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The colony of the colonized: the

Duchy of Courland's Tobago colony and
contemporary Latvian national identity
a
Harry C. Merritt
a
Center for German and European Studies , Georgetown
University , Washington, DC, USA
Published online: 23 Jun 2010.

To cite this article: Harry C. Merritt (2010) The colony of the colonized: the Duchy of Courland's
Tobago colony and contemporary Latvian national identity, Nationalities Papers: The Journal of
Nationalism and Ethnicity, 38:4, 491-508, DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2010.482131

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 Nationalities Papers
Vol. 38, No. 4, July 2010, 491 –508

The colony of the colonized: the Duchy of Courland’s Tobago colony

and contemporary Latvian national identity
Harry C. Merritt∗

Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
(Received 3 November 2009; final version received 24 March 2010)

This paper examines the legacy of the Duchy of Courland’s overseas colony of Tobago
as it relates to present-day Latvian national identity using the ethno-symbolist approach
of Anthony D. Smith and comparative cases. As Latvia is a small nation that has been
an independent nation-state for only two short periods, national legitimacy and pride
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pose particular problems for Latvians. To this end, Latvian historians have worked
to reinterpret the Baltic German-dominated Duchy of Courland as a positive period
of Latvian national history and have sought to emphasize ethnic Latvian
involvement in the Duchy’s colonial endeavors, especially on the island of Tobago.
Their efforts have then filtered into the general Latvian consciousness through
books, film, plays, and place names. Since Latvia’s independence from the USSR,
the former colony of Tobago has gained renewed importance for Latvians who are
experiencing a widely perceived notion of postcolonialism. This paper concludes
that the appropriated colony of Tobago will continue to rise in importance as a
component of Latvian national identity.
Keywords: Latvia; Tobago; Duchy of Courland; historiography; colonialism

Introduction
Travelers from Western Europe or North America in the northeastern European country of
Latvia may be bemused by certain aspects of Latvian history and culture that they encoun-
ter there. Perhaps most baffling for new visitors unfamiliar with the history of the area
might be repeated encounters with the term “Tobāgo.” This word, the name of the Carib-
bean island of Tobago transliterated into Latvian orthography, commonly appears as the
name of a business or as a prominently advertised vacation destination in the window
of a travel agency. By questioning the locals, a visitor may discover that these references
to Tobago allude to a period when it was colonized by an early modern German principal-
ity, the Duchy of Courland, located in present-day Latvia. Although modern Latvia is
ostensibly removed by several degrees from this small Duchy and its colonial ventures,
Tobago has been incorporated into the Latvian historical narrative and has subsequently
been appropriated as a national symbol in contemporary Latvian culture.
By utilizing the ethno-symbolist theory of Anthony D. Smith as well as comparative
cases to analyze works by Latvian historians and allusions to Tobago in Latvian
popular culture, this paper argues that the repeated referencing of Tobago reflects a
process of building Latvian national identity. In particular, Smith’s notion of “appropria-
tion” informs both the usage of the Tobago colony specifically and the development of
Latvian national identity in general. With its colonies, the seventeenth-century Duchy

∗
Email: harry.c.merritt@gmail.com

ISSN 0090-5992 print/ISSN 1465-3923 online

# 2010 Association for the Study of Nationalities
DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2010.482131
http://www.informaworld.com
 492 H.C. Merritt

of Courland can be re-envisioned by Latvians as another “golden age” for their nation
outside of the distant past or twentieth century. Additionally, the freedoms granted to set-
tlers of the Courlander colony on Tobago provide a template by which ethnic Latvians
could have become enfranchised members of the Duchy, not unlike other multinational
European states in the age of colonial expansion. The parallel toponymy on Tobago –
of place names taken from Latvia – also provides a basis for the reinterpretation of the
island as a place of contemporary national significance to Latvians. Gradually, through
memorialization on and the organization of pilgrimages to Tobago, the importance of
the Tobago colony to Latvian national identity has been growing. Finally, the significance
of the Duchy of Courland’s Tobago colony to the Latvian national narrative has increased
immensely following Latvian independence from the Soviet Union. With the widespread
perception in Latvia that the country was a victim of colonialism under Soviet rule, the
existence of a historical “Latvian” colony helps to mitigate the negative postcolonial feel-
ings of the present.
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Historical overview of Courland and Latvia

