where did the name trinidad and tobago come from
Trinidad and Tobago Historian E. L. Joseph claimed that Trinidad's Amerindian name was Cairi or "Land of the Humming Bird", derived from the Arawak name for hummingbird, ierèttê or yerettê. However, Boomert claims that neither cairi nor caeri means hummingbird and tukusi or tucuchi does.[clarification needed][18] Others have reported that kairi and iere simply mean island.[citation needed] Christopher Columbus renamed it "La Isla de la Trinidad" ("The Island of the Trinity"), fulfilling a vow made before setting out on his third voyage of exploration.[19] Tobago's cigar-like shape may have given it its Spanish name (cabaco, tavaco, tobacco) and possibly its Amerindian names of Aloubaéra (black conch) and Urupaina (big snail),[18] although the English pronunciation is /təˈbeɪɡoʊ/, rhyming with lumbago, sago, and "may go".[citation needed]
Politics of Trinidad and Tobago The politics of Trinidad and Tobago function within the framework of a unitary state regulated by a parliamentary democracy modelled on that of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from which the country gained its independence in 1962. Under the 1976 republican Constitution, the British monarch was replaced as head of state by a President chosen by an electoral college composed of the members of the bicameral Parliament, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.