Trinidad Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== {{Main|History of Trinidad and Tobago}} [[Island Caribs|Caribs]] and [[Arawaks]] lived in Trinidad long before [[Christopher Columbus]] encountered the islands on his third voyage on 31 July 1498. The island remained Spanish until 1797, but it was settled mostly by French colonists from the [[French Caribbean]], especially [[Martinique]].<ref name="Besson, 2000">Besson, Gerard (2000-08-27). "Land of Beginnings β A historical digest", ''Newsday Newspaper''.</ref> In 1889 the two islands became a single British [[crown colony]]. Trinidad and Tobago was granted self-governance in 1958 and independence from the [[United Kingdom]] in August 1962,<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11332/ |title = Railroad Map of Trinidad |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1925 |access-date = 2013-10-25 }}</ref> and it became a republic in September 1976.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://guardian.co.tt/opinion/45-years-a-republic-6.2.1389840.1663fd2aca|title=45 years a Republic|publisher=Trinidad & Tobago Guardian|author=|language=English|date=24 August 2021|accessdate=6 January 2022}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page