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia is named for the two Baltic tribes which inhabited
its territory, the Couronians and Semigallians.1 Following conquest by German knights in
the Northern Crusades, the Latvian tribes became serfs tied to feudal lords, while ethnic
Germans formed the bulk of the nobility, clergy, and town-dwelling burghers. Seculariza-
tion of the Livonian Order and the end of the Livonian War led to the creation of this rump
territory – the Duchy of Courland – in 1582 that was ruled by the Kettler dynasty, des-
cended from the penultimate master of the Order. Though ostensibly subservient to the
Polish crown as a vassal state, the Duchy of Courland was the only independent state
during the early modern period to exist in what is today Latvia. For this reason it is of
great importance to Latvian historians.
At the time of its foundation, the Duchy of Courland contained about 200,000 inhabi-
tants in 27,000 square kilometers of territory, the vast majority of whom were ethnically
Latvian (Berkis, History of the Duchy 5). Despite possessing limited natural resources and
only marginally fertile soil, the Duchy was blessed with numerous waterways – including
the navigable Daugava, Lielupe, and Venta Rivers – as well as some of the northernmost
ice-free ports in the Baltic Sea, Ventspils and Liepāja. The capital was established at
Mitau, today known as Jelgava, centrally located in the Duchy and straddling the
Lielupe. By the seventeenth century the Duchy was following a modernizing course of
development mirroring both that of many of the Protestant principalities of Germany
and that of the Duchy’s emerging rival in international trade, the Dutch Republic.
Under Duke James Kettler2 (r. 1642 – 1682) the theories of mercantilism and the
Rechtsstaat were embraced, and the Duchy of Courland became a major player in both
regional and wider European affairs:
Two decades in the middle of the two hundred-year period of its existence brought to the small
Duchy prosperity and fame . . . First [Duke James] turned his attention to agriculture, the
natural basis of national wealth . . . He introduced modern methods of cultivation, drainage,
seed selection, and the like. As a result, Kurland, a traditional grain exporter, also became
an exporter of animal products such as meat, butter, fat and wool. Farm yields rose consider-
ably . . . He founded an iron industry, based first on domestic bog-ore, but later, as the require-
ments grew, on imported Swedish ore. A steel industry developed in the capital, and other
branches of industry came into being, such as gunpowder plants, arms factories, glass and
soap factories, paper and textile mills and workshops for the manufacture of sails and
rigging. Sawmills appeared in the forest districts. (Spekke 229)
 Nationalities Papers 493

The Duchy also amassed an impressive merchant and war fleet rivaling that of all but the
greatest maritime powers, numbering at its peak “44 armed and 15 unarmed men-of-war,
60 big merchant ships, and in addition a number of smaller vessels” (Spekke 229). Duke
James, who already had acquired the rights to exploit mines located in Norway, then
moved to establish the Duchy as a true overseas colonial power, gaining a foothold in
every corner of the so-called Triangular trade.3
In 1639, Duke James negotiated the rights to the Caribbean island of Tobago with King
Charles I of England, whose father James I was Duke James’s own godfather. The island,
located in the Lesser Antilles, had up to that point been ignored by the Spanish, while the
English and Dutch had previously enjoyed little success in settling Tobago. Though the
initial attempts at colonization ended in failure, in 1654 the Courlanders at last established
permanent settlements on Tobago, renaming it New Courland (Jekabson-Leimanis 37).4
Concurrently, in 1651, the duke purchased from local native rulers St. Andrew’s Island,
later renamed James Island, and a number of other islets and plots at the mouth of the
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River Gambia in West Africa (Berkis, History of the Duchy 77). In many ways the
Duchy followed the established colonial model of the time: shipping raw materials
from its colonies back to Europe, slaves from Gambia to Tobago, and manufactured
goods from Courland to the colonies. However, the duke’s innovative manner of thinking
as well as the small population of Courland led to a policy that allowed numerous foreign
colonists – mostly English and Zeeland Dutch – to settle in Courland’s colonies as long as
they swore loyalty to the duke. By 1658, the populace of Tobago numbered approximately
25,000 people – “700 Courlander families (totaling no more than 4,500 people), 7,000
foreigners . . . 500 soldiers and 13,000 slaves from . . . the Gambia” (Jekabson-Leimanis
37). The already small population of native Caribs5 fluctuated as a result of disease and
frequent movement between the nearby islands; additionally, armed conflict would
occasionally arise between the colonists and Caribs. However, excepting the African
slaves, everyone who settled in New Courland, no matter their origin, was treated as a
freeman and entitled to approximately 30 hectares of land.
The colonial policy of Duke James eventually proved untenable as a result of inter-
national conflict involving the colonies, war in the Baltic region, and imperial overreach
by the small duchy. Despite officially recognizing Duke James’s claim to Tobago, the
Dutch, having inaugurated their own colony on the southern shore of the island, sought to
seize New Courland for themselves. As the 1650s dragged on, the international situation
became ever less fortunate for the Duchy; beyond Courland’s limited military capacity,
Duke James’s closeness to the House of Stuart in general made neutrality difficult during
the English Civil War and Anglo-Dutch Wars. In 1658, after the Swedish army invaded
Courland and captured Duke James, the Dutch seized the opportunity to conquer Courland’s
colonies. The Gambia was permanently lost, captured by the Dutch – who subsequently
ceded the territory to the English. These events decisively weakened the military means
and international prestige of the Duchy (Berkis, History of the Duchy 95).
Though the Peace of Oliva officially returned Tobago to the duke in 1660, the island
remained out of the effective control of the Duchy for the next two decades. During this
period Duke James sought to resettle Tobago and also in the meantime attempted to
acquire other Caribbean islands. In 1680 control of Tobago was restored de facto to the
duke, and a year later he even nearly acquired Trinidad from Spain, which would have
been renamed New Semigallia (Berkis, History of the Duchy 153– 54).6 Emblematic of
the veritably megalomaniacal goals of Courlander colonial policy, the duke even con-
cocted a quixotic scheme to colonize Australia with the support of the papacy, despite
being a devout Lutheran himself. Not surprisingly, this idea never came to fruition.
 494 H.C. Merritt

