Trinidad and Tobago Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:14, 25 July 2021

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Trinidad and Tobago

Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources[edit | edit source]

1813-1834 Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834 at Ancestry, ($), index and images.
1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Trinidad
1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Tobago
United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

Cultural Grouops[edit | edit source]

Church book from The Norwegian Seamen's Mission in San Fernando 1959-1983 - Baptisms - images, Digitalarkivet.no
Church book from The Norwegian Seamen's Mission in San Fernando 1959-1983 - Marriages - images, Digitalarkivet.no
Church book from The Norwegian Seamen's Mission in San Fernando 1959-1983 - Deaths and burials - images, Digitalarkivet.no
British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Trinidad and Tobago , index and images, ($)
British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Trinidad and Tobago[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

"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[edit | edit source]

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]

French Colonization[edit | edit source]

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.^[1]

Emigration From Trinidad and Tobago[edit | edit source]

Records of Emigrants in Their Destination Nations[edit | edit source]

One option is to look for records about the ancestor in the country of destination, the country they immigrated into. See links to immigration records for major destination countries below.

For Further Reading[edit | edit source]

There are additional sources listed in the FamilySearch Catalog:

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References[edit | edit source]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 "Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.

[main-1] 1.0 ^1.1 "Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.

[1]

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 *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.<ref>"Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.</ref>
+*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.<ref name="main">"Trinidad and Tobago", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago, accessed 25 July 2021.</ref>
-The ethnic composition of Trinidad and Tobago reflects a history of conquest and immigration.[10] While the earliest inhabitants were of Amerindian heritage, since the 20th century the two dominant groups in the country were those of South Asian and of African heritage.
+===French Colonization===
+*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.
-Indians-South Asian
+*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).
-Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians make up the country's largest ethnic group (approximately 37.6 percent). They are primarily descendants from indentured workers from South Asia, brought to replace freed African slaves who refused to continue working on the sugar plantations from other Islands. Through cultural preservation residents of Indian descent continue to maintain traditions from their ancestral homeland.[citation needed]
+*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.'''<ref name="main"/>
-Sub-Saharan African
-Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians make up the country's second largest ethnic group, with approximately 36.3 percent of the population. Afro-Trinidadians are the descendants of enslaved West and Central Africans brought to the islands by multiple European parties through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. However, a good percentage of the Black population are descendants of people enslaved on other islands of the Caribbean, and later migrated to Trinidad and Tobago for various reasons. Especially Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Vincent and Grenada. Other Afro-Trinidadians trace their ancestry to American slaves recruited to fight for the British in the War of 1812 or from indentured labourers from West Africa..[citation needed]
-Other origins
-There are also significant minorities of Douglas (mixed Indian and African ancestry), Mulattoes (mixed African and European ancestry), Europeans, Chinese, Arabs, Venezuelans, Zambos-Maroons (mixed African and indigenous Amerindian ancestry), Cocoa panyols-Pardos (mixed African, European, and indigenous Indian ancestry), Anglo-Indians (mixed Indian and British ancestry), and Jews, residing in Trinidad and Tobago.[citation needed]
-Emigration
-Emigration from Trinidad and Tobago, as with other Caribbean nations, has historically been high; most emigrants go to the United States, Canada, and Britain. Emigration has continued, albeit at a lower rate, even as the birth-rate sharply dropped to levels typical of industrialised countries. Largely because of this phenomenon, as of 2011, Trinidad and Tobago has been experiencing a low population growth rate (0.48 per cent).[citation needed]
 ==Emigration From Trinidad and Tobago==