Tobago

This book tells the little known story about the decision for the Caribbean island of Tobago to form a unitary colony with the neighbouring island of Trinidad in 1889.
It chronicles the path from its discovery by Columbus in 1498 through the European rivalry of the Spaniards, Dutch, French, Courlanders, (Latvians), Swedes, and British to its status as a British colony in 1814.
It examines the effects of the emancipation of the slaves in 1834; the several changes to its constitution; the collapse of its economy dominated by the sugar industry and points to the conflict between the legislative and executive branches of the government as the source of its failure as a political entity.
Tracing for the first time the growth of its relations with Trinidad, the book reproduces the principal records of the decisions in the legislatures of Tobago, of Trinidad and of the British parliament that created the union. The administrative issues of the period 1889-1899 and their resolution are discussed.
The union is compared with the union of Scotland and England in 1707; the attitudes of modern historians to the decision examined; and the book ends with the author's evaluation of the decision making process.
Cover Illustration: Lowlands Estate, Tobago - 1838 by Adrian Camps Campins (1943 - ).