Welcome to Trinidad and Tobago

The country consists of two islands: Trinidad (1,864 sq mi/4,828 sq km) and Tobago (116 sq mi/300 sq km). Lying just north of the Orinoco River delta in Venezuela, Trinidad is largely flat or undulating except for a range of low mountains (the highest point is Mt. Aripo, 3,085 ft/940 m) in the north. Pitch Lake, in the southwest, is the world's largest (114 acres/46 hectares) basin of natural asphalt. Tobago, just NE of Trinidad, is the exposed top of a mountain ridge (maximum height 2,000 ft/610 m) that is densely forested with large reserves of hardwoods. The climate of both islands is warm and humid, and rainfall (from June to Dec.) is abundant, particularly where the trade winds sweep in over the eastern coasts.

The official language of Trinidad and Tobago is English, although segments of the population, which, mostly through culture and heritage, speak other languages, including “patois”, a slang version of French that provides a window to the island’s former French colonial days. Since Trinidad is located just about 7 miles away from Venezuela, there is also a growing Spanish-speaking contingent in Trinidad.

The most important exports are petroleum, petroleum products, and chemicals. Trinidad possesses sizable oil and gas reserves, and its prosperity is linked directly to the production of petroleum and petrochemicals. A peaking of petroleum production in the late 1970s and the decline in worldwide petroleum prices in the 1980s caused economic problems, but increased exploitation of the country's natural gas reserves since the 1990s has caused an economic boom. The islands also have a large tourist industry.