During this period, direct control of Tobago was sporadic and was finally fully lost by
1693. Duke James’s successors in the Kettler dynasty tried fruitlessly to recover the
colony, and Courlander governors of the island would continue to be appointed until
1795, when Courland was annexed to Russia. Colonial competition for Tobago continued
without Courland’s participation and Great Britain eventually won the struggle for supre-
macy over the island. Tobago remained a British colony until its joint independence with
Trinidad in 1962.
The prosperity of Courland under Duke James was, like its colonial possessions, to slip
away after his reign. During the eighteenth century the Great Northern War, the extinction
of the Kettler dynasty, and the decline of its protector, Poland-Lithuania, all signaled the
imminent demise of the Duchy of Courland. Russia, which had long had designs on the
territory, finally annexed it as part of the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. Courland
would remain a governorate of the Russian Empire until 1918, when it became one of
four provinces of the newly independent Latvian state.
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Latvian historiography of Courland and Tobago

The appropriation of the Tobago colony as part of Latvian national history by Latvian his-
torians was made possible in part by the rehabilitation of the Duchy of Courland under
Duke James as a positive era in Latvian national history, similar to the favorable views
that Latvian historians hold of Swedish rule. Latvian historiography has followed a distinct
pattern during its entire existence as a school of thought. Until the twentieth century, the
history of the territory today known as Latvia was written almost exclusively by Germans
from the Baltic region or Germany proper. Following Latvian independence in the after-
math of World War I, a conscious effort emerged in which the history of the Latvian
nation, or tauta,7 would be reexamined and rewritten by Latvians. Newly founded insti-
tutions such as the University of Latvia, Latvian National Archive, and Latvian Institute
of History – established in 1919, 1919, and 1936 respectively – provided the training
and a resource base for a distinctively Latvian cadre of historians (Plakans, “Looking
Backward” 293). Indeed, this agenda is made explicit by the editor of the Institute’s
journal in its first issue in 1937:
. . . [Latvian historians] will of course use the same sources which have been published by
Baltic [German] historians. Latvian historians will read these sources not only to study
them, but also to analyze them and to draw from them information about Latvians so as to
build a history of Latvians . . . But the biggest task still lies ahead: to find new, heretofore
unrecognized historical sources about Latvians, to use them and to publish them. We will
study our past in the spirit of nationalism, looking at it with the eyes of Latvian historians.
(Qtd. in Plakans, “Looking Backward” 293)
Though the Latvian state would survive for only three more years before its occupation
and annexation by the USSR, this framework for writing would endure among various
Latvian émigré circles during the postwar period.
Under reexamination by Latvian historians, the period of Swedish rule in Livonia
during the seventeenth century was the first to have been reconceived by Latvian
writers as a golden age in Latvian national history. Swedish administration in Livonia
brought with it regulations improving the lot of the Latvian peasantry both in terms of stan-
dard of living and legal protection, as well as a university in Dorpat8 and a series of paro-
chial schools that were open to Latvians. Interwar Latvian historians like Arnolds Spekke
would supplement their policy analysis of Swedish Livonia with opinions such as “For
obvious reasons the peasants of Swedish Livonia grew very fond of the Swedish king
[Charles XI] and the Swedish government . . . from the Latvian point of view he
 Nationalities Papers 495

