The Revolving Door Of Religion In Trinidad

                                  http://english.cntv.cn/20120329/113765.shtml


The history of religion on Trinidad and Tobago differ slightly depending on which colonial power came first to the island to claim it, but they are the same in the way that new religions came to the islands and were morphed by those who chose which religion(s) to follow. Trinidad started off with Catholic (Spanish), then there was Anglican (English), Methodist, Baptist, as well as African, and indigenous religions. Tobago started off as English Protestant, Moravian, Scotch Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic. (1) It is a maze to wander through when looking into the changing religions of these two islands because they include so many different religious groups and relationships in these groups, especially Trinidad where Hinduism and Islam are now part of the mix. All of the religions have integrated customs from one another, an example of this comes from "two African-derived religions, Yoruba "Shango". . . and Dahomean "Rada"[who] consider themselves also to be Roman Catholics and participate in Catholic rituals as part of their religious duties" (2), this is also true for the other religions on the island.

There are so many diverse cultures and ethnicities on this little island in the Caribbean, so is it any wonder that there are also going to be so many diverse religions? With so many people coming to Trinidad over the past few hundred years bringing their culture and their religion, it would stand to reason that people will embrace and use what they like from each one. It is comparable to the idea of the process of creolisation where "as the result of the twin processes of 'acculturation', the absorption of one culture by another and 'interculturation' , a more reciprocal and spontaneous process of enrichment and intermixture on both sides" (3),  that this concept could also be applied to that of religion.

                 
                         http://www.definitivecaribbean.com/island-essentials/trinidad/


When I continued to think about religion and the role that it played and still plays on the island of Trinidad, it brought to mind one of the stories in Kristen Block's book Ordinary Lives In The Early Caribbean. This story of Nicolas Burundel shows the duality of Christianity during the Inquisition of the seventeenth century in the Caribbean, where being anything but Catholic was heresy. It also shows what some people will do almost anything to be left alone by those in power, saying they belong to one religious group and pretending to be something that they are not. This particular story is comparable to another that I found while on my search to finding what religion was like and what it entailed when it came to the people of Trinidad. It was interesting to see that the people participate in more than religious system and that it is completely acceptable to do so, "one Hindu became a Presbyterian to enter a mission normal school, changed to Catholic to qualify as a teacher in a Catholic school, and then embraced Islam to become the head teacher of a Muslim school". (4) There seems to be room in the religious system of today that did not exist three hundred years ago, where it is perfectly acceptable to change as long as there is the need to. 

 http://gonetoswantravel.com/2012/08/23/morning-view-the-pretty-pink-hindu-temple-trinidad/





1)  http://www.trinidadandtobagofamilyhistory.org/religionandfamil.html

2) Daniel J. Crowley, "Plural and Differential Acculturation in Trinidad." American Anthropologist,   59:5 (1957): 821.

3) Rhoda Reddock, "Contestations Over Culture, Class, Gender And Identity In Trinidad And Tobago: 'The Little Tradition'." Caribbean Quarterly, 44:1/2 (March-June 1998): 64.

4) Daniel J. Crowley, "Plural and Differential Acculturation in Trinidad." American Anthropologist,   59:5 (1957): 822.

The First Settlement of Trinidad. . .

                                                       THE SPANISH

                          http://www.gotrinidadandtobago.com/trinidad-tobago-history/


         When it comes to the settlement of Trinidad it is a complex story to be told because the island switched hands between colonial powers numerous times over the years. The Spanish were the first to try and establish permanent settlements but were not able to accomplish this until around 1592. There were multiple attempts prior to 1592 with the idea that since the island  "possessed no stores of precious metals or large groups of sedentary Indians to attract would-be conquistadores; its most significant role in the Empire was in the early years of conquest when attempts were made to establish a military base in the island from which expeditions in search of El Dorado could be mounted"(1). This idea of El Dorado goes along with what the Spanish had in mind while settling this island.....the thoughts of gold beyond anything that they had ever seen. The first governor of Trinidad, Antonio de Berrío, was the force behind the search for El Dorado and died without ever knowing that it did not exist. For years the Spanish searched for this kingdom but gold would have to be made in other ways after the expeditions yielded no such place.

