Trinidad and Tobago: Political System
In 1889 the British colonial rule united Trinidad and Tobago into one administrative unit; In 1962 with the first Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams and Governor General Sir Solomon Hochhoy granted independence, with the Governor serving as the official representative of the Queen of England. In 1976, when Trinidad and Tobago became a republic within the Commonwealth, President Sir Ellis Clarke assumed the position of head of state. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about Trinidad and Tobago politics, and acronyms as well.
Today the form of government of the island state is a parliamentary democracy.
The official name of the country is:
| The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago |
According to DISEASESLEARNING.COM, the head of state is the president who is elected every five years by an electoral body made up of senators and members of parliament. The government consists of the Prime Minister and the two-chamber parliament (the Senate and the House of Representatives). The House of Representatives corresponds to the British House of Commons and consists of 36 MPs, with Trinidad sending 36 and Tobago two of them. They are elected for an electoral term of five years. Every citizen of legal age is entitled to vote. The majority of the 31 members of the Senate are proposed by the Prime Minister, six are recommended by the opposition leader and nine by the President. The independent legislative body, the House of Assembly, which has existed since 1980, determines domestic policy. The strongest parties are:
- the United National Congress (UNC) – left-wing with many Indian-born voters and links with the union movement
- the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) – an alliance of the United Labor Front (ULF), the Democratic Action Congress (DAC) and the Organization for National Reconstruction (ONR)
- the People’s National Movement – a moderate left party with a market economy orientation, whose electorate comes largely from the black population.
National anthem
Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, the national anthem of Trinidad and Tobago dates from 1962, the text and music are by Pat Castagne (1916-2000).
- Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in Trinidad and Tobago.
In English
| Forged From The Love of LibertyForged from the love of liberty,
In the fires of hope and prayer, With boundless faith in our destiny, We solemnly declare: Side by side we stand, Islands of the blue Caribbean Sea. This our native land, We pledge our lives to thee. Here every creed and race finds an equal place, And may God bless our nation. Here every creed and race find an equal place, And may God bless our nation. |
And in the English translation
| Created out of love for freedomCreated out of love for freedom
In the fires of hopes and prayers With unlimited trust in our fate We solemnly declare: We stand side by side, islands of the blue Caribbean Sea, We promise you our lives Here every faith and every race finds an equal place, And may God bless our nation, Here every faith and every race finds an equal place, And may God bless our nation. |
Famous pepole
Musician and painter
Winifred Atwell (1914 – 1983)
The pianist studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and reached first place in the charts in 1956 with her version of “Poor People of Paris”.
Peter Doig (born 1959)
Doig, who was born in Edinburgh, is now one of the most important and expensive painters of our time. He has lived in Trinidad with his five children and his wife since 2002 and has been teaching at the Düsseldorf Art School since 2005.
Haddaway (born 1965)
The singer Alexander Nesto Haddaway celebrated his musical breakthrough in 1993 with the single “What is Love”.
Politicians and rulers
Sir Ralph Abercromby (1734-1801)
The British general took possession of the settlements of Demerara and Essequibo in South America and the islands of Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Trinidad.
Don José Maria Chacón (1749 – 1833)
The last Spanish governor of Trinidad.
Sir Thomas Picton (1758 – 1815)
The British general was made the first governor of Trinidad by Sir Ralph Abercromby, where he exercised a reign of terror. Arthur Cipriani (1875-1945)
politician, first chairman and founder of the Trinidad Labor Party (TLP).
Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler (1895 – 1977)
The national hero and civil rights activist was paralyzed after an accident at work in the oil fields. He founded the British Empire Workers (BEW), which campaigned for the interests of the oil workers.
Adrian Cola Rienzi (1905-1972)
First Chairman of the Oilfield Worker’s Trade Union.
Eric Eustace Williams (1911-1981)
From 1956 to 1981, the son of a postal worker, was Prime Minister of the island state. Under his leadership, Trinidad & Tobago finally became independent. It is thanks to him that the transition from the colony to the independent state was peaceful.
Albert Gomes (1911-1978)
The Portuguese-born politician and founder of the Federated Worker’s Union won the elections of 1946 and 1950.
George Michael Chambers (1928-1997)
Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago between 1981-1986. The former deputy of Eric Eustace Williams won the highest election victory in the history of the joint PNM party after his death. Five years later, however, it was defeated by the coalition of opposition parties.
Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (born 1926)
The former founding member of the PNM and Treasury and Foreign Minister under Williams left the PNM after the Black Power riots and founded the National Alliance for Reconstrution (NAR).
Bhadase Maraj (1929-1971)
The Trinidadian was a politician, religious leader and businessman. He founded the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which later merged with the Democratic Labor Party (DLP).
Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning (born 1946)
Prime Minister from 1991 to 1995, re-elected in 2001.
Stokely Carmichael (1941 – 1998)
The civil rights activist was an important member of the “Black Power” movement.
Basdeo Panday (born 1933)
Premier between 1995 and 2001
Wendell Mottley (born 1941)
The politician and minister is a former athlete. He was Minister of Finance, Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Construction of Trinidad and Tobago and carried out, among other things, important economic reforms.
Jack Warner ( born 1943)
Austin Jack Warner was born on January 26, 1943 in Rio Claro, Trinidad and Tobago. He worked there as a businessman and politician. Until 2011, he was also Vice-President of FIFA, President of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and President of the Caribbean Football Union. In addition, he was Minister for Labor and Transport from 2010 and for National Security from 2012. He resigned from his ministerial office in April 2013.
He became publicly known at the end of May 2015 in the course of investigations by the FBI and the US judiciary – including fraud and money laundering. Shortly afterwards, he turned himself in to the police in his home country.
Writer and poet
VS Naipaul (born 1932)
The writer Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul received the Booker Prize in 1971 for his story “In a Free Land” and in 2001 the Nobel Prize in Literature for his life’s work. He wrote numerous novels, but also experience reports from different cultures and spent a lot of time in Zaire, Uganda, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, so that he is often referred to as a travel writer. He analyzed Islam and criticized Islamic extremism. His works include “An Islamic Journey”, “The Riddle of Arrival”, “In the Ancient Slave States”, “India: A Country in Turmoil” and “Beyond Faith”.
Derek Walcott (born 1930)
The Caribbean writer won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature and worked as a journalist in Trinidad for several years.
Athlete
Vic Stollmeyer (1916 – 1999)
Well-known cricket player of German descent.
Edwin Skinner (born 1940)
The former track and field athlete won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 meter relay race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics together with his teammates Kenneth Bernard, Edwin Roberts and Wendell Mottley
Kenneth Bernard (born 1941)
Former athlete and participant in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Edwin Roberts (born 1941)
The former athlete was the first Trinbagonian to win a medal (bronze) in an individual discipline at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo -Meter barrel.
Hasely Joachim Crawford (born 1950)
The former track and field athlete became the first Olympic champion in his country in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal in the 100-meter run.
Stern John (born 1976)
The football player has been with Derby County in England since 2005.
Dwight Yorke (born 1971)
Tobago-born Dwight Yorke is considered the best footballer in Trinidad of all time. He first played for Aston Villa, from 1998 for Manchester United, from 2002 for Blackburn Rovers, from 2004 for Birmingham City and from 2005 for Sydney FC. He plays for the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Ato Boldon (born 1973)
The athlete is one of the best sprinters over 100 and 200 meters. He participated in the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.
Marc Burns (born 1983)
The athlete is considered one of the best sprinters in the world and won the silver medal with his team in the 4 x 100 m relay at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. He runs the 100 m under 10 seconds.
scientist
Dr. Prada (18th/19th century)
The brilliant scientist, doctor and first mayor of Port of Spain had the so-called Prada House built.
Others
Sir Walter Raleigh (1554 – 1618)
The English navigator, explorer and writer came to Trinidad in search of Eldorado.
Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901 – 1989)
The cultural critic, journalist, theorist and writer saw himself as a Leninist. He wrote important cultural studies about the USA, was a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party and was involved in the Pan-Africa movement. He later taught at Federal City College in Washington and died in London in 1989. strong> Marcis Mosiah Garvey (1887 – 1940)
The Jamaican journalist fought for the rights of people of color. He was one of the founders of the “back-to-Africa movement”.
George Brown ()
George Brown was the most important architect in Trinidad during the colonial days.
