In this study of the development of a colonial Caribbean territory in the late nineteenth century the diverse peoples of Trinidad - Europeans, white Creoles of French, Spanish and English descent, Africans, Creole blacks, Venezuelans, Chinese and Indian immigrants - occupy the centre stage. They formed a society deeply divided along lines of race, skin colour, economic position and educational level. Dr Brereton looks at how the white elite, both European and Creole, was able to control the society, largely unchecked by the Imperial power and its agents in Trinidad, and then investigates the emergence of a group which would challenge that control: the coloured and black middle class. This book makes an important contribution to the history of the West Indies, and especially to the history of Trinidad, still largely unresearched. It will interest historians and sociologists concerned with the development of post-emancipation Caribbean societies and with race relations in the Americas after slavery.