Tobago
Motto: Pulchrior Evenit   (Latin) "she becomes more beautiful"1
Anthem: Forged From The Love of Liberty
Capital		Scarborough
Official languages		English, Tobago Creole
Government		autonomous island of Trinidad and Tobago
-	President of Trinidad and Tobago	George Maxwell Richards
-	Chief Secretary	Orville London
Area
-	Total	300 km²  116 sq mi
Population
-	2000 estimate	54,000
Currency		Trinidad and Tobago dollar (TTD)
Time zone		(UTC-4)
Internet TLD		.tt
Calling code		+1-868

Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. A motto (from the Italian word motto, meaning witticism sentence is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history traditions and struggles of its people recognized either by a nation's Forged from the Love of Liberty is the National anthem of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Scarborough Tobago is the largest town on Tobago, one of the two islands of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Tobagonian Creole English is a Creole English which is the general spoken language in Tobago. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American The President of Trinidad and Tobago is the Head of state of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Commander in chief its armed forces George Maxwell Richards, TC, CMT (born 1931 is the fourth President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and historically in the British Empire. Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. M^2 redirects here For other uses see M². CM2 redirects here The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is The dollar ( Currency code TTD) is the Currency of Trinidad and Tobago. ISO 4217 is the International standard describing three-letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established A country This is a list of country calling codes defined by ITU-T recommendation E The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American It is located in the southern Caribbean Sea, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. For the region see Caribbean. The Caribbean Sea (kəˈrɪbiən or /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ is a tropical Sea in the Western Hemisphere Trinidad ( Spanish: " Trinity " is the largest and most populous of the two major islands and Grenada (grɪˈneɪdə is an Island nation that includes the southern Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. The island lies outside the hurricane belt. The hurricane belt is an area in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, which is prone to Hurricanes during the

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 3 Economy and tourism 4 Environmental problems 5 Diving 6 Ecology 7 Government 8 Hurricanes 9 References 10 External links

Geography

Tobago has a land area of 300 km² (116 mi²), and is approximately 42 kilometres (26 Miles) long and 10 kilometres (6 miles) wide. To help compare different Orders of magnitude and geographical regions we list here areas between 100 km² and 1000 km² It is located at latitude 11° 9' N, longitude 60° 40' W, slightly north of Trinidad. Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the Longitude (ˈlɒndʒɪˌtjuːd or ˈlɒŋgɪˌtjuːd symbolized by the Greek character Lambda (λ is the east-west Geographic coordinate measurement The population is 54,084 (2000). The capital is Scarborough, with a population of about 17,000. Scarborough Tobago is the largest town on Tobago, one of the two islands of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. While Trinidad is multiethnic, the population of Tobago is primarily Afro-Tobagonian, although with a growing proportion of Indo-Trinidadians and Europeans (predominantly Germans and Scandinavians). Multi-ethnic societies, in contrast to single ethnic societies integrate different Ethnic groups irrespective of differences in culture race and history under a common Indo-Trinidadian people or Indo-Trinidadians is a generalized term used to describe Trinidadian people whom appear to have and/or are the descendants of either Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well Between 1990 and 2000, the population of Tobago grew by 11. 28 percent, making it one of the fastest growing areas of the country.

Tobago is primarily hilly and of volcanic origin. ^[1] The southwest of the island is flat and consists largely of coralline limestone. Corals are Marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small Sea anemone –like Polyps typically in colonies of many Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 The hilly spine of the island, the Main Ridge. Main Ridge Victoria is a suburb in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Ridge (Tobago is the main mountainous The highest point in Tobago is the 550 metre (1804 ft) Pigeon Peak near Speyside. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International The foot is an Anatomical structure found in many Animals It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows Locomotion. Pigeon Peak is a high peak of the Needle Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains in the southwestern part of the US State of Colorado Speyside is a town in northern Tobago. It lies on the Leeward coast across from the island of Little Tobago (for which it is a departure point 26 km ^[2]

Tobago is divided into seven parishes - Saint Andrew, Saint David, Saint George, Saint John, Saint Mary, Saint Patrick and Saint Paul.

History

See also: History of Trinidad and Tobago and Courland colonisation of the Americas

At the time of European contact, Tobago was inhabited by Island Caribs. The history of Trinidad and Tobago begins with the settlements of the islands by Amerindians Both islands were encountered by Christopher Columbus The Duchy of Courland was the smallest nation to colonize the Americas with a colony on the island of Tobago from 1654 to 1659 and intermittently from Castara is a picturesque seaside village on the Leeward (north coast of the island of Tobago, the smaller of the two islands in the twin-island Republic Cariban languages Carib, Island Carib or Kalinago people after whom the Caribbean Sea was named live in the Lesser Antilles islands According to the earliest English-language source cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, it bore a name that has become the English word tobacco. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English Tobacco is an Agricultural product recognized as an addictive drug processed from the fresh Leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana.