Plants
Trees
The Poui is one of the largest tropical trees and is around 40 m high. It occurs on Tobago with pink and yellow flowers, which then form a sea of flowers distributed over the whole tree, which is a real eye-catcher. The travelers’ tree bears his name because up to 1.5 liters of water can collect at the base of its leaves. If you prick the leaf from below, you can drink the water. But you should only do this in an emergency, because life quickly gathers in such mini-pools, which can range from mosquito larvae to tadpoles. The huge royal palms grow in the less forested areas of Trinidad. They have fronds of up to 8 m in length and can be recognized by their youngest frond, because before it unfolds, it stands vertically upwards like a lance. After the white or pink tufts of flowers of the kapok tree are fertilized, they grow 15 cm long capsules that contain seeds wrapped in silk. The tree forms roots, the beginnings of which can be seen above ground. Spirits are said to be up to mischief between these buttress roots. The calabash tree grows up to 10 m high and its leaves spiral around the trunk. Since its fruits can grow up to 30 cm in size, watertight vessels are made from their skin. At night, its yellow flowers give off a cheesy odor that attracts bats, which serve as pollinators for this tree. The cannonball tree always bears flowers and fruit at the same time, although it changes its leaves up to 6 times a year. After about a year, the flowers, which smell very sweet at night, have grown up to 8 kg in weight, brown fruits,
Other plants
The national flower of Trinidad is Chaconia. It was named after the important governor of Trinidad. In German it is called wild poinsettia. It is 2-3 m high and has scarlet sepals.
The best-known plant there is likely to be the bougainvillea, as it is often kept in German gardens. It grows to a height of 2-3 m and underlays its flowers with bright pink bracts. It belongs to the family of miraculous flowers.
Bromeliads are related to the pineapple and grow epiphytically, that is, on other plants in the rainforests. They are not parasitic and therefore do not deprive the plant on which they grow of nutrients. They cover their water needs with rain, which collects in the roots of their leaves.
The yellow thick ear is about a meter high and has orange bracts arranged in an ear from which white flowers sprout.
Useful plants
Fruits such as pineapple, citrus fruits, figs, mango and passion fruit are grown. In addition, avocados, pumpkins and jackfruit. Jackfruits are oval with a rough shell. They become up to 80 cm long. They are cooked unripe as a vegetable and when ripe their flesh becomes sticky and sweet.
Sugar cane, cocoa and coffee are planted in many places.
Medicinal plants
The wonder-of-the-world is also called the Goethe plant in Germany. Small breeding plants grow on the edges of their fleshy leaves, with roots that when they fall off and fall to the ground immediately form whole plants. Your juice should help against tumors. A tea can be made from avocado leaves, which helps with fever and high blood pressure.
In some places papaya cigarettes are smoked for asthma.
Poisonous plants
The flamingo flower that grows up to 60 cm high. It has a bright red flower from which the pollen levels look out like a whitish beak. Like all arum plants, it is poisonous.
The beach apple tree often occurs in groups along the coast. Its small, green fruits are reminiscent of apples. Its milky resin contains active ingredients that are so aggressive that even drops of water falling from this tree on contact with the skin can cause severe burning and inflammation after about half an hour. These trees are often marked and warned on the beach. The sap of the sandbox tree is also poisonous. It is about 25 m high and has fine spines all over the trunk. Its fruits resemble small pumpkins and when ripe bursts to toss the seeds through the air. Therefore it is dangerous to touch them. The poison is even effective against insects.
The stalks of the cashew nuts can be eaten as a vegetable. However, if you want to enjoy the nuts yourself, you must first rid them of the oily substance, as they cause skin irritation.
Animals in Trinidad and Tobago
Mammals
Together, there are around 110 species of mammals in Trinidad and Tobago. E.g. agoutis. They look like giant squirrels. They grow up to 60 cm long and weigh almost 5 kg.
Agoutis
The golden agouti native to Trinidad is colored reddish brown, but its fur shows a golden sheen in the sunlight.
Red-tailed squirrel
The red-tailed squirrel is a close relative of the squirrel, it’s the same size and behaves very similarly. The body is dark brown to black, but the chest and tail are reddish brown.
Bats
Among the 60 species of bats in Trinidad are the infamous vampire bats. They feed on the blood of sleeping mammals. Since they cannot land on them without running the risk of waking them up, they land about 1 m away and walk the rest of the way. Then they scratch superficial blood vessels with their razor-sharp teeth. Since their saliva prevents blood from clotting and numbs the wound locally, they can lick up the escaping blood with their tubular tongue. As they rarely affect humans, a tetanus vaccination is recommended.