appears as a pleasant dream” (218). This style is echoed by contemporary Latvian histor-
ians like Guntars Ābols, who claim that early modern Latvia underwent a “spiritual renais-
sance” that was in part caused by “the dawn of the ‘Swedish century’ which stands out for
the rule of law and of the quest for social justice” (57). Edgar Anderson explicitly labeled
Swedish rule in Livonia a “golden age,” stating that “during the generally dark centuries of
domination by foreign powers, the Latvians considered the Swedish rule as the ‘golden
age’ . . .” (sic) (Latvia 22). Sympathetic portrayals of Swedish rule abound among
Latvian scholars in part due to the greater agency accorded to Latvian peasants but also
to separate this period from the negatively perceived rule of the Baltic Germans and
Imperial Russia.
Similar to Latvian historiography of Swedish Livonia, the Duchy of Courland has been
over time reexamined and reinterpreted as a positive period of national development by
Latvian historians. Writing in 1969, émigré historian Alexander Valdonis Berkis con-
cluded that thus far “Only some competent Balt-German historians contributed to the his-
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torical research of the history of the Duchy of Courland” (History of the Duchy vii). As the
discipline developed during the interwar and postwar periods, many Latvian historians
noted the disproportionate level of prosperity and development achieved in Courland
under rather unfavorable conditions. Ābols extended the positive connotations of the
Swedish golden age by arguing that “Swedish Livonia was not alone in this spiritual
renaissance. From the new Duchy of Courland (Kurzeme) several generations of pastors
emerged who produced work which was important in the evolution of the Latvian
language” (59). Spekke, who had served in the Latvian diplomatic service during the
1930s, drew parallels between the Duchy’s efforts at strict neutrality in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries and Latvia’s own foreign policy of the interwar period; “Duke
Jacob, in particular, had a liking for this system of repeated declarations of neutrality
which reminds us of the unsuccessful endeavors of Latvia in recent years” (224). He
further argued that “the Kurland peasant lived in better conditions and was better off
than his brothers in Livonia,” whether under Polish, Russian, or even Swedish rule
(236). On Duke James specifically, Berkis proclaims that “In an age of great religious
intolerance, the Duke of Courland always preferred the political interests and the
welfare of his subjects” (Duke James 82). By contrast, other periods of history of
foreign rule over Latvians – such as that of the German crusading orders, the Polish –
Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire – have been interpreted largely in
a negative manner by Latvian historians. Only Swedish Livonia had been treated with
strong tones of sympathy and even pride, an interpretation that was later applied to the
Duchy of Courland, especially for the period of Duke James’s rule.
As the Duchy of Courland was reclaimed by Latvian historians as a period of Latvian
national development, so too has Courland’s colonial venture in Tobago been reinterpreted
through the prism of Latvian identity. The subject had been underexplored in academia,
with only a few historians from the UK, the Netherlands, and Latvia giving it any
serious attention. Furthermore, according to Karin Jekabson-Leimanis, even the limited
work published on the subject is riddled with inaccuracies, especially with regard to
dates (25– 26). Latvian émigré authors responded to this dearth of study on the Courlander
colonial ventures with a number of articles and books during the postwar era. Berkis, a
Latvian who settled in the US, published two works in the 1960s in English: The Reign
of Duke James in Courland, 1638– 1682, followed by The History of the Duchy of Cour-
land (1561 – 1795). Though these works use overlapping sources and sections of the latter
are quite evidently paraphrased from the former, together they represent an attempt to
present the Latvian perspective of this period to an international audience.
 496 H.C. Merritt

Berkis’ account covers the history of the colony thoroughly and takes every opportu-
nity to highlight perceived Latvian aspects of the endeavor. When describing geography,
he always mentions the Latvian version of place names, even if anachronistic. For
example, Berkis states that “Around [Tobago’s] Fort James gradually developed James-
town (Jacobusstadt or Jēkabpils)” (Duke James 77). Though he notes the large contingent
of foreigners brought by Duke James to settle the colony, Berkis provides the reader with a
logic by which some of these could have been ethnic Latvians:
The duke invited his enterprising peasants to colonize Tobago. The farm hands had an interest
in immigrating to the colonies, for James granted his serfs the status of freemen in the case of
colonization. The former serfs of the ducal domains not only became freemen, but also the
owners of Negro slaves. (Duke James 77)
Such a situation would compare very favorably with other contemporaneous European
settlers, who often were obliged to migrate to the Caribbean as indentured servants,
even if they had been freemen in the metropole. Berkis is also quick to add that “The fer-
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tility of the soil and the rather mild climate for Europeans promoted the establishment of
plantations and the colonization of the island” but “Negro slaves were treated rather huma-
nely” (Duke James 78). Combined with a detailed description of Tobago’s industries and
economy, the intended message seems to be that New Courland was a model colony to
which Latvians previously held down by serfdom could relocate to achieve prosperity
and self-actualization.
The first major works focusing specifically on the Courlander colony in Tobago itself
were written by an émigré historian and key figure in the field of Baltic Studies in the
West, Edgar Anderson.9 In 1956 Anderson submitted a PhD dissertation entitled “The Cour-
onians and the West Indies,” which focused on international diplomacy surrounding the
Courlander colony and the logistics of the endeavor. Following an “expedition” to the
island in 1960, Anderson published a shorter German-language volume that same year;
this work, Tobago, focused more on topography and featured an addendum on the legacy
of the colony. This was followed by what may be considered his magnum opus, an expanded
account of Courland’s colonization of Tobago that combined elements of both previous
works, published in Latvian in Sweden in 1970 with an abstract at the end in English
titled The Ancient Couronians in America and the Colonization of Tobago. The latter two
works begin with a topographical tour of the island – “doubtless the most beautiful and in
addition one of the most fertile islands in the Caribbean Sea” – making note of its various
place names (Tobago 212, auth. trans.). The reader is thereby gradually introduced to the sur-
viving Tobagonian toponyms originating in Courland: Little Courland Bay, Great Courland
Bay, the Courland River, Fort James, Fort Casimir, and Kalpi Bay (Tobago 217–23).10
Though generally measured in tone, when examining names and symbols, Anderson is
often prone to speculation on potential Latvian origins. For example, when naming various
bays and inlets of the island, Anderson pauses at Conek Point, “which sound [sic] like the
name of the offsprings [sic] of ancient Couronian Latvian noble families who lived in sep-
arate settlements in Lower Courland, Koning, koniņi” (“The Couronians and the West
Indies” 141). He describes how in James Fort “there was a gatehouse with an elaborate
porch painted red and white (national Couronian as well [sic] Latvian colors)”; nearby
stood “a beautiful church building, white, with a red tiled roof and a Gothic steeple
topped by a weathercock and a cross, an anomaly characteristic of Latvian churches”
(143). In his discussion of the final years of the Courlander colony, Anderson hints at a
counterfactual argument implying that the colony could have been bound for greatness
under continued Courlander rule:
 Nationalities Papers 497

