Dr. Eric Williams said in his
‘Broadcast to the Nation’ on Independence Day, August 31, 1962:
“Our National Flag belongs to all
our citizens. Our National Coat of Arms, with our National Birds inscribed
therein, is the sacred trust of all our citizens. ... Let us always be able to
say, with the Psalmist: ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity’.”
Williams’ appeal for unity is by
no means new in the cosmopolitan society of Trinidad. More than 200 years ago,
long before the first arrival of Indian, Chinese, Portuguese or Arab
immigrants, even before the British settled here, Sir Ralph Abercromby, who
took Trinidad from the Spanish crown, gave the island of Trinidad its ‘Old
Motto’, a verse from the Latin Aeneid of Virgil, Book IV, line 112: ‘Miscerique
probat populos et foedera jungi.’
(He approved of the mingling of
peoples and their being joined together by treaties.)
[After the famous Roman poet
Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, 70 - 19 B.C.), who wrote: 'Miscerive probet
populos, aut foedera iungi’.]
The concept that a group of
people uses a flag, a song and maybe a verse as a symbol for pride, patriotism,
reverence and a sense of belonging can be seen in the widest sense as a western
concept. It goes back to army warfare, when the legionaries or soldiers had to
be able to identify who is where and where is who by coloured pieces of
material affixed to long sticks - the idea of a ‘flag’ was born. The ‘Coat of
Arms’ was another highly visible identity mark for men who were covered from
head to foot in protective metal. Friend or foe looked very similar in armour,
yet were identifiable by their coat of arms on their shield. Little by little,
as regions were welded together by generations of warfaring tribes and family
feuds, those flags and coats of arms became symbols for all the inhabitants of
that region.
The original Amerindian
inhabitants of the Americas had no idea of flags or coats of arms, at least not
in the European sense. They would paint symbols on their skin, and worship
certain totems as symbolic for their tribes. When the Europeans - in Trinidad’s
case, the Spanish, in Tobago’s case, the Dutch - came to these shores, one of
the first things they did was to unfold the standard of their respective royal
house. In the case of Spain, this procedure was enhanced by the firm planting
of yet another symbol on the beach of Erin Point: a wooden cross, in the name
of His Most Catholic Majesties, King Ferdinand and his wife Ysabel of Spain. It
must have seemed a strange spectacle to the Amerindians who witnessed it, but
being master embroiders themselves, they must have surely appreciated the fine
workmanship in the Royal Standard of Spain that Columbus brought: the gold
castle of Castille and the lion rampant, appliquéed on red and silver. With the
cross, the Amerindians had probably no relationship whatsoever, having never
seen it before. With the ‘requerimiento’, Columbus declared their land as Catholic,
Papal and a grant to his King.
Columbus himself was made
governor of Trinidad, and indeed, admiral of the whole Caribbean. Thus, he also
unfurled his own flag in Trinidad, a green cross on white ground with the
letters ‘F’ and ‘Y’ (for Ferdinand
and Ysabel). Columbus was thus the first governor of Trinidad and Tobago, which
the discoverer saw from far away on the horizon and named ‘Bellaforma’.
Columbus had a coat of arms as well, which was bestowed on him after his first
voyage in 1493. It comprised the golden castle of Castile and the lion rampant
of the Spanish standard, with some gold islands, waves of the sea and his own
arms. Later on he altered the coat of arms slightly, and the image reproduced
here goes back to Oviedo, Historia de las Indias, 1535.
Columbus might have been the
first governor, but the first resident governor to come here was Don Antonio
Sedeño in 1530. He settled in Cumucarape (today Mucurapo) and doubtlessly flew
the Spanish standard over his ajoupa. Some 60 years later, in 1592, Domingo de
Vera founded San José de Oruna (St. Joseph) as the first capital, and the flag
of Spain again was hoisted there. It was the time of the conquistadors, and
Governor Antonio de Berrio, who followed his agent de Vera to San José,
intended to use it as a safe haven for the exploratory trips into the South
American mainland in search of El Dorado. In 1595, San José was ‘conquered’ by
a British conquistador, Sir Walter Raleigh, but Trinidad did not (yet) become a
British possession. The Spanish flag remained on the staff, fluttering a bit
sadly above the smoking cinders of San José de Oruna in Raleigh’s wake.