Howler Monkey
Howler Monkey Monkeys such as the howler monkey are restricted to the rainforests. His scream is deep and piercing. It is the only mammal to have a throat pouch that functions as a sound amplifier. Its natural enemy is the ocelot.
It lives on trees and has yellow fur with black spots.
Ocelot
The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a species of predator from the family of cats (Felidae) and the genus of the leopard cats (Leopardus).
The basic color of the fur on the upper side varies from greyish to yellowish-brown to orange, with the residents of rainforests tending to be orange or ocher, while the animals of the dry regions are mostly gray. The underside of the animals is usually whitish in color. For this purpose, it is covered with black, strip-shaped, ring-like or rosette-like spots. The inside of the spots is slightly darker than the basic color of the fur. Their head-body length varies from 55 to 100 cm – with a tail length between 30 to 45 cm. Their weight is between 11 and 16 kg.
They are nocturnal solitary animals and feed on quill rats, New World mice and tree spines, opossums, cottontail rabbits, but also coatis, howler monkeys, sloths, tamanduas and pintail deer. But birds and reptiles such as iguanas, turtles or snakes, amphibians and fish are also on their menu.
The cats are found from the south of the USA to northern Argentina.
It can also be found on the island of Trinidad.
Paka
The Paka is a rodent weighing up to 10 kg. Its back is made up of rows of white dots on light brown fur. It is hunted for its meat.
Reptiles and amphibians
Idol snake
The idol snake (Boa constrictor) reaches sizes between 3 and 4 m and feeds on smaller and larger mammals as well as on birds and reptiles.
The prey is embraced and strangled by contracting the muscles.
The snake can be found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil (Amapá, Pará, Rondonia, Bahia, Sergipe, Amazonas, Pará, Pernambuco, Federal District, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Piauí, Mato Grosso, Goiás, S Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte)
in Costa Rica, El Salvador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia (Valle del Cauca).
Also in Mexico (Yucatan, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Quéretaro, Veracruz, Puebla, Jalisco, Morelos and Hidalgo), in Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay.
The snake is also at home in Peru (Pasco), Suriname and Venezuela (Merida, Isla Margarita), as well as in Florida/USA – where it was released.
They can also be found in Trinidad, Tobago, Martinique, Aruba and Antigua.
The snake has the following subspecies:
– Boa constrictor amarali
– Boa constrictor constrictor
– Boa constrictor nebulosa
– Boa constrictor occidentalis
– Boa constrictor orophias
– Boa constrictor ortonii You can find
a detailed description of the snake at Goruma here >>>
Anaconda
The great anaconda (Eunectes) can in rare cases be over 9 m long and is therefore the largest snake in the world alongside the reticulated python. Your prey is entwined and strangled or crushed by the contraction of the muscles.
It can also be life-threatening for humans. The Great Anakondo can be found here in Trinidad and Tobago in Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Colombia, northern Bolivia, Paraguay, northeast Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
A detailed description of the local Great Anaconda can be found at Goruma here >>>
There are four types of the genus Anaconda:
– Eunectes beniensis (Beni anaconda)
– Eunectes deschauenseei (De-Schauensee-Anaconda)
– Eunectes murinus (Large anaconda)
– Eunectes notaeus (Yellow anaconda)
Aga toad
The aga toad eats practically everything that is smaller than it. It doesn’t even stop at mammals and birds. She has poison glands behind her eyes that make her skin toxic. This is an excellent defense against predators. It was introduced into many countries to kill vermin, where it reproduces uncontrollably. Especially in tropical Asia it has become a problem with its great appetite.
The crocodile caiman in the rivers of Trinidad is gray and can grow up to two meters long. The next smaller reptile on Trinidad (not Tobago) is the Goldteju. It is only 40 cm long and has a golden yellow basic color with blue-black stripes. He’s an omnivore. Skinks and geckos are also numerous. The largest iguana of its kind is the green iguana with a length of 2.20 m. It lives in trees up to 20 m high and is vegetarian. In many places it is hunted for its meat.
Garden boa
Poisonous snakes
The following three very venomous but beautiful coral snakes are found on Ttrinidad.
