Our African Legacy:

Roots and Routes

The National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago invites you to
follow the various journeys through which people of African
descent - enslaved, liberated, or free, came to Trinidad and
Tobago, during the 17th to 19th centuries.

Whether they were enslaved, landowners, former soldiers or

indentured labourers, people of African descent have left
a rich legacy which has shaped our unique Trinbagonian
identity.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Africa and the

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade or Triangular Trade
existed between the fifteenth and nineteenth
centuries and it connected the economies of three
continents – Europe, Africa and the Americas or
“the New World.” Ships from Western Europe traded
their goods for African captives, who were then
transported to the Americas. In the Americas, valued
agricultural products, such as sugar, tobacco and
cotton, were produced using the labour of the
enslaved, and then shipped back to Europe.

As a result of this trade, an estimated 15 million

Africans were forcibly removed from their home
and sold in the New World. Many also died as a result of slave raids, transportation and imprisonment
and unsatisfactory conditions on the journey to the Americas- the Middle Passage. Some African
scholars refer to the trafficking of the enslaved as the “Maafa” (‘great disaster’ in Swahili).

Slaves were procured for this trade from the following regions:

1. Senegambia – Senegal and Gambia

2. Upper Guinea – Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra
Leone
3. Windward Coast – Liberia and Ivory Coast
4. Gold Coast – Ghana and East of Ivory Coast
5. Bight of Benin (Slave Coast) – Togo, Benin, Nigeria west
of the Niger Delta
Slave barracoons were a common feature along several
6. Bight of Biafra – Nigeria east of the Niger Delta, points of slave embarkation on the African coast.
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon
7. West Central Africa – Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola
8. South Eastern Africa – Mozambique and Madagascar

In 1807, British and US Governments made the trade illegal. Beginning in 1810, the British established
a network of treaties that allowed their naval vessels to detain the slave ships of other nations.
Emancipation finally came in 1838.

Sources:
Eltis, David. A Brief Overview of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. USA: Emory University,
2007 http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/essays#
Higman, B. W. Slave Populations of the British Caribbean, 1807-1834. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins UP, 1984. Print.
Inikori, J. E., and Stanley L. Engerman. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies,
Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Durham: Duke UP,
1992. Print.
Postma, Johannes. The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1600-1815. Cambridge.:
Cambridge U Pr., 1990. Print.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Free People of
Colour and Africans
Under Spanish rule, Trinidad remained underdeveloped for many years.
It was not until 1783, under the Cedula of Population, that the Spanish
Government encouraged immigration to facilitate the development
of a plantation economy. Offers of free grants of land and tax
concessions were made to French Catholic planters who were noted
for their expertise in the sugar cultivation.

Among the planters who

took up the opportunity
were free people of
colour (or mulattoes)
as well as Africans who
had been manumitted.
They came from
Martinique, Guadeloupe,
Ste. Domingue (now
Haiti), Grenada, and St. Lucia, with their capital,
enslaved Africans, expertise and agricultural skills. As
landowners and owners of enslaved Africans, they
established flourishing estates of sugar, cocoa, and
other products mainly in the Naparimas in south Trinidad.

A unique feature of the Cedula was the granting of

equal civil and legal rights and privileges to all
settlers including people of colour. But this was to
be challenged after British conquest of Trinidad in
1797 when there was enforcement of anti-coloured
rule which had existed elsewhere in the Caribbean.
This was no doubt fuelled by the larger numbers
of people of colour on the island, and by fears
that some of them may have been supporters of the
Haitian Revolution.

In 1823, led by Jean-Baptiste Philippe, the

people of colour petitioned the Colonial Office
for reinstatement of their rights, eventually
leading to the March 1829 Order in Council
granting complete equality. Trinidad became the
first British Caribbean colony where people of colour
gained their civil rights. They paved the way for the
development of an educated middle class in Trinidad.
Sources:

Besson, G, Brereton, B. The Book of Trinidad, Paria Publishing Co. Ltd., 1992.
Campbell, C. “Trinidad’s Free Coloureds in Comparative Caribbean
Perspectives” in Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World, A Student Reader,
Ian Randle Publishers, 2000.
De Verteuil, A. The Black Earth of South Naparima, The Litho Press, Trinidad,
2009.

