…I don’t even remember what it was I was watching but there some action flick on last night before I went to bed and the location was down in the Caribbean, which of course got me to thinking about where I want to go on vacation in January or February. My September vacation is locked in already since the boy is graduating from boot camp we will be spending at least half the week in Beaufort, SC. As a matter of fact I just finished reserving a mini-van for the trip this morning and booked rooms last week.
Anyway, after Christmas it’s so dreary around here and that makes it the perfect time to go for a vacation in the Caribbean, perhaps in Trinidad. The weather that time of year is great. From what I understand, the temperature ranges from 70-85 degrees in January, neither too hot or too cold.
If you know your history you will know that Columbus discovered the island in 1498 and claimed it for Spain. Since there was no gold as there was in other parts of the Caribbean it wasn’t settled immediately. He also sited Tobago (naming it Assumption) but it was pretty much ignored until the 1600s. By the time a few years before the American Revolution there were only 800 inhabitants on the island and spain started offering incentives for people that were Catholic to immigrate there, whether spanish or not. By 1797 when the British took control of the island the population had grown to over 16,000 which included 2100 white Europeans and 4500 free Africans.
Since there were so many non-white land owners in Trinidad Britain granted the island Crown Colony status, which meant that the residents were denied the right to vote and kept them out of the political process. Trinidad finally gained independence from Britain in 1962 and Trinidad and Tobago together formed a republic in 1976. One cool fact about Trinidad is that it was the first country in the world to recognize emancipation from slavery.
Like most of the Caribbean Trinidad and Tobago are blessed with warm blue seas and beautiful sunsets. It is the home of Carnival. Even though it is located just off the tip of Venezuela it is not considered part of the South American continent.