The Dukes of Courland made several agreements with English and Dutch companies to colo-
nize Tobago. Those signed in 1681 and 1698 are particularly interesting because of the demo-
cratic principles of self-government, such as the freedom of meetings and assemblies, freedom
of trade and freedom of religion, incorporated in them. Tobago might thus have become a
colonial republic with a local diet (the treaty of 1698 mentioned even a parliament consisting
of two houses) under the auspices of the Dukes of Courland. Professor Moses Stringer in his
petition of 1704 even promised to found a college in Tobago. (“The Couronians and the West
Indies” 362)
Such a description conjures images of Tobago as one of the American Thirteen Colonies
in miniature, even if the proposals raised after 1690 had no real chance of being
implemented. Anderson concludes each of these works with some reference to the
lasting impact of the colony. Appropriately, his briefer German volume ends by reiterating
the legacy of Courlander place names, adding “Courland Point, Courland Estate, [and]
James (Jakob’s) Point” to the list (Tobago 219).
Of course, even a benevolent and talented duke and a few transferred place names from
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Courland cannot on their own be appropriated to convincingly make the colony of Tobago a
part of Latvian national history. There also need to have been ethnically Latvian colonists
who settled on the island. To further the difficulty of this task, Latvian historians had to
counter the well-established historiography of the Baltic Germans. Historians like Otto
Heinz Mattiesen insisted that the colonization efforts by Courland were organized solely
by ethnic Germans with limited foreign support and that “there had never been any Latvians
in Tobago” (qtd. in Anderson, “The Couronians and the West Indies” 146). Latvian histo-
rians such as Edgars Dunsdorfs have long taken exception to this, asserting that “the only
way one could know about the population of colonists is through some known recorded
names of colonists” however, “non-specialists cannot tell whether these are Latvian
names, and no philologist has yet analyzed them,” leaving open the possibility of ethnically
Latvian colonists (61, auth. trans.). Dunsdorfs further posits that there is a good chance that
Latvians inhabited Tobago, since “the Dukes [of Courland] sent Latvian peasants to their
European colony [actually a series of leased mines from the Danish king] in Norway,”
and advocates further research into the identity of the Courlander colonists who settled
in Tobago (62, auth. trans.). Edgar Anderson remarks that the “names of eighteen burghers
of Jacobusstadt are known . . . [they] indicate Dutch, German, Latvian, English and even
Slavic origin” (“The Couronians and the West Indies” 144). He attempts to steer a
middle course between Baltic German and Latvian nationalists, who each tend to insist
that the colony was entirely Germanic or Latvian in character, by emphasizing the
Duchy of Courland’s – and by extension its colony’s – multinationality:
The fact is that the duke was German-born, most of the nobles, army officers and good number
of master craftsmen were Germans, but the majority of the people were Latvians. Most of the
captains and sailors were Dutch or Scandinavian, many artisans were foreigners or Latvians,
and many colonists were neither Latvians nor Germans. The number of Latvian colonists was
small, their influence was insignificant and they could not adapt themselves easily to tropical
conditions. (“The Couronians and the West Indies” 147)
But Anderson’s more nuanced view has not prevailed among Latvian historians. A more
recent work by Karin Jekabson-Leimanis delved further into analysis of the surnames of
colonial burghers:
Five of the men listed below were Courlanders. The first name Jan I. Mulke, [sic] is the
[Latvian] name “Janis Mulkis”. Burres is “Burvim” or in the dialect form “Buris”, also a
Latvian surname. Also Jan Brewer is “Janis Bruveris”. Kennisch and Perkens take on the
Latvian written form “Kenins” and “Perkons”. There is no further information concerning
these colonists. (37)11
 498 H.C. Merritt

These suppositions by Jekabson-Leimanis are hardly certain; one could just as easily
speculate that these names signify English, Dutch, or some other sort of Germanic
ethnic origin. Another book first published in Latvia in 1993 claims that “Still present
[on Tobago] are whites with Latvian names, for example, Lı̄vs, Kūrs, Mālers, Libauers,
Lets and others . . . In the same way many mulattos today consist in part of Latvian
blood” (Bundurs 17, auth. trans.). No source is given for these names. Despite the restraint
and rigor used by some scholars when approaching the limited data as to demographics of
Courland’s colony on Tobago, works by both professional and amateur historians have fil-
tered down into the general consciousness of the Latvian people, and it has since become
an assumption among the Latvian public that the colony was significantly Latvian in
culture and population.