Camille Dedierre, a Martiniquian mulatto who settled

in Trinidad. Photo courtesy Paria Publishing Co. Ltd.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Liberated Africans
After the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807, the
British Royal Navy sought to stop the illegal trade in
enslaved Africans. Thus, they patrolled the coast of
West Africa and the Caribbean Sea, stopping and
searching any ship they suspected of being a slaver
and seizing those ships guilty of participating in
the illegal trade. Africans who were rescued in the
Caribbean Sea, were transported to different British
islands whilst those captured in the slave ports of
Havana and Rio de Janeiro were left under the care of
selected planters and merchants in those territories.
Simultaneously, those captured on the West African
coast were repatriated to either St. Helena or Sierra
Leone.

After the end of 1820, six bilateral commissions were

set up by the British, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch
governments. The purpose of these commissions
were to declare whether or not the seizure of a slaver
was proper or improper and where the vessels were
properly seized they were empowered to declare the
ship a prize of war and they could liberate the Africans
onboard. With the granting of full Emancipation to the
enslaved Africans of the British West Indian colonies
in 1838, a labour shortage was soon realized and
the colonial government decided that the liberated
Africans were one avenue through which this problem
could be solved.

Beginning in 1841, there was the planned emigration

of liberated Africans to Trinidad. The liberated
William Panzoo Campbell c.1828-1938, the liberated African who
survived the longest in Tobago. Photo courtesy Paria Publishing
Africans became indentured servants as they were
Co. Ltd. a convenient source of labour. Between 1841 and
1861, over 8,000 Liberated Africans arrived in Trinidad
from Sierra Leone and St. Helena. Tobago received 517 liberated Africans from St. Helena
in 1851 and 1862.
Sources:

Archibald, D. Tobago Melancholy Isle, Vol. III 1807-1898. Trinidad

and Tobago: Westindiana, 2003.

Adderley, Rosanne Marion. “New Negroes from Africa”: Slave

Trade Abolition and Free African Settlement in the Nineteenth-
century Caribbean. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2006. Print.

Brereton, Bridget. Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad: 1870-1900.

London: Cambridge UP, 1979. Print.
A sign at the entrance of East Dry River, Port of Spain, pays
Frey, Sylvia R., and Betty Wood. From Slavery to Emancipation in tribute to the Yoruba Village, which once covered areas of East
the Atlantic World. London: Frank Cass, 1999. Print. Dry River, Belmont, Laventille and Morvant.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Merikins – the Freedom

Fighters
From 1815 to the 1820s, Trinidad became the home to over
700 formerly enslaved African-Americans who earned their
freedom as runaways to the British Royal Navy to fight in the
War of 1812 against America.

To encourage recruitment in the War of 1812, Sir Alexander

Cochrane issued the Proclamation of 1814 which allowed for
enslaved African-Americans to either join the British forces or
be settled in the British colonies. Many opted to join the British
forces and they formed a section of the British Royal Navy
called the Corps of Colonial Marines which was formed on
May 18, 1814. The Corps of Colonial Marines was involved in
various battles, including the Battle of Bladensburg, where
Washington D.C was burnt to the ground.

At the end of the War of 1812, the soldiers were temporarily

settled in the garrison at Bermuda where they were offered a
choice of either serving in the West India Regiment or being
settled as free men in a British colony. Vehemently refusing
the former, the Corps
of Colonial Marines
was disbanded
between 1815 and
1816 in two British
colonies - Trinidad
and Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada.

