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.

The most common ethnic groups of the enslaved Africans in Trinidad and Tobago were Igbo, Kongo, Ibibio, Yoruba and Malinke people.

[3] Around half of Afro-Trinidadians were the descendants of emigrants from other islands of the Caribbean, especially Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Vincent and Grenada.

Other Afro-Trinidadians trace their ancestry to American slaves recruited to fight for the British in the War of 1812 or from indentured labourers from West Africa.

[citation needed] In 1783, the King of Spain passed the Cedula of Population law, which promised free land to Europeans willing to relocate to Trinidad to work.

[citation needed] In the 1840s, European indentured servants began arriving, including the French, Spanish, Germans, Swiss, Portuguese, English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Corsican, Italians, Dutch, Norwegian and Polish.

A small portion of the group of Indians also began to racially mix into the Trinidadian populace, their descendants became known as the Dougla people.

The National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) was formed by a group of undergraduates at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies.

Responding in turn, a portion of the Trinidad Defence Force, led by Raffique Shah and Rex Lassalle, mutinied and took hostages at the army barracks at Teteron.

[citation needed] Most Afro-Trinidadian and Tobagonians are Christian, with the largest group being Roman Catholics, Anglicans and (in Tobago) Methodists.