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History

Period précolombienne

The European presence

A Baltic presence: The duchy of Courlande

1642, in Courlande (current Latvia in the Baltic) Jacob Kettler is elected duke. He will reign until in 1681.

Its reign corresponds to the first golden age of the duchy of Courlande (which counts 200 000 inhabitants at the time).

The new duke who was partly high out of the duchy is very influenced by the Occidental culture; he is surrounded to control foreign advisers and of courlandais having travelled outside. He continues the work of his uncle Frederic in the metallurgy, the naval construction and the production of gunpowder. He establishes commercial relations with his neighbors, but also the the United Kingdom, the France, the Netherlands, the Portugal…

It is during this period that Courlande (Kettler Jacob being also very interested by the trade) benefitting from the secular skill of the peasants courlandais as marine (the initial goal being to improve the condition of the latter) develops the ports of Windau and Liepaja and founds colonies with Tobago in the Antilles in 1652, and on the island James with broad of the Gambia in Africa in 1651. The duchy is even the first colonial power to send Protestant missionaries.

The craft industry, industry are managed mainly by German which constitute the major part of the middle-class and of the nobility while the great mass of the farming community remains Coure (of Baltic language , and whose the name derives from the duchy) or Live (of Finno-ugric language ). The Latin , but especially the German , becomes the languages of the administration, justice and education. They are the languages of the elites, it should be controlled to make career.

It should be noted that the Latvian modern (or lette) is an Indo-European language of the Baltic type Eastern which was formed until the 16th century of a named branch Latgalien, and it integrated the dialects Curonien, Sémigalien and Sélonien now disappeared.

Courlande then has one of the principal fleets of the world, leant with powerful arsenals. Its navy of war includes/understands 61 units and 1416 guns, which corresponds to fifty percent of the Invincible Armada of 1588 and thirty seven percent of the marine of Cromwell of 1650. So much so that at the time of the English civil war (1642 - 1648), the duke provides the king Charles Ier (the son of the king Jacques Ier), its godfather, six warships with men, ammunition and provisions. It is this naval power which gives to Jacob the means of colonizing overseas.

Attempts at colonization of the island 1638-1654

As of 1638 an attempt at colonization with 217 colonists takes place with Tobago; at that time the colonists are in peace with the Indians.

In 1642, the duke Jacob helped by the Dutchmen sends a new forwarding which unloads with 300 colonists on the site of current the Courlande Bay . Tobacco and Indigo are planted. The Indians help the colonists, except for a minority of colonists which is scrambled with them and leaves to settle with the Suriname, in Dutch Guyana.

The courlandaise presence is attested by documents as of 1645 in the Antilles, just after the short passage of the Danes, the Brandebourgeois and the Swedes.

In front of the failure of colonization, Tobago is put on sale in 1647 and proposed with England but there is no purchaser. In 1650 the situation envenime and the Indians massacre the colonists, the survivors leave to the Guyana, English Guyana.

Foundation of the Courlandaise colony in 1654

This colonial company concretizes really the May 20th 1654, when the vessel with two bridges Duchesse of Courlande , armed with 45 guns and leaf house courlandais installs Windau with the first families of settlers for Tobago. Twenty-five officers, a hundred and twenty four soldiers and eighty families embarked on board. This ship was especially built for the transport of the tropical food products in Europe.

It is the captain Willen Mollens (Dutch) who took possession of Tobago in the name of the duchy of Courlande and baptized the island News-Courlande in 1654. The grounds are divided into batches for the cultures of export and the provisioning of the colony. The fort Jekabforts is set up in the south-west of the island, surrounded by dwellings: the town of Jekaba pilseta (Jamestown). Other names inspired of the motherland appear, such as Grande Baie of Courlande , Nouvelle Jelgava , Baie of Liepaja …

A modest colonial power and neutral 1654-1689

This colonization gives an international image to the small duchy and illustrates the case of a small nation which tries to cut a share in the transoceanic trade, exclusive domain of the great powers. To assure his peace, the duke Jacob multiplies the diplomatic representations in the commercial towns, such Stockholm, Dantzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, $the Hague and the treaties with the great powers, of which most notable is the treaty of neutrality, signed in 1654 with the Lord Protecteur of England, Oliver Cromwell.

The flag courlandais, a black crab on red bottom, very quickly becomes known in the world of the marine of trade.

The Duché of Courlande grows rich thanks to its fleet and its colonies, the duke being one of the most important tradesmen of its time. The duchy exports towards its colonies timber structural, material, glassmaking, jewels of Ambre, grain, Bière, Farine, meat and salted fish. In return it exports towards Poland, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, the Netherlands of the tropical birds, the Coton, the Gingembre, the Sucre, the indigo, the Rhum, the Cacao, the scales of tortoises and the feathers of tropical birds.

End of colonization courlandaise in 1689

However this success is tarnished by the wars which devastate the old continent. Poland and Sweden tear again. The latter invades the duchy and occupies it, the duke Jacob is retained prisoner of 1658 to the July 7th 1660 (peace treaty of Oliva close to Dantzig). The two colonies were devastated and occupied by the Netherlands, which destroyed the plantations and manufactures.

Peace returned Tobago is returned to the duchy which will preserve it until in 1689. The duchy tries to rebuild its fleet and its manufactures, but he will not manage to find his prosperity of the years 1650-1660.

The duke Jacob dies in 1682 and his/her son Frederic Casimir succeeds to him under the name of Frederic II. If the duchy still shines by its ostentation, it is less because of its power, the duke being not very interested by the things of the State, that by the festivals which it gives for itself. He spends without counting the money of the duchy accumulated by his father and must be finally solved, to sponge his debts, to yield Tobago to the British in 1689 .

The British presence

External bonds

Colors the Caribbean ~ your organizer of voyages for Trinidad and Tobago
Colonial Voyage: Dutch and Courlanders in Tobago
detailed Chart of Tobago '' (414 KB) ''

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