Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago: population, cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, Trinidad and Tobago has approx. 1.4 million residents.

Ethnic composition

The Caribbean islands were originally populated by Arawak and Caribbean Indians. After Columbus discovered the islands, countless people immigrated from many countries, so that the number of the original natives can hardly be traced and today's population is made up of a multitude of different cultures.

The residents of the two islands today are made up as follows: 40% of the population are each of Indian and African descent, 15% mulattos, 1% each Chinese and Lebanese and 2% white (English, Portuguese, French and Spanish descent).

Religious Affiliation

There is general freedom of religion in Trinidad and Tobago. This is reflected in the religious diversity on the islands:

• Roman Catholic: approx. 26%
• Hindu: approx. 23%
• Anglican: approx. 8%
• Baptist: approx. 7%
• Pentecostal followers: approx. 7%
• other Christian religions: approx. 6%
• Muslims: approx. 6%
• Adventists: approx. 4%
• other: approx. 10.5%
• not recorded: approx. 1.3%
• without commitment: approx. 2%

Visitors to the islands can marvel at the Gothic and Romanesque churches that are in close proximity to synagogues, minarets and Hindu temples.

Neither the occult nor the voodoo cult have a lot of influence, even if you sometimes still meet so-called miracle healers on the south coast of Trinidad.

National languages

The official language is English. In the course of colonial rule and immigration from many countries and the resulting process of cultural and linguistic mixing, a Creole variety of English emerged: a mixed language with African, French and Spanish influences in syntax and vocabulary is used in everyday and colloquial terms used. In addition, some Hindi dialects are spoken as well as Spanish and Creole French.

Capital, other cities

The capital of Trinidad & Tobago is Port of Spain, located in northwest Trinidad on the Gulf of Paria. With over 51,000 residents, Port of Spain is also the largest city in the island state and the economic, cultural and political center of the island state. All other cities in the country are significantly smaller.

Other cities are:

• Arima, approx. 30,000 residents, 35 km from the capital Port of Spain
• San Fernando, approx. 50,000 residents (thus the second largest city in the island state). The center of the south has so far remained almost untouched by tourism.

On Tobago

• With about 20,000 residents, Scarborough is the largest city of Tobago and at the same time the capital of the island, in which the corresponding administrative facilities are also located. But it has remained rather provincial.
• Roxborough, about 17 miles northeast of Scarborough; belongs to the larger communities of Tobago, but is more of a peaceful and sleepy nest.
• Charlotteville, an idyllic village in the foothills of the Main Ridge 3 miles northwest of Speyside.

Trinidad and Tobago: map

Defined by DigoPaul, the two islands of Trinidad & Tobago are only a few kilometers from the coast of South America - Trinidad is the shortest distance from Venezuela at 12 kilometers. Together, the two islands have an area of 5,128 km2, Tobago is the smaller of the two with only 300 km2 and is 34 km northeast of Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago are located at the southern end of the Caribbean, between around 60 ° and 62 ° west longitude and 10 ° and 12 ° north latitude. They are the southernmost islands in the Lesser Antilles.

Trinidad and Tobago: Geography

General, area

Trinidad and Tobago are part of the "Lesser Antilles", a chain of islands that is one of the numerous Caribbean islands that all together form a 4,000 km arc from the North American to the South American continent. Furthermore, in a further subdivision, Trinidad & Tobago belongs to the so-called "islands above the wind", which are exposed to the trade winds that bring them rain. With over 4,800 km², Trinidad is the largest island in the Lesser Antilles and is located at the narrowest point of the Gulf of Paria, only about 15 km from Venezuela, from which it separated only about 3,000 years ago due to a rise in sea level. This means that the islands are a direct continuation of the South American mainland in terms of their geological structure and surface shape.

Trinidad and Tobago cover an area of 5,128 km² - of which Trinidad 4,828 km² and Tobago 300 km² of

which are:

• Forest

  Over 50% of the island area is still forested and the government has set itself the goal of establishing further national parks and landscape protection zones in order to preserve the abundance of vegetation. Particularly noteworthy are the rainforest of the Main Ridge on Tobago and the tropical forest of the Northern Range on Trinidad.

• Swamp

  On the east and west coast of Trinidad, large parts of the landscape are mangrove and swamp landscapes: the Caroni Swamps in the north-west, the Oropuche Lagoon in the south-west and the Nariva Swamps in the east. The swamp areas on the east coast are separated from the sea by miles of sandy beaches with coconut palms.

• Mountains

  In Trinidad there are three mountain ranges running parallel from west to east, these are called "ranges". The Southern Range in the south and the Central Range in the middle reach heights of almost 300 meters. The Northern Range, overgrown by dense rainforest and mountain forest, rises much higher, with the highest mountain in the country at 940 meters: the Cerro del Aripo. The foothills of the Northern Range reach the coast, so the northern coastal area is steep and rocky.

  The wooded mountain ranges of the Main Ridge on Tobago, which run parallel to the northwest coast, take up almost two thirds of the island and reach average heights of 400 to 500 meters.

National borders

As an island state, Trinidad and Tobago has no direct borders with other countries, but is only 15 km from the coast of Venezuela.

Coastline

The two islands of the island state of Trinidad & Tobago cover a coastline of around 365 km.

Tidal range in Port of Spain

In Port of Spain the mean tidal range is around 1.50 m.

For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Compare:

The world's highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Trinidad & Tobago extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Time of the country

In Trinidad and Tobago there is a five-hour time difference to Central European time, during our summer time there are six hours, as there is no difference between winter and summer time in Trinidad & Tobago.

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

Highest sun in Port of Spain

Port of Spain lies at a north latitude of around 10.5 ° and thus within the tropics.

If the declination of the sun has a value of 10 ° 30 'N, and thus the image point of the sun is over Port of Spain, the sun is perpendicular there. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 41 after March 21 and 41 before September 21.

Attention

If the image point of the sun and thus the declination is north of the latitude of Port of Spain, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where it then sets.

mountains

Trinidad

The El Cerro del Aripo (941m) is the highest peak of the mountain range Northern Range.

Tobago

The Pigeon Hill (572 m) is the highest peak of the mountain range The Main Ridge.

Rivers

Not a single waterway in Trinidad is longer than 25 km, and none of them are navigable.

The longest and widest, which include the Oropuche River, Couva River, and Caroni River, flow into the Gulf of Paria. The Northern Range is the watershed in the north of the island of Trinidad; all rivers that have their source here flow into the Caribbean Sea.

Lakes

There are no natural lakes in Trinidad, only those that were created by artificial dams to supply the islands with water.

These are the Caroni Area Dam, the Navet Dam and the small lake Hollis Reservoir in the mountains of the Northern Range.