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| Common name | Trinidad and Tobago | | Name | Republic of Trinidad and Tobago | | Motto | "Together we aspire, together we achieve" | | Anthem | Forged from the Love of Liberty | | Capital | Port of Spain | | Largest city | city | | Official languages | English | | Regional languages | Spanish, Caribbean Hindustani, Hindi, Creole, French, Chinese, Arabic | | Ethnic groups | Africans, Indians, Venezuelans, Spaniards, French Creoles, Portuguese, Chinese, Britons, Lebanese, Syrians, Caribs | | Demonym | Trinidadian, Tobagonian | | Government | Parliamentary republic | | President | George Maxwell Richards | | Prime Minister | Kamla Persad-Bissessar | | Legislature | Parliament | | Upper House | Senate | | Lower House | House of Representatives | | Establishment | Establishment | | Tobago made as a ward of the colony of Trinidad and Tobago | 1898 | | United | 1 January 1899 | | Total Area | 1981 sq mi (5130.8 km2) (171st) | | Water % | negligible | | Population Est. | 1317714 (152nd) | | Density (pop.) | 254.5/km2 (48th) (659.2/sq mi) | | GDP PPP | $26.400 billion (2010) | | GDP (PPP) per capita | $20,137 | | GDP (nominal) | $21.195 billion (2010) | | GDP (nominal) per capita | $16,167 | | HDI | (+) 0.736 (2010) (high) (59th) | | Currency | Trinidad and Tobago dollar (TTD) | | Drives on the | left | | Internet TLD | .tt | | Calling code | +1-868 |
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The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago ( ) is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.
The country covers an area 5128 km2 (5128000000 m2) and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous smaller landforms. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands, comprising about 94% of the total area and 96% of the total population of the country. The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.
The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the capitulation of the Spanish Governor, Don José Maria Chacón, on the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on 18 February 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands between Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers. Trinidad and Tobago was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. The country obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.
Trinidad and Tobago is known for its Carnival and is the birthplace of steelpan, calypso, soca, and limbo.
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