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Trinidad and Tobago Food History

Historical period

Amerindian settlement — Trinidad was part of the South American mainland within human memory of sea-level change and its Indigenous peoples were Arawakan and Cariban; the SANTA ROSA FIRST PEOPLES COMMUNITY at Arima persists and is recognised. Spanish claim from 1498 with little settlement; the 1783 CEDULA OF POPULATION that invited French Catholic planters and their enslaved people, which is why a British colony speaks with French place names and had a French Creole; British capture in 1797; emancipation in 1834-38; INDIAN INDENTURE 1845-1917; Chinese from 1806 and again later; Portuguese Madeirans; Syrian and Lebanese traders; VENEZUELAN proximity and parang; oil from 1908, which made the country rich and import-dependent; independence in 1962; and the recent Venezuelan migration.

Atlas — where and when

Communities and languages

  • Santa Rosa First Peoples community documented

What is recorded

  • The Spanish Cedula of Population of 1783 invited French Catholic planters and the people they enslaved to settle Trinidad, which is why a subsequently British colony carries French place names and developed a French Creole. The Santa Rosa First Peoples Community at Arima persists as a recognised Indigenous community. documented
  • The Spanish Cedula of Population invites French Catholic planters and the people they enslave into Trinidad, giving a later British colony its French place names and its French Creole. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to French documented

    The 1783 Cedula of Population brought French Catholic planters and a French Creole to a colony that then became British.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.