Show T trinidad isle lies quietly luied y in caribbean discovered by columbus Columbu sp land now belon belongs V s to great britain prepared by national geographic society washington D C service columbus discovered trinidad in 1498 on his third voyage to the new world in a letter to ferdinand and isabella he explains why it was named trinity da A sailor went up to the maintop main top to look out and to the westward saw three mountains near one another these peaks locally known as the three sisters officially are trinity hills sailing along the islands southern coast the explorer saw lands as lovely and as green as the orchards of valencia lenc ia in march after crossing the gulf of paria he turned westward along the coast of what is now venezuela this shore he termed the most lovely in the world convinced that the earthly paradise of the ancient philosophers lay somewhere in these newly discovered regions the admiral later petitioned his sovereigns for authority to explore further but his proposed expedition was never carried out raleigh burned city in 1595 sir walter raleigh came to trinidad on his way to el dorado which had been located beyond question in the upper regions of the orinoco being of a military mind ane and knowing the danger of a hostile city at his rear he burned the spanish capital he tarried in the gulf of paria to calk his ships with pitch from the famous pitch lake another arrival sir ralph abercromby sailed to port of spain in 1797 and demanded that don jose maria chacon the spanish governor surrender the island chacon was a humane man out of touch with his times time s sensible of the apan W P Q P X bax F R r lye kv mt A 0 N f W 01 A u V va tast east indian employees at work on a sugar plantation cutting up stalks dichich will ivill be replanted and produce new cane this like almost everything else is an immensely humorous business to the natives bloodshed which was certain to result from any conflict with aber crom bys superior force he turned trinidad over to the english there and then the island settled into its niche became steadfast and loyal ranking next to jamaica in size among the british west indies trin idad has nearly twice the area ot of the state of rhode island the colony of trinidad and tobago has a population estimated in 1935 at more than city not distinctive perched on the bow of a tender you see the capital from the humble viewpoint of the early visitors port of spain today is rather enigmatic unlike most cities of the world it has no established personality no tangible formula of atmosphere that one can grasp and hold aloft with triumph it is a tropical I 1 metropolis of about people peaple with some of the finest hotels in the west indies the coconut is a trinidad feature CARISO eAN sra tt 10 0 I 1 1 gulfon Z the island of trinidad trinid d lies lie within sight of south americas 4 er ica nation of venezuela in the southern reaches of the caribbean sea out of the palm groves mile after mile of them come millions of coconuts a year many of them are turned into copra which is the dried broken meat of the coconut in some regions of the island you see east indians working in the flooded fuzzy green areas of rice fields their legs bare their heads shielded under big hats their whole aspect suggestive of the orient but rice is rare mile after mile of sugar can cane e rolls down from the mountains pale green and high water buffaloes work in these fields at cutting times you happen upon a group of women who are chopping stalks into small sections they plant these says your guide after a while another sugar cane grows out of each section they get about five new sugar canes out of each old stalk use weapons craftily the cane workers wield their machetes with consummate skill they are predominantly east indians trinidad is crowded with east indians about a third of its population belongs to that race after slavery was abolished in the island they were brought over from india between 1845 and 1917 under a system of indenture to work on the plantations east indians throng port of spain they crowd the streets and markets with a lusty carelessness they regard work but little and seem to subsist almost miraculously without it they stride on their way with easy carriage rather a lordliness and incessant amusement and they laugh at themselves wholeheartedly an east indian was having his hair cut or rather although unwittingly having it shaved absorbed in conversation with someone standing in the doorway he was unaware that the barber was half asleep at his work it was near siesta time not until the patron had risen clapped on his hat and found it upheld only by his ears was he conscious of what had happened A flood of terrible abuse descended on the barber it continued unabated until finally screaming aloud his misfortune the bald vie tim emerged onto the street where he called on the passersby passers by to witness his misery heads popped from windows men stepped to the doors of their stores even the donkey carts paused everyone thought it was funny very funny the victim stormed away shaking his fists but after a while he came to a silent alley where he turned aside to contemplate himself his big hand explored the stubble that stuck out on top after a moment a smile spread upon his face lie he grinned he put both hands to his head and chuckled in a moment hands still on his head he started to roar |