Page 6 - Folkgalore

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Around the 17th century, the island

endured similar invasions to that of the Spaniards,

however, this time from the Dutch and French.

During the French revolution, a number of French

families from other West Indian islands migrated

to Trinidad. Within the revolution, Trinidad was

captured by the British and in 1802,standardized

by the Treaty of Amiens, the island had

surrendered to Great Britain.Due to the abolition

of slavery in 1833, Indians arrived in Trinidad and

were placed to work on the British Plantations in

order to accomodate for the lack of slaves.

Trinidad and Tobago became an

independent state and a member of the

Commonwealth of nations, on August 31,1962.

The People’s National Movement (PNM) took

over during this period. In 1967, the joint islands

became apart of the Organization of the

American States and soon after started the

Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) which is

now known as the Caribbean Common Market