The first European visitors appear to have been English adventurers in 1580 and in 1608; James I claimed Tobago for England. The first European settlers were Dutchmen who formed a short-lived settlement at New Walcheren or modern Plymouth. The island changed hands at least 22 times altogether between the French, Dutch, British and Courlanders (the Duchy of Courland, at that time a fief of Poland was located in what is now modern western Latvia), however Courland's inhabitants and the settlers were primarily peoples of German and Latvian origin^[3], it was also controlled at times by various pirate groups. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Courland (Kurzeme Kurland Latin: Curonia / Couronia; Kuršas Kuramaa Kurlandia Курляндия Курляндія Kuurinmaa is one of the historical The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Ducatus Curlandiæ et Semigalliæ Księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii,Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste is the name of Under the system of Feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as Piracy is Robbery committed at sea or sometimes on shore without a commission from a sovereign Nation (as distinct from Privateering It was finally ceded to the British in 1814 at the Treaty of Paris. The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814 ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition. From 1833 to 1889, it was part of the British Windward Islands colony. This article is about the Caribbean island group For the eastern Society Islands in French Polynesia, see Windward Islands (Society Islands.

Originally a sugar colony, Tobago's economy collapsed after the abolition of slavery. Sugarcane ( Saccharum) is a genus of 6 to 37 species (depending on taxonomic interpretation of tall perennial grasses (family Poaceae tribe Andropogoneae Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies In 1889, Tobago was made a Ward of Trinidad, and remained one until 1 August 1962, when Trinidad and Tobago became an independent Commonwealth country and together became a republic in 1976. Events 30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its ^[4]

The island of Tobago is also thought to be the island that the story Robinson Crusoe was written about. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (of York Mariner Who lived Eight and Twenty Years all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America near the Mouth However, the book is probably based on the experiences of Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned in the Pacific's Juan Fernandez Islands. Alexander Selkirk, born Alexander Selcraig (1676 &ndash 13 December 1721 was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a Castaway on an uninhabited The Juan Fernández Islands is a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about 667 km off the coast of Chile

This island was also the filming location for the Walt Disney movie The Swiss Family Robinson. Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter For the 1960 film produced by Disney see Swiss Family Robinson (film The Swiss Family Robinson (German Der Schweizerische

The climate is tropical, and the island lies just south of the Atlantic hurricane belt. A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous Thunderstorms that produce strong winds and Flooding Average rainfall varies between 3800 mm on the Main Ridge to less than 1250 mm in the south-west of the island. The Millimetre ( American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to Main Ridge Victoria is a suburb in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Ridge (Tobago is the main mountainous There are two seasons: a wet season between June and December, and a dry season between January and May.

Economy and tourism

Main article: Economy of Trinidad and Tobago

Tobago's economy is tightly linked with Trinidad, and is based on liquefied natural gas (LNG), petrochemicals, and steel. Trinidad and Tobago has earned a reputation as an excellent investment site for international businesses and has one of the highest growth rates and per capita incomes in Latin America The principal economic forces specific to Tobago are tourism and government spending. Tourism is Travel for Recreational or Leisure purposes The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel Conventional beach and water-sports tourism is largely focussed in the south-east around the airport and the coastal strip; however, ecotourism is growing in significance, and much of it is focussed on the large area of protected forest in the centre and north of the main island and on Little Tobago, a small island off the north east tip of the main island. Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is a form of Tourism that appeals to ecologically and socially conscious individuals Little Tobago (or Bird of Paradise Island) is a small island off the northeastern coast of Tobago, and part of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Tourism is concentrated in the southwest of the island, around Crown Point, Store Bay, Pigeon Point and Buccoo Reef. This area has large expanses of sand and is dominated by resort type developments. Tobago has many idyllic beaches around its coastline, especially those at Castara, Bloody Bay, and Englishman's Bay. Castara is a picturesque seaside village on the Leeward (north coast of the island of Tobago, the smaller of the two islands in the twin-island Republic Englishman's Bay is a secluded beach on the leeward coast of Tobago, between Castara and Parlatuvier.

Tobago is linked to the world through the Crown Point International Airport and the Scarborough harbour. Crown Point International Airport is an international airport located on the island of Tobago. Domestic flights connect Tobago with Trinidad, and international flights connect with the Caribbean and Europe. There is also a daily fast ferry service between Port of Spain and Scarborough.

Environmental problems

Coral reefs have been damaged recently by silt and mud runoff during construction of a road along the north east coast. There has also been damage to the reef in Charlotteville village caused by sealing the road at Flagstaff Hill and diverting more silty water down the stream from Flagstaff down to Charlotteville. Charlotteville is a village lying on the north-eastern tip of Tobago on Man-o-war Bay.

