Trinidad & Tobago: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Trinidad and Tobago is a country of two main islands in the southern Caribbean, just off the coast of Venezuela in South America. Trinidad, the larger island, is only about 11 kilometres from the mainland at its closest point. The capital is Port of Spain, on Trinidad's west coast.

Trinidad and Tobago is famous for its Carnival, calypso and soca music, and as the birthplace of the steelpan. On the globe you can find the Temple in the Sea, a white Hindu temple built on a platform in the Gulf of Paria and reached by a causeway, a symbol of the islands' Indian heritage.

Geography and nature

Trinidad was once joined to South America, so its plants and animals are similar to those on the mainland. The Northern Range of forested mountains runs along its north coast, and El Cerro del Aripo, about 940 metres, is the highest point. In the south lies Pitch Lake, the world's largest natural deposit of asphalt. Flocks of scarlet ibis roost in the Caroni Swamp at sunset. Tobago is smaller and quieter, with coral reefs, and leatherback turtles nest on beaches on both islands.

People, languages and culture

Most people have African or Indian ancestry, and many have mixed roots that also include Chinese, European and Middle Eastern families. English is the official language, and people speak a lively local creole. Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are all practised, and Diwali and Eid are public holidays. Carnival, before Lent, fills the streets with costumes and music. Street food is famous, especially doubles, chickpea curry in fried bread, as well as roti, callaloo and bake and shark.

History in a nutshell

Indigenous peoples lived on the islands long before Christopher Columbus reached Trinidad in 1498. Trinidad was a Spanish colony until Britain took it in 1797, while Tobago changed hands between European powers dozens of times. Enslaved Africans worked on sugar and cocoa plantations, and after slavery ended, many workers came from India. The two islands were joined as one colony in 1889, became independent on 31 August 1962 and became a republic in 1976. Oil and natural gas later made the country one of the wealthier in the Caribbean.