In Trinidad however,
they were granted
sixteen (16) acres of
land in six (6) areas,
later called the
Company Villages, in
South Trinidad, away
from the enslaved
population that had
already inhabited
the island. The village names were based on
the naval companies in which they served as
Colonial Marines.
Source:
Laurence, K.O. “The Settlement of free negroes in Trinidad before emancipation”
Caribbean Quarterly. Vols. 1 and 2, 1963
Weiss, John Mc Nish. The Merikins: Free Black American Settlers in Trinidad
1815-16, London: McNish and Weiss, 2002.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Our African Heritage

Like other groups who came to Trinidad and Tobago, the Language
people of African descent have left a legacy that has Many words in our vocabulary has its roots in African
shaped our unique Trinbagonian identity. Some aspects of language. For example, “susu” is a word based on the
that legacy have survived as authentic forms, while other Yoruba word “esusu,” which refers to an informal savings
aspects have merged with other cultures over time to form practice common in West Africa.
syncretic and indigenous cultural forms.
The reference to “allyuh” or “you all” is based on the
Built Heritage African language distinction between the plural “you”
Today there exists buildings and and the singular “you”. The use of the subject-adjective
other relics of our colonial past without the verb, such as “he sick” is African influenced
which were built by enslaved and 1802 building at Nelson Island as is emphasizing through repetition eg. “I now now come
indentured Africans. The sugar back.” Anansi” the popular folk tale character is derived
mills and St. Patrick’s Anglican from tales from the Gold Coast while “jumbi” is a word from
Church in Tobago, and Fort Angola meaning a ghost.
George and the 1802 building
on Nelson Island in Trinidad, Folklore
are just a few examples of work
Anansi stories remain the most popular of the local folktales
completed by the enslaved
that have African roots. Other characters, rooted in African
or indentured Africans. They
culture are the tortoise, hare, dwen-douyen and socouyant.
were generally involved in the
clearing of land, the breaking
of rocks, and the construction of Cultural practices and influences in Carnival
roads, bridges, forts, and sugar There are many cultural practices which can be traced
works. They can be regarded as our early nation builders. back to Africa, some of which have evolved into indigenous
forms such as Carnival, calypso and steelpan. The drum is
Religion the iconic African-derived musical instrument. The shapes
and constructions of drums, the way they are made, are West
There are two main African-derived and syncretic faiths
African in nature. Tambu-bamboo is derived from “tambu,”
which have survived through generations. They are the
a Congolese word for drum. The bottle and spoon and
Spiritual or Shouter Baptists and the Orisha faith (formerly
called Shango). The Orisha faith has Yoruba roots and gained
national recognition in the 1990s. Ancestral veneration is
an integral part of the faith. Orisha festivals, such as the
Rain Festival, are held throughout the year.

steel percussion from cowbells, iron wheels and steelpans

produce tones that are West African. Stickfighting or bois is
a dance-like marital art with roots in the Congo and Angola.
It is still practised in places such as Moruga. “Kambule”
is a Congo word meaning a parade/procession usually
accompanied by call and response, singing and percussion.
The idea of spirits being hidden behind masquerades, as
well as having the body daubed with paint or mud is also
African.
The Spiritual Baptist faith was prohibited by law in 1917 but
the ban was eventually lifted in 1951. The 1996 holiday
granted in observance of the Spiritual Baptists gave further
legitimacy to the religion. The Baptist faith was first brought
by the Merikins, former enslaved African-Americans who
had served in the British navy and were settled in south
Trinidad. There are now various manifestations of that faith,
inclusive of the Spiritual Baptists.

Food
Food either commonly
used in Africa or that
which was commonly
prepared by Africans
Sources:
before and after
Warner-Lewis, M. Guinea’s Other Suns – The African Dynamic in
Emancipation,
Trinidad Culture. Jamaica. UWI Press. 2015. Print.
represent part of our
culinary heritage.
Warner-Lewis, M. “African Heritage in the Caribbean” 2nd Part in a
Ground provisions 4 Part Series put on by The University of T&T at the National Library,
such as yam, dasheen, Trinidad and Tobago, March 2007: www.africaspeaks.com
eddoes, bananas,
plantains were popular as many Africans had cultivated
their own food on or near the plantations. Dishes such as
ackra (fried salt fish and flour) and cornmeal-derived dishes
of payme and coo-coo are among African-inspired dishes.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Enslaved Africans in Tobago

Like other British West Indian colonies, Tobago flourished
on a sugar plantation economy, bolstered by the
labour of enslaved Africans, the majority of whom
came after 1793 under British rule.