Somehow, its pride was a bit tarnished, since Dutch and English flags were
unfurled in small enclaves in the south, Punta de Galera and Moruga. In the
1650s, Governor López de Escobar put an end to those ‘alien’ settlements.
Not so in Tobago, which changed
hands frequently. Dutch, French and English flags succeeded each other. In
1628, Jan de Moor started the first settlement where Plymouth now is, called it
‘New Walcheren’ and, if he was so inclined, would have hoisted the Dutch flag.
In the following centuries, the Dutch flag would have given way to the English,
Spanish and French flags, and intermittently even the Courland standard -
crayfish on scarlet ground - would have graced the island.
Around the turn of the 19th
century, both Trinidad and Tobago finally remained in British hands. From 1606
- 1800, the British flew the ‘Grand Union Flag’ wherever they went, which was
amended slightly in 1801 and remained so until today.
It was not until 1959, more than
half a century after the annexation of Tobago with Trinidad, that the twin-island Crown Colony
received its first distinctive flag. The Colony Flag had the Union Flag on the
top left corner and the Armorial Ensigns (with the aforementioned Latin motto)
on blue ground. The days of the
British Empire were slowly coming to an end, and the day of the inauguration of
the Cabinet system in Trinidad, the 10th July 1959, the Colony Flag was
hoisted. Interestingly, the Armorial Ensigns had been given to Trinidad and
Tobago only a year earlier, on the 13th October, 1958. It shows a seascape with
a mountain in the middle, a jetty and ships on the water, flying the Colony
Flag.
The design of the Armorial Ensign
of 1958 was based on the Great Seal of the colony of 1803, which looks just
like it and bears on its circumference the words: ‘Sigillum Insulae Nostrae
Trinitatis’ (Seal of Our Island of Trinidad). On the reverse the seal reads:
Georgius Tertius Dei Gratia, - Britanniarum Rex, Fidei Defensor’ (George III by
God’s Grace, King of Britannia, Defender of the Faith’).
Tobago’s Great Seal dates from at
least 1815, also from the reign of George III. It shows on one side four ships,
three at anchor and one sailing. A coconut palm is on the left, hills,
buildings and more palmtrees are in the background. A sun with rays and a face
smiles above all. The motto is: ‘Pulchrior evenit’ (‘It emerges more
beautiful’). The Flag Badge of Tobago is similar, with one ship, a hill and a
palmtree in the foreground. Interestingly, albeit the fact that after Tobago’s
unification with Trinidad in 1889 the common governor of both islands flew the
Trinidad Flag Badge emblazoned on the Union Flag as his standard, the Tobago Flag
Badge was impressed upon currency notes of the government of Trinidad and
Tobago until many decades later.
On June 8, 1962, it was announced
in London that Trinidad and Tobago would be granted independence on the 31st
August of that same year. Feverishly, a new flag needed to be designed. A
committee was appointed to choose a design and a new motto, and in no time - on
26th June, to be precise - the committee submitted a design, which the Cabinet
approved.
Since then, the official flag of
Trinidad and Tobago is on a red field, a bend dexter sable bordered silver’.
And while there may be as many symbolic meanings of this design as there are
people in T&T, the official one of 1962 reads:
“The Black represents for us the
dedication of the people joined together by one strong bond. It is the colour
of strength, of unity of purpose, and of the wealth of the land. Red is the
colour most expressive of our country. It represents the vitality of the land
and its peoples, it is the warmth and energy of the sun, the courage and
friendliness of the people. White is the sea by which these lands are bound,
the cradle of our heritage, the purity of our aspirations and the equality of
all men under the sun.”
(Source: ‘Our Flag’ -
Independence Publication - Gov. of Trinidad and Tobago, 1962)
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