Tobago in Latvian culture

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The efforts by Latvian historians both at home and abroad to claim the Duchy of Courland
and its colonial endeavors as part of Latvian national history have all followed the frame-
work of Latvian historiography as previously outlined, accumulating over the years into
quite a collection of professional and amateur works. Judging by their impact on
Latvian national consciousness, these endeavors have been quite fruitful. Tobago has
become quite prominent as a motif in Latvian culture, illustrated in a number of literary
and cinematic works produced in the postwar era. During the interwar period of Latvian
independence, these expressions were somewhat limited as depictions of Tobago were
just making their way into the history books, one of which was a 1935 volume on the
Dukes of Courland by historian Juris Juškevičs. A popular novel entitled Tobāgo was pub-
lished in the 1930s by Aleksandrs Grı̄ns; it is described as “a rich fantasy which integrates
a fictitious account of Latvian colonists’ life in the distant West Indian island” (Anderson,
Senie kurzemnieki Amerikā 340, auth. trans.).
The former Latvian colonies also inspired several highly publicized journeys by Lat-
vians. In 1933, Latvian pilot Herberts Cukurs embarked on a solo flight to the Gambia in a
plane he constructed himself (Anderson, Latvia 449). In accomplishing this feat, Cukurs
became a celebrity comparable to Charles Lindbergh or the Lithuanian-American aviators
Steponas Darius and Starys Girėnas, though he is remembered internationally primarily
for his involvement in the murder of Latvian Jews during World War II. Two years
later, a pair of Latvian naval officers, Miķelis Plēsums and Jānis Ozoliņš, took leave
from their duties to embark on a sailing expedition. Plēsums and Ozoliņš made a treacher-
ous round trip across the Atlantic between Latvia and Tobago in a small sailboat and were
also celebrated by the Latvian public for their exploits (Anderson, Latvia 449).
Annexation to the Soviet Union and the traumatic experience of World War II drasti-
cally altered the face of Latvian society. Drastic as this was, these changes did not spell the
end of the Tobago motif. As dramatic evidence of its flexibility, the symbol of Tobago was
even repurposed for use in a Soviet Latvian film. The 1965 film “Tobago” Changes its
Course12 was directed by popular filmmaker Aleksandrs Leimanis, best known today
for a series of historical adventure films he directed in the 1970s (O’Connor 181). In
this particular film, Tobago is the name of a Latvian merchant ship out at sea during
the summer of 1940. The ship’s owner had left port in fear of the imminent collapse of
the Ulmanis regime.13 Also on board, however, is a crewman named Drēziņš who is a
member of an underground communist organization (“‘Tobago’ Changes its Course”).
Upon learning that Soviet power had been established in Latvia, Drēziņš rallies the
crew, who then eponymously decide to change course for home. Despite being a typical
 Nationalities Papers 499

Soviet film of that era with its subject and content mediated through Marxist-Leninist
ideology, the film is based on a true story and furthermore illustrates that even the
Soviet Union could make use of the theme of Tobago. From the film, Latvians are
meant to conclude that the distant paradise of Tobago has been superseded in importance
now that the workers’ paradise has been established at home.
Latvian independence in 1991 brought with it a much greater degree of freedom to
explore and celebrate various historical eras. Tobago quickly became a positive and
exotic word association for a business, and in the nearly two decades following Latvian
independence this toponym has been applied to a variety of establishments. In Jelgava,
the former capital of the Dukes of Courland, there is a “Tobago Kafe.” In Ventspils, a
former port of the Duchy from which ships bound for the colonies once departed, a shop-
ping mall named “TOBAGO” has been erected.14 Ventspils is also home to a travel agency
named “Tobago” (Reznik-Martov 4). Despite never having belonged to the Duchy of
Courland, Riga has its own prominent local establishment referencing the Tobago
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colony, the Tobago Casino Club, located in Riga’s Old Town. The website of the
Tobago Casino Club discusses in detail “the legend” of the colony, in which Latvian pea-
sants were told tales of distant Tobago before setting off as colonists – “Fertile land, no
lords, every individual his own master. A unique paradise . . .” (“Tobago Sala,” auth.
trans.). Near the conclusion of its somewhat sensationalized history of the Courland
colony on Tobago, the website further speculates that on Tobago and in the Gambia
today there could be “little completely black Jānises and Baibas scampering about . . .
mournfully murmuring Latvian folk songs. Not understanding a single word, but murmur-
ing . . .” (“Tobago Sala,” auth. trans.).15 One of the most recent business developments
referencing Tobago is an eponymous apartment complex under construction in a lush
setting in the Riga suburb of Zolitūde; once completed, the apartments are likely to be
some of the most modern and deluxe in Riga (“Latvian Firm Develops”). Tobago has
thus become a prominent symbol representing exoticness, luxury, and a lost glorious
era; its increasing ubiquity in public spaces in Latvia continues to reinforce the island
as a part of Latvian history and identity.
The Duchy of Courland’s colonial adventure in Tobago was also made the subject of a
play by well-known playwright Māra Zālı̄te. Debuting at Riga’s Daile Theater in 2001,
Tobāgo! is described by its author as “a tragic musical composed according to real
events” (Zālı̄te 171, auth. trans.). The story, written and performed in the vanishing
Ventini dialect of northwestern Courland, blends the history of Courland and its colony
with fictional elements from the playwright’s imagination. The plot follows the parallel
stories of Duke James and his wife Louise Charlotte and ordinary Latvian Courlanders.
As potential Latvian colonists excitedly discuss the possibilities on the island, the
chorus repeats the word “Tobago,” occasionally adding phrases such as “Happy is he
who reaches there” and “A fragrant, enchanting garden” (Zālı̄te 200– 01, auth. trans.).
Once on Tobago, however, what the colonists encounter is both disillusioning and
surreal. Scenes involving the legendary king of the native Arawak tribe and the island’s
most famous fictional resident, Robinson Crusoe, are complemented with an invasion
by the Dutch, led by real historical figure Hubert de Beveren. Responding to Beveren’s
proclamation that “Courland has fallen” to the Swedish army and that the Dutch will be
taking control of Tobago, the Latvian colonists retort that “Courland will again be
free!” and “Tobago [is] ours!” (Zālı̄te 277 –81, auth. trans.).
Even the Latvian state has in some ways sanctioned and promoted the adoption of the
Tobago colony as part of Latvian national history. Archeological expeditions to Plymouth,
Tobago – the former Courlander settlement – sponsored by a museum in Ventspils have
 500 H.C. Merritt

