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Trinidad and Tobago Emigration and Immigration


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Finding the Town of Origin in Trinidad and Tobago

If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Trinidad and Tobago, see Trinidad and Tobago Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Trinidad and Tobago Emigration and Immigration

"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country.
Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.


Immigration into Trinidad and Tobago

  • The island of Trinidad was inhabited for centuries by native Amerindian peoples before becoming a colony in the Spanish Empire.
  • Spain surrendered the island to the British in 1797.
  • During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander (Livonia then, Latvia now) colonists more times than any other island in the Caribbean.
  • Trinidad and Tobago were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens as separate states and unified in 1889. Trinidad and Tobago obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976.[1]
  • The Portuguese came to Tobago and Trinidad as early as the 17th century, including groups of Jews, Catholics and Protestants. For over 140 years, from 1834 up to 1975, the ancestors of the modern Portuguese community in Trinidad and Tobago hailed mostly from the archipelago of Madeira, starting from 1846, with the earliest registers being from the Azores in 1834.Most Portuguese came directly from Madeira, and also via Guyana, St Vincent, Antigua and St Kitts.[2]
  • In 1777, Spain granted a "Cédula de Población", opening Trinidad for French immigration. It granted free land and tax exemption for 10 years to Roman Catholic foreign settlers who were willing to swear allegiance to the King of Spain. The Spanish also gave many incentives to lure settlers to the island, including exemption from taxes for ten years and land grants.
  • During the French Revolution, French planters with their slaves, free coloureds and mulattos from the neighbouring islands of Martinique, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Dominica migrated to Trinidad, where they established an agriculture-based economy (sugar and cocoa).
  • As a result, Trinidad's population jumped to over 15,000 by the end of 1789, and by 1797 the population of Port of Spain had increased from under 3,000 to 10,422 in just five years, with a varied population of mixed race individuals, Spaniards, Africans, French republican soldiers, retired pirates and French nobility.
  • British rule was formalized in 1802. British rule led to an influx of settlers from the United Kingdom and the British colonies of the Eastern Caribbean. English, Scots, Irish, German and Italian families arrived, as well as some free blacks known as "Merikins" who had fought for Britain in the War of 1812 and were granted land in southern Trinidad.
  • Under British rule, new states were created and the importation of slaves increased.
  • In 1838, Trinidad had only 17,439 slaves, with 80% of slave owners having enslaved fewer than 10 people each.
  • After the African slaves were emancipated many refused to continue working on the plantations. As a result, a severe agricultural labor shortage emerged. The British filled this gap by instituting a system of indentureship. Various nationalities were contracted under this system, including Indians, Chinese, and Portuguese.
  • Of these, the East Indians were imported in the largest numbers. Indentureship of the Indians lasted from 1845 to 1917, during which time more than 147,000 Indians came to Trinidad to work on sugarcane plantations. About 90% of the Indian immigrants chose, at the end of their contracted periods of indenture, to make Trinidad their permanent home.[1]

Emigration From Trinidad and Tobago

  • Emigration from Trinidad and Tobago, as with other Caribbean nations, has historically been high; most emigrants go to the United States, Canada, and Britain. [3]
  • Knomad statistics: Emigrants: 374,500. Top destination countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, Venezuela, the Virgin Islands (U.S.), Australia.[4]

Records of Trinidad and Tobago Emigrants in Their Destination Nations

Dark thin font green pin Version 4.png One option is to look for records about the ancestor in the country of destination, the country they immigrated into. See links to Wiki articles about immigration records for major destination countries below. Additional Wiki articles for other destinations can be found at Category:Emigration and Immigration Records.


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "Demographics of Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Demographics of Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "Trinidad and Tobago", in KNOMAD, the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development, https://www.knomad.org/data/migration/emigration?page=24, accessed 25 July 2021.
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