Dr Rita Pemberton

Tobago's population, which was initially made up of the First People who remained in undisturbed occupation of the island up to the latter years of the 17th century, subsequently underwent a significant change.

The First Peoples established communities in various parts of the island, evidence of which has been provided by archaeological findings in 93 sites, which include: Milford, Mt Irvine, Friendship, Golden Grove, Plymouth, Scarborough, Buccoo, Charlotteville, Speyside, Parlatuvier, Bloody Bay, Culloden, Castara and Moriah.

While there is no available accurate information on the size of the First Peoples' population, it is known that their numbers were decimated by Europeans who competed for possession of the island. The population was reduced by the Spaniards who captured and carted some of them away to labour in their colonies in the region, and others were killed in the fights to defend their land against the invading Courlanders, Dutch, English and French who sought to establish settlements during the 17th and 18th centuries.

By the last decades of the 18th century, there was minimal First People presence on the island. Some of the survivors of the European onslaught sought refuge in other islands, while the very small numbers who remained intermixed with newly introduced groups.

After intense British/French rivalry for Tobago, by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Tobago was ceded to Britain. The British administration, conscious that French ambitions to possess Tobago had been inflamed by the treaty, was anxious to secure its possession by establishing a strong presence of British landowners.

The strategy implemented was the immediate survey and subdivision of the island into 300-500 acre blocks which were sold by auction to those who were able to provide the required labour and begin to bring their plantations into cultivation within two years. This marked the introduction of captive Africans, who constituted the workforce as enslaved labourers on the cotton and sugar plantations, and who lived on the estates of their purchasers, and the start of significant population change in Tobago. After seven years of British occupation, the population was made up of a majority of Africans and a small number of Europeans.

The European population was primarily Scottish males and a few white females. In 1770 there were 238 white plantation owners and colonial officials and 3,000 enslaved Africans in Tobago, but by 1776, the white population had increased to 2,597 and the African population to 11,802 (enslaved and free). This pattern reflected the rapid growth of the island's sugar industry and its insatiable demand for labour.

However, by 1814, while the size of the African population continued to increase to over 15,000, the white population had declined to 900, which resulted from two developments. Signs of economic decline had become evident in the face of falling profits, estates were changing hands and new owners were mainly absentee and in addition, the prevailing v