INTRODUCTION

Amerindians first settled on Tobago in about 6,500 BC, with Europeans moving in from the early part of the seventeenth century. The population of Trinidad and Tobago is about 1.3 million, and that of the smaller island of Tobago about 50,000. Plymouth is a historical town on the north coast of the island of Tobago, considered the second largest town in Tobago, provides the island with much of its history. Standing prominently overlooking Great Courland Bay in Plymouth is the Courland monument. This geometrically designed concrete construction of rounded pillars was established in 1978 to the memory of "the bold enterprising and industrious Courlanders from faraway Latvia on the Baltic Shores who had lived in this area from 1639 to 1693." Plymouth is the site of the oldest Fort in Tobago and according to the signpost, is 'the Dutch Town Nieuw Vlisingen and settlement, Nieuw Walcheren, 1628-1630." Plymouth is also the site of the oldest church (Evangelican Lutheran) in Tobago 1654-1659; renamed as Fort Beveren under Dutch occupation 1659-1664, restored to the Couronians by the English; renamed as a point of attraction to the French, Dutch, British and Carib Invaders for the next 160 years. One of the old mysteries of Plymouth is the tomb of Betty Stiven on which there is the inscription; 'beneath these walls are deposited the body of Mrs. Betty Stiven and her child. She was the beloved wife of Alex B Stiven.