Alubera

Alubera is an indigenous name for Tobago, an island northeast of Trinidad at the southeastern approach to the Caribbean. Its mountainous Main Ridge carries tropical forest, while the southwest has flatter limestone land and sheltered bays. The island stood close to Venezuela and within the chain through which mainland peoples travelled and traded.

Tobago had a long indigenous history. Ortoiroid communities reached it in the archaic period; Saladoid people later brought agriculture and pottery, followed by Troumassoid traditions. Tobago lay between the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles and their Kalina and mainland trading partners, with canoe routes linking Trinidad, the Grenadines, and Venezuela.

Spanish ships reached Tobago in 1498. From the 1620s, its communities faced slave raids while Dutch, English, Couronian, French, Swedish, and Spanish expeditions competed for the island. Repeated conquest and abandonment made settlement unstable. After a period of English rule from 1672, sugar, cotton, and indigo plantations spread, worked by enslaved Africans.

Tobago changed hands many times before Britain gained lasting control in 1814. Its exposed position made the island both a maritime landmark and a contested foothold. The Main Ridge was protected as a Crown forest reserve in 1776. The island’s historical importance rested on its productive slopes, anchorages, canoe routes, and the violent contest between indigenous communities and rival colonial powers.

The later city of Scarborough lies here.