Tobago Coast

Tobago lies northeast of Trinidad, with a mountainous spine descending to bays on its Caribbean and Atlantic shores. Its coast drew rival European settlements during the seventeenth century. In 1654 Dutch colonists and settlers from Courland established separate footholds on the island, but both colonies ultimately failed. Britain acquired Tobago in 1763, after which sugar plantations worked by enslaved Africans spread across the island; French and British forces continued to contest it.