Thread 01
Emancipation, 1834
The abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the immediate resettlement of freed people into free villages, including the founding of Belmont itself.
Trinidad and Tobago is a country made in the aftermath of empire. Africans, Indians, Chinese, Syrians, Portuguese, and the descendants of the first Amerindian inhabitants share a small landmass, three religions in every family, and a national conversation that is genuinely plural.
The full heritage section is in production, including the Rada compound at Belmont Circular Road, Emancipation Day, Indian Arrival Day, Divali, and the specifically Belmont story of returned soldiers, freed people, and mid-century emigration. Chapters below.
The abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the immediate resettlement of freed people into free villages, including the founding of Belmont itself.
The Fatel Razack lands at Nelson Island with 225 indentured labourers from Calcutta. Over the next 72 years, 147,000 Indians arrive. Hindi, Bhojpuri, and a full religious calendar follow.
The forced substitution of bamboo for skin drums, the tuning of oil drums into steel, and the founding of the first pan yards in Belmont, Laventille, and East Port of Spain.
Fifty-nine years of majority-Black, coalition governance, oil wealth, brain drain, and the quiet consolidation of a Caribbean country with its own voice.
Our long-form Belmont history essay covers the neighbourhood in depth. And the Carnival guide traces the pan and mas story from the 1880s to the present.
A 22-minute essay on the neighbourhood, from Rada compound to today.
The history and calendar of the country’s largest cultural expression.
Ten places on the island, including cultural and historic sites.