                           http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fieldcrops/tobacco/
    

Trading would seem to be the best alternative to making gold within this new settlement, but the trade would have to be involved with the English, Dutch, and the French. There seemed to be "definite evidence of an English presence [in Trinidad] . . .from 1569" (2) which only became known when the Spanish built their first settlement. So here we find tobacco coming into the picture through trade (when it could be done) and through smuggling (which would have been done more often ) with the Dutch and the English. The Spanish plantation owners also grew some sugar, cotton, and indigo but tobacco was the crop that they put most of their efforts into and was the livelihood of those on the island of Trinidad. As with everything concerning the colonies of the Caribbean, the politics of those in Europe would have an effect on those people that made this island their home. The reason behind the smuggling had to do with the reign of James I in which he chose to end hostilities with Spain by "upholding the important principle that Spain might rightfully claim a monopoly of trade only in those areas it effectively held" (3). Contraband trading went on for years from Trinidad with tobacco being the main export from the island in the hands of the Dutch and the English. It stands to reason that this trading was going on without the knowledge of the crown, but it also shows that there was a huge demand and a profit to be found in this commodity. It was enough to lure the different European powers to a small island in search of a way to make a living outside the rules and the regulations imposed on them from a far off monarch.


(1) Linda Newson, "Foreign Immigrants in Spanish America: Trinidad's Colonisation Experiment." Caribbean Studies, 19:1/2 (1979): 135. 

(2) Joyce Lorimer, "The English Contraband Tobacco Trade in Trinidad and Guiana 1590-1617," in The Westward Enterprise: English Activities in Ireland, The Atlantic, and America, ed. K.R. Andrews et al. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1979), 124.

(3) Joyce Lorimer, "The English Contraband Tobacco Trade in Trinidad and Guiana 1590-1617," in The Westward Enterprise: English Activities in Ireland, The Atlantic, and America, ed. K.R. Andrews et al. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1979),126.

The Time Before.......

                                          The Europeans Came To Our Shores

                                          http://www.clayvilla.com/caribs.asp

It is hard to truly know if the above photo is the truth when it comes to what the indigenous people of Trinidad looked like. The reason that we have these issues is due to the fact that " Spanish discoverers and early colonizers left us very few records concerning the people they first met in Trinidad and even those are not always reliable " (1). It is difficult to go back to a time where there is no written record that accurately describes the first people of these islands, we can only go by written accounts from a European perspective and what cultural remains can be found. The cultural remains can possibly give us a look into how their communities were set up, how their pottery looked, what they ate through looking at their midden heaps, and how the dead were buried along with what they might have thought important enough to bury with them. It is hard to know if these inhabitants were the Caribs or the Arawaks because there was no way to trace genetic lineages at the time when the first Europeans set foot on these islands.Trinidad today has a multi-ethic population and I would for one would love to see some genetic work on these populations in association with mitochondrial DNA and the movement of it through the world. It is thought that Trinidad has the "oldest Archaic site in the West Indies and that sometime between 5000 and 2000 BC, Archaic groups began migrating from Trinidad or mainland South America into the Lesser Antilles" (2).

When it comes to their social structure we can glean information about how their "villages" were set up and the number of people that could possibly inhabit that number of buildings. The layout could show if the houses were set up around a central area or if certain persons within the "village" had higher social rank. It is my belief that after reading some on the indigenous people prior to colonization that there is little to no proof as to any social stratification. Some of the burials that have been found contain no specific items of prestige and were only buried with a "water jar and food plates . . . to serve the deceased in his afterlife" (3). There is the idea that they moved around to follow resources and that their diet was mostly shellfish but there is also some evidence to suggest that they ate plants and animals that were not indigenous to the island, with the possibility that they would have come from South America ( this links back to the first paragraph concerning migration ).

