Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians

Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians
Total population
452,536 (2011 census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Trinidad and Tobago
Languages
Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English Creole, Tobagonian English Creole, Anitillean French Creole (Patois)
Religion
Majority: Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism, Anglicanism, Seventh-day Adventism, Presbyterianism, Jehovah's Witnesses)
Minority: Spiritual Baptist, Islam, Trinidad Orisha (Yoruba), Rastafari, Afro-American religions, Traditional African religions, Baháʼí
Related ethnic groups
Afro-Caribbean, African diaspora in the Americas, African Americans, Igbos, Akans, Kongos, Mandinkas, Ibibios, Yoruba

Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians (or just Afro-Trinbagonians) are people from Trinidad and Tobago who are of Sub-Saharan African descent, mostly from West Africa. Social interpretations of race in Trinidad and Tobago are often used to dictate who is of West African descent. Mulatto-Creole, Dougla, Blasian, Zambo, Maroon, Pardo, Quadroon, Octoroon or Hexadecaroon (Quintroon) were all racial terms used to measure the amount of West African ancestry someone possessed in Trinidad and Tobago and throughout North American, Latin American and Caribbean history.[citation needed]

Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians accounted for 34.22 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago according to the 2011 Census.[2] However, the classification is primarily a superficial description based on phenotypical (physical) description as opposed to genotypical (genetic) classification. An additional 22.8 percent of Trinidadians described themselves as being multiracial, of whom 7.7 percent were Dougla (mixed African and Indian ethnicity).[2]

The islands of Trinidad and Tobago (united in 1888) have a different racial history. The island of Trinidad is mainly multiracial while the population of Tobago is primarily what is considered Afro-Tobagonian, which is synonymous with Afro-Trinidadian, with the exception that the people of Tobago are almost exclusively of direct African ancestry. In an effort to bridge the cultural and ethnic split between the two islands many people choose to be called Trinbagonians as a gesture of unification.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "Trinidad and Tobago 2011 Population and Housing Census: Demographic Report" (PDF). Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Central Statistical Office. 2012. p. 94. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Census: Mixed population on the rise". Daily Express. 19 February 2013. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2015.