been funded by the Ventspils City Council (Baltic News Service). Prior to the formation of
official diplomatic relations between the two countries, Latvian President Vaira Vı̄ķe-Frei-
berga vacationed in Trinidad and Tobago at the invitation of President Arthur Robinson
(Chancery of the President of Latvia). When diplomatic relations were established in
2003, Latvian Ambassador to the UN Gints Jegermanis spoke of the “emotional bond
between the Latvian public and the island of Tobago” in his speech commemorating the
event (Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Centre Division). Tobago was even mentioned
in an online article celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of
Latvia. Ojārs Kalniņš, director of the Latvian Institute, opens his discussion on the
matter with a justification, stating, “No, no, the Republic of Latvia has never had colonies,
but they were held in the seventeenth century by the Duchy of Courland and now Courland
is today part of Latvia” (auth. trans.). But Kalniņš then emphasizes the supposed Latvian
qualities of the venture: “Latvian sailors” built the Duchy’s ships, “Latvian sailors”
brought goods back to Jelgava from the “Dark Continent,” and “eighty Latvian families
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settled on Tobago” (auth. trans.). As an official Latvian state-sponsored entity, the use
of such language by the Latvian Institute amounts to an endorsement by the state of the
Tobago colony as Latvian national history.
After decades of exposure to the Duchy of Courland’s colony of Tobago as part of the
Latvian national narrative in history books and in popular culture, today in Latvia it is not
uncommon to hear references to Tobago as a matter of national pride. A Portuguese jour-
nalist, Joao Lopes Marques, wrote a commentary piece for the Baltic Times detailing such
an encounter with a Latvian; when discussing the severe impact of the current global finan-
cial crisis on Latvia’s economy, he had the following exchange with a Latvian in Riga:

– “But did you know that once we had a colonial empire?” Inese, a proud Latvian local, chal-
lenged me.
– “Beg your pardon, I don’t understand . . .”
– “Didn’t you know that Tobago island was ours?” (Marques 14)
After being taken by this local to the Tobago Casino Club and other shops in Riga featur-
ing the toponym, Marques admitted that Inese and Latvians like her knew their history
well but concluded that “this exquisite taste of mini-megalomania is part of the Latvian
genetic code” (14). Even if slightly dramatized, such a conversation is emblematic of
the continued prominence of Tobago in Latvian identity and national pride.
Latvian-Americans and Latvian-Canadians, many of whom settled in these countries
following the elimination of a sovereign and independent Latvian state in 1940, are
more conveniently positioned to travel to Tobago than their European counterparts.16
When choosing a tropical vacation destination, some ethnic Latvians in North America
choose to go the island in part because of its colonial past. Since 1991 the World Federa-
tion of Free Latvians, a diaspora umbrella group created during the Cold War, has spon-
sored annual trips to Tobago to celebrate the Midsummer holiday (Straumanis).17 Though
these trips sometimes feature as few as a dozen individuals at a time (Passionfruit), they
have operated nearly every year over the past two decades. For the 2010 Midsummer gath-
ering, a Latvian-Irish folk choir will even journey all the way to Tobago to perform for the
group (Latviešu Biedrı̄ba Īrijā).
Additionally, some Latvians choose to travel to Tobago on their own. A Latvian-
American from Chicago named Andrejs Makwitz explains his reasoning for visiting
Tobago on his personal blog in the following way:
I chose Tobago for two reasons. The first being is that I needed a place to go diving and it is
quickly developing a reputation as a major dive destination. The other is that as a birthday
 Nationalities Papers 501

present for my Mom I decided to take her to one of Latvia’s only two former colonies.
(Makwitz)
He further clarifies that “As a small nation few in numbers most Latvians get a kick out of
finding any traces of their culture or references to their nation in far off lands . . . Places
which do provide ties can often lead to pilgrimages of sorts” (Makwitz). Though the
ruins of James Fort and the town of Plymouth – which developed out of what was once
Jamestown – on their own served the purpose of pilgrimage sites quite well, memorializa-
tion has transformed the area into an official sacred space for Latvians. In 1978 a Latvian-
American sculptor named Jānis Mintiks erected the Courland Monument on Great Cour-
land Bay near Plymouth; it consists of a series of geometrically arranged pillars and a
plaque that states: “In memory of the bold, enterprising and industrious Courlanders
from faraway Latvia on the Baltic Shores who had lived in this area named after them
from 1639 to 1693” (Allette 71).
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Tobago as a function of Latvian national identity and nationalism

