Geographicly Trinidad is part of Southamerica. Practicaly situated in the Orinoco Delta. The narrowest distance from the southwestern tip to the Venezuelan coast is now around two miles. It used to be a lot less, but the strong currents have taken a lot of land from both sides. There is a rock, in the middle of the strait, that once was the coast of Trinidad, with a lighthouse on it.
And Trinidad was, together with the now province of Sucre, on the mainland of Venezuela a Spanish governorship, and part of Gran Colombia until 1798. The Spanish governor first resided in St.Jose (today St.Joseph) and later in Puerto de Espana (now Port of Spain)
But today its politicaly not considered anymore Southamerica, but part of the West Indies.
Tobago, situated further north east towards the Atlantic ocean, is distanced from Trinidad, and also from the Southamerican mainland, was never occupied by Spain. But it changed hands 32 times, often with bloody wars, was colony of Portugal (The only Portuguese place in the Caribbean ever, but only short) Dutch, French, British, Swedish (also very short) German (Prussian) The British united it - politicaly - with Trinida and they certainly lie close to the South American continental landmass. No, they are not attached, but we typically do not make such distinctions for other islands. Ireland and Great Britain are considered to be a part of Europe, as are Sardinia, Corsica, Majorca, etc. Madagascar is likewise considered to be part of Africa, the islands of Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines are part of Asia, and Greenland and the many islands of Canada are part of North America because they lie on the same tectonic plates as their nearest continents.
Most geographers define the Caribbean islands as part of North America, but this designation becomes a bit murky when you look at the plate tectonics underneath. Most of the Antilles lie atop the Caribbean plate which is a smaller plate sandwiched between the North and South American plates. So should these islands be said to be a part of either continent or none at all? A more clear example are the Hawaiian islands which lie on the Pacific plate – they are not geographically part of North America, Asia or Australia. I am not speaking politically or culturally here, Hawaii is part of the U.S. but it’s not part of North America. Likewise, Iceland straddles the North American and Eurasian continental plates – politically it is aligned with Europe, but geographically it is split between Europe and North America.
For me, Trinidad and Tobago should clearly be considered part of South America, but I guess that depends on where you define the plate boundaries.
It is closer to Venezuela in South America than the rest of North America, but it is considered a North Americancountry. No, they are not. They are part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, even though Trinidad is only about 12 km distant from the Venezuelan mainland.
