hurt by the emancipation of the slaves in 1834. Manpower was
replaced with the importation of contract laborers from India
between 1845 and 1917, which boosted sugar production as well as the
cocoa industry. The discovery of oil on Trinidad in 1910 added
another important export. Independence was attained in 1962. The
country is one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean thanks
largely to petroleum and natural gas production and processing.
Tourism, mostly in Tobago, is targeted for expansion and is growing.
The government is coping with a rise in violent crime.

Geography
Trinidad and Tobago

Location:

Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, northeast of Venezuela

Geographic coordinates:

11 00 N, 61 00 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 5,128 sq km
land: 5,128 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly smaller than Delaware

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

362 km

Maritime claims:

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the outer edge of the continental
margin

Climate:

tropical; rainy season (June to December)

Terrain:

mostly plains with some hills and low mountains

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: El Cerro del Aripo 940 m

Natural resources:

petroleum, natural gas, asphalt

Land use:

arable land: 14.62%
permanent crops: 9.16%
other: 76.22% (2005)

Irrigated land:

40 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

3.8 cu km (2000)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.31 cu km/yr (68%/26%/6%)
per capita: 237 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:

outside usual path of hurricanes and other tropical storms

Environment - current issues:

water pollution from agricultural chemicals, industrial wastes, and
raw sewage; oil pollution of beaches; deforestation; soil erosion

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geogr