Diaspora · Southern Caribbean

Trinidad & Tobago

Capital · Port of Spain

Birthplace of the steelpan, calypso and soca — and the first country in the world to make Emancipation Day a national holiday.

🇹🇹 Port of Spain
The essentials

Trinidad & Tobago at a glance

Capital
Port of Spain
Region
Southern Caribbean
Currency
Trinidad & Tobago dollar (TTD)
Languages
English · Trinidadian Creole
Dialling code
+1 868
Status
Sovereign nation
The thread back

The African connection

The steelpan was invented here in the 1930s and 40s out of discarded oil drums, after colonial bans on African drumming pushed Carnival percussion first to bamboo, then to metal. It is the only acoustic instrument invented in the twentieth century.

Plan around it

Key dates for Trinidad & Tobago

The dates this community marks — independence, emancipation, and the festivals that fill a hall wherever its people have settled.

Aug 31Independence DayFrom Britain, 1962
Aug 1Emancipation DayFirst in the world, from 1985
Sep 24Republic Day
Feb–MarCarnivalJ'ouvert before dawn
One family

Diaspora meets diaspora

AfricAsia began with Africans in Asia. The same story runs through every entry in this section — people of African descent building a life a long way from where their ancestors started.

If you are from Trinidad & Tobago and you are anywhere in Asia — studying, working, playing, passing through — there are people here who will know what you are asking before you finish the question.

Every Asian country →
Say hello

The Trinidad & Tobago channel

Every entry in the diaspora section has its own free channel in the Hub, alongside the 108 country channels and the topic rooms.

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