Diving

Tobago is also a popular diving location, since it is the most southerly of the Caribbean island with coral communities. The hawksbill turtle ( Eretmochelys imbricata) is a Critically endangered Sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. Corals are Marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small Sea anemone –like Polyps typically in colonies of many Trinidad, which is further south, has no significant coral because of low salinity and high silt content which result from its position close in the mouth of Venezuela's River Orinoco. Salinity is the Saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of Water. Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the ORiNOCO is the brand name that was used for a family of wireless networking solutions by Proxim (previously Lucent) Scuba diving on Tobago tends to be centred at Speyside, almost diametrically across the island from the airport. Scuba diving is swimming underwater, or taking part in another activity while using a Scuba set. Speyside is a town in northern Tobago. It lies on the Leeward coast across from the island of Little Tobago (for which it is a departure point 26 km

The island has some of the best diving sites in the Caribbean. There are three wrecks located around its shores, but the one usually considered the best is the Maverick Ferry, which used to travel between Trinidad and Tobago. The ferry is 350 feet long and has been sunk in 30 metres/100 feet just off Rocky Point, Mt. Irvine. The top of the wreck is at 15 metres/50 feet. The wreck has an abundance of marine life, including a 4-foot jewfish, a member of the grouper family. For other meanings see Grouper (disambiguation. Groupers are Fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of The wreck was purposely sunk for divers, and so all the doors and windows were removed.

The waters around the island are home to many species of tropical fish, rays, sharks, and turtles. Batoidea is a Superorder of cartilaginous fish containing more than 500 described species in thirteen families Sharks ( Superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of Fish with a full cartilaginous Skeleton and a highly streamlined body Turtles are Reptiles of the Order Testudines (all living turtles belong to the Crown group Chelonia) most of

Ecology

The Tobago Forest Reserve (or the Main Ridge Reserve) claims to be the oldest protected forests in the Western world. It was designated as a protected Crown reserve on April 17, 1776 following representations by Soame Jenyns a Member of Parliament in Britain who had the responsibility for the development of Tobago. Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Soame Jenyns ( 1 January 1704 &ndash 18 December 1787) was an English Writer. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a State in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800 It has remained a protected area ever since.

This forested area has great biodiversity including many species of birds, mammals, frogs, (nonpoisonous) snakes, Butterflies and other invertebrates. Biodiversity is the variation of Life forms within a given Ecosystem, Biome or for the entire Earth. A total of 469 species of Birds have been recorded on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The combined efforts of generations of resident and visiting Naturalists have helped to make the Butterfly fauna of Tobago well known It is one of the most approachable areas of rainforest, since it is relatively small and there are government-appointed guides who provide an authoritative guiding service through the forest at a reasonable cost. The guides are knowledgeable about the plants and the animals, and can call down rare and exotic birds from the canopy by imitating their calls.

Little Tobago, the small neighbouring island, supports some of the best dry forest remaining in Tobago. Chacachacare dry forest 2jpg|thumb|300px|Tropical dry forest Chacachacare]] Trinidad and Tobago dry forests are tropical dry forests located primarily in western and southern Little Tobago and St. Giles Island are important seabird nesting colonies, with Red-billed Tropicbird, Magnificent Frigatebird and Audubon's Shearwater amongst others. Seabirds are Birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment The Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus also known as the Boatswain Bird is a Tropicbird, one of three closely related Seabirds of tropical The Magnificent Frigatebird ( Fregata magnificens) was sometimes previously known as Man O'War, reflecting its rakish lines speed and aerial piracy of other The Audubon's Shearwater, Puffinus lherminieri, also known as the Tropical Shearwater, is a common Seabird of the Tropics from the family

Government

Local Government functions in Tobago are handled by the Tobago House of Assembly. Little Tobago (or Bird of Paradise Island) is a small island off the northeastern coast of Tobago, and part of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago The Tobago House of Assembly (THA is the Local government body responsible for the island of Tobago within the twin-island nation of Trinidad The current Chief Secretary of the THA is Orville London. The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and historically in the British Empire. The People's National Movement controls 11 seats in the Assembly, while the Democratic Action Congress controls the other seat. The People's National Movement is the present-day ruling Political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The Democratic Action Congress (DAC was originally an autonomist Political party in Trinidad and Tobago founded by A The DAC has been the traditional party of Tobagonian autonomy, while some islanders have even supported full independence from Trinidad. [1]

Hurricanes

Although Tobago lies to the south of the hurricane belt, it was nevertheless struck by Hurricane Flora on September 30, 1963. Hurricane Flora is among the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in Recorded history, with a death total of over 7000 Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The effects of the hurricane were so severe that they changed the face of Tobago's economy. The hurricane laid waste to the plantations of banana, coconut, and cacao, which largely sustained the economy. For the fruit see Banana. For other meanings see Banana (disambiguation. The Coconut Palm ( Cocos nucifera) is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family CACAO is a research Java Virtual Machine developed at Vienna University of Technology. It wreaked considerable damage to the largely pristine tropical rainforest that makes up a large proportion of the interior of the northern half of the island. Subsequently, many of the plantations were abandoned, and the economy changed direction away from cash crop agriculture toward tourism. In 2004 Hurricane Ivan, although less severe than Flora, did cause significant damage.

References

External links

• Tobago House of Assembly
• WorldStatesmen - Trinidad and Tobago
• [2] - Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
• [3] - National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago

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