Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago (  / ˌ t r ɪ n ɨ d æ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">d  <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"> <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ə/ 'a' in 'about'">ə <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">n  <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"> <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">t <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ɵ/ variable 1st 'o' in 'omission'">ɵ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ˈ/ primary stress follows">ˈ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">b <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/eɪ/ long 'a' in 'base'">eɪ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">ɡ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/oʊ/ long 'o' in 'bode'">oʊ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/  ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is an archipelagic state<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-act24of1986_4-0" style="line-height:1em;">[4]  in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Grenada to the northwest, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1em;">[5] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1em;">[6] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1em;">[7]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">The country covers an area 5,128 square kilometres (1,980 sq mi)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-back_8-0" style="line-height:1em;">[8]  and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, andnumerous smaller landforms. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands, comprising about 94% of the total area and 96% of the total population of the country. The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the capitulation of the Spanish Governor, Don José Maria Chacón, on the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on 18 February 1797.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1em;">[9]  During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers. Trinidad and Tobago (remaining separate until 1889) were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;">[10]  The country Trinidad and Tobago obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, the country's economy is primarily industrial,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;">[11]  with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">Trinidad and Tobago is known for its Carnival and is the birthplace of steelpan,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;">[12]  calypso,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;">[13] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;">[14]  soca, chutney and limbo.