Event

Trinidad and Tobago Carnival

The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual festival held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, centred on Port of Spain. It began with masquerade balls of French Creole planters in the late 18th century and was transformed after emancipation in 1838 by formerly enslaved people, with canboulay processions, stick fighting and later calypso and steelpan music. It is one of the largest carnivals in the world.

Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
Image: Jean-Marc /Jo BeLo/Jhon-John from Caracas, Venezuela · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Colony of TrinidadColony of Trinidad and Tobago

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival
MLA
“Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Trinidad and Tobago Carnival’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/trinidad-and-tobago-carnival (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