                                       Saladoid white-on-red sherds/ 500-250 BCE

                                        http://ancientantilles.com/pariasphere.html

There is little we can know with any certainty when it comes to the first people to inhabit these islands. It is basically conjecture as to what the life of these indigenous people were like because there are no written records left by them that can tell us what their everyday life was like. Oral histories are a great place to start that can give us a look into the minds of these first people if we can find someone who knows the oral history. Archaeology is another great asset to finding out how the indigenous people lived but it is limited in scope due to what remains are left behind ( little of which are organic in nature ) and the theory that a particular archaeologist is working on. There is of course the European accounts but as previously stated they are biased due to perspective and motive.

It seems as if this will be a subject that will always be surrounded with much debate depending on who is discussing it. There will be those that will latch onto an idea and never be swayed despite new information that comes to light. There are those who will keep an open mind with regard to wanting to have new information as it comes along. So in essence it seems as though it depends ( again ) on the perspective and motive of those involved in the history of Trinidad.



(1) J.A. Bullbrook, "The Aboriginal Remains of Trinidad and the West Indies-I." Caribbean Quarterly, 1:1 (1949): 17.

(2) William F. Keegan, "West Indian Archaeology. 1. Overview and Foragers." Journal of Archaeological Research, 2:3 (1994): 266.

(3) J.A. Bullbrook, "The Aboriginal Remains of Trinidad and the West Indies-II." Caribbean Quarterly, 1:2 (1949): 12. 

Take A Walk With Me Through The Popular Story Of.......

                                           Trinidad and Tobago



Welcome to the first post in my blog on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago which are located in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela. The history of these islands is where I will start my journey through them, for it is an interesting story to be told with many twists and turns along their paths.

So let us start with Trinidad, which according to history was "discovered" by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage in the year 1498. When Columbus first saw this land according to Bartolome De Las Casas " he named this land the island of Trinidad, because he had determined to give the first land he discovered that name " (1). This naming was based on the view that was formed with three mountains that were connected to one another and this could have been viewed, in that religious time frame, to be associated with the Holy Trinity. There was very little that interested the Spanish crown on the island for there were no minerals to be found and it took about 30 years to even appoint a governor for the island. In 1530 a conquistador, Antonio Sedeno , was to be Captain-General of Trinidad for life (2). This was a short lived occupancy for the island which would not have its first permanent settlement until about one hundred years later with the establishment of San Jose de Oruma. To assume that this island was unoccupied up until this point would be a mistake but that my friends is a story for another time.

So we continue our journey over to the island of Tobago, which was also "discovered" by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage, but he never landed on the island and no attempts were made to colonize Tobago (3). It was a separate entity from Trinidad until much later into the history of European settlement of these islands. It was named for " the tobacco cultivated by the original Carib population " (4) and was a much fought over piece of land due to the harbour and the fertile soil of the island by indigenous populations of the area. These attributes would come into play heading into the 1600's with European powers fighting over the soil, the harbour, and the peoples that occupied this island.

This may have been a little boring and stuffy for you as the reader of this, yet is is important to understand the beginnings of these islands from the different perspectives that we will encounter along our journey. This particular blog entry shows us the popular story told from a European perspective but there is another side to these beautiful islands and other stories to be told. So I hope that you will continue on this journey with me as we explore through time the life that these islands have taken on within the unwritten and written records of human existence.


(1) Symcox, Geoffrey, and Blair Sullivan, ed. Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indes:  A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2005. 

(2) http://www.discover-tt.com/trinidad/history.html

(3) http://gotrinidadandtobago.com/trinidad-tobago-history/

(4) http://gotrinidadandtobago.com/trinidad-tobago-history/