprising about 6% of the total area and 4% of the population. The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.

Officially Trinidadians or Tobagonians, the people from Trinidad and Tobago are often informally referred to as Trinbagonians or Trinis (for Trinidadians). Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago is a primarily industrialised country whose economy is based on petroleum and petrochemicals. Trinidad and Tobago is famous for its pre-Lenten Carnival and as the birthplace of steelpan, calypso, soca, and limbo.

The capital city, Port of Spain, is currently a leading candidate (along with Miami) to serve as the headquarters of the Permanent Secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA-ALCA). Trinidad and Tobago is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.