The Slave Act of 1775 was among the laws re-enacted

in 1794 when the Assembly began to function. The
enslaved people had no intrinsic rights and were
considered a piece of property, a chattel, living in
the shadow of the whip. However, this was not without
reprisals as many revolted. The first revolts were in
1770 and were followed by more revolts in 1771, 1773,
1774, and 1801. Work stoppages, cane fires and other
forms of sabotage, poisoning, suicide, and cultural
resistance, were also subtle forms of retaliation and
asserting their identity.

In 1819, the first year of slave registration in Tobago,

the total enslaved population was 15, 457. The largest
enslaved populations were located in the leeward
parishes. They comprised a heterogeneous group
differentiated by place of residence (town or plantation),
skill and occupation, gender, colour, religion, language
and place of birth (African or creole). They were often
distinguished as being either “attached” to plantations
or “unattached”(as their owners were not owners of
estates). The latter group worked mainly as domestics,
The Market Square viewed from the Court House, 1877.
Photo from The Changing Society of Tobago, 1838-1938 by Susan Craig-James. carpenters, coopers, tailors and other artisans and were
even hired out to estates.

One distinguishing feature of the enslaved people was

their enterprise in the cultivation and sale of produce in
the Sunday market. This eventually gave them socio-
economic leverage and laid the foundation for the
emergence of the peasant class after 1838.

Emancipation of the enslaved came in 1838 when

Tobago was administered with Grenada, St. Vincent
and Barbados as part of the Windward Islands. Tobago
became a Ward of Trinidad in 1889.
St. Patrick’s Anglican Church, Mt. Pleasant, Tobago, built by enslaved Africans.

Source:
Archibald, Douglas. Tobago Melancholy Isle, Vol. III 1807-1898. Trinidad and
Tobago 2003.
Craig-James, Susan. The Changing Society of Tobago, 1838-1838 – A
Fractured Whole, Vol 1 1838-1900. Trinidad and Tobago, 2008.
Higman, B. W. Slave Populations of the British Caribbean 1807-1834. Jamaica,
1995.
Laurence, K. O. Tobago in Wartime 1793-1815. Jamaica, 1995.

Extract from the Tobago Slave Register 1819 -1824

 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

Enslaved Africans in Trinidad

In 1606, four hundred and seventy (470) enslaved The results of this registration showed that the total
Africans were brought to Trinidad by Dutch slaver enslaved population was 25, 696, of which African
Isaac Duverne. This was the first recorded instance of born slaves comprised 13, 984 whilst Creole born
enslaved Africans being brought to the island. At that slaves were 11,633.
time, Trinidad, which was governed by the Spanish
Crown was underdeveloped and participation in The 1813 Census of Trinidad identified the ethnicity of
the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was minimal at best. the enslaved Africans on the island which include:
It was not until the eighteenth century that there was
• Senegambia – Malinke, Woloff, Bambara
a substantial increase in the number of enslaved
Africans in Trinidad. This was as a result of the Cedula • Upper Guinea – Fulbe, Susu, Temne, Kissi,
of Population of 1783 as the Roman Catholic planters
who migrated did so with their enslaved Africans. • Windward Coast – Kwaka, Akwa
• Gold Coast – Kormantyn, Fanti, Akan
After the island was ceded to the British in 1797
there was rampant growth in the slave population • Bight of Benin – Hausa, Allada, Yoruba, Whydah
of Trinidad as the British sought to make the island • Bight of Biafra – Igbo
into a model plantation colony. To ensure this, large
numbers of enslaved Africans were imported to the • West Central Africa – BaKongo
island until 1807 when the British Parliament passed
the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. Between 1797
and 1807 the number of enslaved Africans grew
from 10,009 to 21,895. As a result of the passage
of the Abolition Act, there was the development of
an Inter-Colonial Slave Trade from which Trinidad
acquired approximately 6,000 enslaved Africans
between 1808 and 1825.

