Tobago British
1814-1888







Tobago under various powers, 1632-1814



Tobago was discovered in 1498; the first European attempt to settle the island was undertaken by the English in 1616, but they were driven out by native Caribs. The Dutch WIC in 1632 succeeded in establishing a permanent settlement. In 1652, another settlement was established by the COURLANDERS, both sides claiming the entire island. The Dutch took the Courlander settlement in 1658. In 1667, the Netherlands ceded Tobago to France. In 1676 the Dutch retook Tobago, only to loose it again to France in 1678. The island returned to Courland rule in the 1680es, and then back to France. In 1748, (French) Tobago was declared neutral; in 1763 it was ceded by France to Britain. Yet the French seized the island in 1781 and held on to it until 1793, when the British retook it. The TREATY OF AMIENS (1803) reallocated it to France; in 1814, France finally ceded it to Britain.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article from Infoplease : Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad & Tobago, History of, from Commonwealth Network
Courlanders in Tobago, from Ocean Point
Dutch Portuguese Colonial History by Marco Ramerini; scroll down for Tobago
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Jan Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean (1992) London : Penguin 1994



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on April 7th 2005

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