– Trinidad coral snake (Micrurus circinalis)
– South American coral snake (Micrurus lemniscatus)
– Common lance viper (Bothrops atrox)
Birds
The national bird of Trinidad is the red ibis. A red ibis with a long, curved beak. The Mot-Mot is a little shy bird, which is why it can be observed up close. It is about 40 cm tall, has a blue head, a red body and an arrow-shaped tail. There are around 20 species of Kolbri in Trinidad. These little birds flap their wings about 80 times a second. Therefore, they have an incredible energy consumption and have to suck nectar practically all the time. The oil bird is a special bird. It is 45 cm tall, red-brown, nocturnal and has a sonar system similar to that of bats. Since he feeds his young ones with the seeds of the oil palm, they soon weigh more than their parents. There are 16 species of penguin, including the emperor penguin, which is the largest penguin in the world. The gentoo penguin is also found in Trinidad and Tobago. A yellow tuft of feathers protrudes from his head on the left as on the right. The Tinamus are extremely rich in species. They are ratites and are about the size of a chicken. Although the basic color of all species is brown, some have a red, or yellow breast, or a white breast, after which they are named. Since the island state has wide coastal strips, a particularly large number of sea birds can be found here. The frigate bird is a large sea bird with a distinctive red throat pouch. It is so called because it attacks other seabirds such as gulls and pelicans until they drop caught fish that the frigate bird catches in flight. Guanes are chicken birds and therefore do not fly often. Nevertheless, they can often be found on trees. They have elongated tail feathers, and are often brightly colored. About 40 species occur in Trinidad. The 48 species of curls in Trinidad are incorrectly referred to as pond or pond chickens. All have a kind of shield made of feathers of the same color as their beak on the front of their head and have very long legs with long toes. Although they are webbed, they can swim well. The national bird of Tobago is the Chachalaca. It is named after the sound it makes. It is related to the pheasant, about 60 cm long and has a brown head, red wings and a dark blue tail. Insects, spiders The world’s largest beetle, the Hercules beetle, is found in Trinidad. The body of the male becomes about 15 cm long, which is joined by a nearly 3 cm long horn that grows from his head shield. The harlequin longhorn beetle is also noticeable. It is mainly black with reddish stripes on the back. Like all longhorn beetles, it has immensely long antennae that curve backwards. In addition, its front legs are so long that their wingspan is more than twice the length of its body. An ecologically important animal is the wood beetle, which the locals call “Bess Beetle”. He eats his way through dead wood, although he cannot digest it himself. However, a mushroom grows on his dung pile, which he can then eat. Terrors of different colors lurk well camouflaged in the woods for victims. Anything the same size or smaller than the animal is considered a sacrifice. Even conspecifics are not spurned. You can also admire the famous leaf cutter ants, who tirelessly cut slices of leaves and transport them into their burrows. Here the leaves are chewed and a mushroom is cultivated on them, on which the entire state feeds.
Underwater world
The leatherback turtle is the largest sea turtle on earth at around 2.50 m and weighing 500 kg. She comes to the beaches of Trinidad to lay her eggs. After hatching, the race to the water begins for the young. Out of 100 hatched turtles, on average only one makes it into the sea.
Magnificent corals are clearly visible under the water surface in the Buccoo Reef. In between there are lionfish, brightly colored, small moray eels, luminous shrimp and tons of sea urchins and stars.
Dolphins, manta rays and small sharks swim a little further out. Although manta rays are also called devil rays, they are peaceful plankto-eaters with rolled up skin flaps on their mouths that look like horns. They only serve to direct the flow of water on the head into the mouth. A dive next to a black and white giant with 3 m “wingspan” is an unforgettable experience.
There are very large fish off the coast of Tobago that are caught by sport fishermen. This includes the tarpon, this fish, which weighs more than 100 kg, can open its mouth so that it is almost as big as its head. In this way he sucks other fish into it. The two gold respectively. King mackerel species can grow up to 2 m. The golden mackerel has a round head and becomes narrower towards the back.
The yellowfin tuna often weighs 50 kg off Tobago and is known for its long yellow, scythe-like fins at the beginning of the tail stalk.
Sailfish are found in all oceans, they are unmistakable by high dorsal fins and the pointed “beak”. Its blue dorsal fin can be folded out like an awning. With its length of 1.20 m, the snook is a challenge among sport fishermen. Apparently he has a great talent for breaking fishing lines.
