Trinidad is the most southerly of the British West India Islands, being only 7 miles from the coast of Venezuela, the Gulf of Paria (an extremely safe anchorage) lying between. It is about 50 miles long, varying in breadth from 30 to 35 miles, and the area amounts to 1755 sq. m. Three ridges of mountains run east and west, one fringing the north coast and reaching an elevation of 3000 feet. The island has several tolerably large rivers. A remarkable phenomenon is a pitch lake near the village of La Brea, composed of bituminous matter floating on the surface of fresh water, about 3 miles in circumference, and 138 feet above the sea. The soil is very rich and productive. The climate is hot and moist, but not unhealthy; the mean maximum is 87.7°, and the mean minimum 70° F.; and the rainfall is about 74 inches. The chief town, Port of Spain, is one of the finest towns in the West Indies (pop. 33,782). There is another town called San Fernando (pop. 6335), with two or three pretty villages. The most important products are cocoa, sugar, rum, molasses, coffee, cocoa-nuts, tobacco, bitters, asphalt, and fruit (exported since 1889). The value of the exports reaches £2,310,000, and of the imports about the same figure. A third of the trade is with Britain, and a fourth with the United States. Pop. (1871) 109,638; (1881) 155,128; (1890) 208,030, mainly French (speaking a patois), with Spanish and English colonies, and many East Indian coolies. There are 54 miles of railway in the island, which with Tobago forms a crown colony, ruled by a governor, an executive council of four, and a legislative council of eighteen members. Trinidad was discovered by Columbus in 1498, but no permanent establishment was founded there until 1532 by the Spaniards. It suffered at the hands of the English (Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595), the Dutch (1640), and the French (1677 and 1690). In 1797 it first fell into the hands of the British, who were confirmed in possession of it in 1802.
See works by Daniel Hort (1865), Wickham (1872), De Verteuil (new ed. 1884), Collins (2d ed. 1888), and Fraser (1894), with others cited at WEST INDIES.