To combat the illegal trade in enslaved Africans from

both the Trans -Atlantic and Inter-Colonial Trade, the
British Parliament passed the Order in Council of 1812
which made it mandatory for all enslaved Africans
of Trinidad to be registered. The first registration of
enslaved Africans took place in Trinidad in 1813.

Sources:
Brereton, Bridget. A History of Mod-
ern Trinidad. Kingston, Jamaïca:
Heinemann, 1981. Print.
Higman, B. W. Slave Populations of
the British Caribbean: 1807-1834.
Baltimore U.a.: Johns Hopkins U Pr.,
1984. Print.
John, A. Meredith. The Plantation
Slaves of Trinidad: 1783-1816: A
Mathematical and Demographic En-
quiry. Cambridge: GB, 1988. Print.

Postma, Johannes. The Dutch in the

Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1815. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Print.

Origin of African-born slaves: Trinidad, 1813.

Map taken from “Slave Populations of the British Caribbean: 1807-1834” by B.W. Higman.
 OUR AFRICAN LEGACY: ROOTS AND ROUTES

West India Regiments

The West India Regiments were infantry units within the British Army. There was a need for a colonial army in
the island colonies and West Africa and as such enslaved African men were drafted into these regiments as it
was believed they were better suited to fight in tropical conditions and were not as susceptible to disease as
the Europeans. Although they were members of the British Army, enslaved African soldiers were still vulnerable
to the harsh British Slave Laws. However, in 1807, the amended Mutiny Act made all African soldiers who were
recruited as slaves free men.

Recruits for these regiments were acquired through three different phases and methods which were:

Phase I (1795 to 1807) – Recruits bought directly from suppliers in Africa

Phase II (1808 to 1815) – Recruits were Prisoners of War and Recaptives
Phase III (1812 to 1815) – Voluntary Recruits from Sierra Leone
The 1st West India Regiment
There were a total of twelve West India
Regiments established between 1795 and
1812. The 1st West India Regiment was
established on 2nd May 1795. According to
A. B Ellis, “The Negro West India troops won the
highest commendations from every British
commander under whom they served.”
However, with the end of the War of 1812,
the number of regiments decreased and the
War Office was faced with relocating them.

The 3rd and 6th West India Regiments

In 1817 the 6th West India Regiment which

was stationed in Tobago was demobilized. It
was suggested that they take up residence
in the remote East Coast of Trinidad where
they would be far removed from the already
established enslaved population and they
would be able to open up a road network to
Manzanilla. In January 1818, 180 disbanded
soldiers settled in Quare (Valencia), where
they were granted eight (8) acres of Crown
Land if they were single or sixteen (16) acres
of Crown Land if they had a family. In 1819, the
3rd West India Regiment, which was stationed
in Trinidad, was partially demobilized as five
companies of this regiment still bore arms.
The first group of demobilized soldiers were
settled on the East Coast in Quare (Valencia),
Turure and La Sieva in June/July 1819. In
February 1825, the remaining five companies
were demobilized and settled in Upper, Lower and North Manzanilla. Among the former soldiers were a few
Mandingo Muslim ex-sargeants who converted many of the settlers to Islam.

In the following years, many of the former soldiers and their families settled elsewhere and the settlement
began to lose its identity.

Sources:
Dyde, Brian. The Empty Sleeve: The Story of the West India Regiments of the British Army. Antigua: Hansib, 1997. Print.
Ellis, A. B. History of the First West India Regiment. London: Chapman, 1885. Print.
Laurence, K. O. “The Settlement of Free Negroes in Trinidad before Emancipation.” Caribbean Quarterly 9.1/2 (1963): 26-52. JSTOR. Web. 14
Nov. 2016.