Anthony D. Smith has long been one of the main figures attempting to bridge the gap
between the “primordialist” and “modernist” schools of nationalism. His approach,
ethno-symbolism, theorizes that though nations are themselves essentially modern cre-
ations, they draw upon the pre-existing history of a demographic group. Smith posits
that there are three primary ways in which history may be utilized in nation building.
The first two, “recurrence” and “continuity,” are not applicable to Latvia. In the past
800 years, Latvians have governed their territory as a sovereign state for a mere four
decades, and only then during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Unlike its southern
neighbor Lithuania, which also developed out of proto-Baltic tribes, there is no precedent
for the existence of the Latvian state prior to 1918. Where the Lithuanians have their
medieval principality as well as the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth and a long list
of kings and victorious battles upon which to draw for the purposes of national pride, Lat-
vians can only reference non-Latvian rulers and a German elite for the entirety of pre-
modern history. Additionally, Latvians founded their nation-state effectively as a tabula
rasa, carrying over virtually no institutions from either Baltic German or Imperial
Russian rule.
Instead, Latvians have been left with the third of Smith’s means – “appropriation.”
Appropriation reflects “the tendency of later generations, especially of nationalists, to
rediscover, authenticate, and appropriate aspects of what they assume is ‘their’ ethnic
past” (Smith, The Nation in History 64). Similarly to Smith’s example of Finland, in
modern times Latvian national identity was constructed by compiling and codifying old
folk traditions. For example, the collection of local dainas, or folk songs, has done
much to strengthen national identity. Ironically, as in Finland where Swedes initiated
that process, Baltic Germans led the way in Latvia in the assemblage of the dainas. The
collection and publication of the dainas led to the composition of original works based
on them – though of a more explicitly national bent – such as Andrejs Pumpurs’ Lāčplēsis
and Rainis’ Uguns un Nakts. The continued importance of these dainas is illustrated by the
quinquennial Latvian Song and Dance Festival, which has been central to the national
movement in its various iterations as well as remaining immensely popular among
ethnic Latvians to this day. National independence from the Soviet Union was even
achieved through a non-violent popular mobilization commonly termed the “Singing
Revolution” (Tabuna 14). In this manner, local peasant folk traditions have been
adopted as a central and lasting element of Latvian national identity.
 502 H.C. Merritt

But Smith also notes that not all communities are equally endowed with a “rich or
well-documented, and eventful, ethnic past”; in his estimation, “this unevenness of
ethno-historical cultural resources is itself a source of national competition and conflict”
(Myths and Memories 17). If a national “golden age” can exist only apart from foreign
domination, then Latvians are only left with the era before 1200 CE , of which there are
few records. Thus, as Latvians do not have an obvious pre-modern national history to com-
memorate and celebrate, they needed to selectively reclaim historical periods of foreign
rule as past Latvian golden ages. Rule by the Teutonic Order or Russian Empire did not
meet the conditions, as they represented the Latvian nation’s primary antagonists in the
twentieth century, beyond failing the test of producing relatively benevolent policies
toward the Latvian peasantry. As illustrated prior, Latvian historians have often con-
sidered the period of Swedish rule in Livonia a “golden age” of Latvian national
history. But the seventeenth century contained other suitable material for reconsideration
as well. Since the Duchy of Courland was the only independent state to exist in modern
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Latvian territory in the early modern period, it was an appealing subject for Latvian his-
torians. Additionally, the miniature overseas colonial empire built by the Duchy provided
a promising example of a space where Latvians could be freed from serfdom and given the
opportunity to prosper. In this way, the island of Tobago acts as a conduit through which
hopes for a past golden age and for future prosperity can be channeled by Latvians.
The repeated efforts by Latvian historians to prove that ethnic Latvians must have been
among the Courland colony’s residents have made a lasting impression on Latvian popular
consciousness. Compared to the misery of feudalism for Latvian serfs back in the Baltic
region, Latvians on Tobago could have been burghers, landowners, and even the
masters of slaves of their own. Their Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, with all
of the quaint local traits it possessed in Courland and Livonia, was established on the
island. Furthermore, there is the possibility that some of the European-descended populace
in Tobago could be in fact Latvian in origin, and thus connect through their heritage to
modern Latvia. One might also speculate, as the website of the Tobago Casino Club
does, that elements of Latvian culture could have been successfully passed on to the
island’s other residents. If indeed Afro-Caribbean denizens of Tobago today were
singing the dainas that are so central to Latvian identity, it would illustrate that more
than just parallel places names had endured, but also the parallel existence – and thus sur-
vival – of the language, culture, and customs of Latvia. This is all the more important
owing to Latvians’ own historical status as a colonized people. From the initial conquests
by the German crusading orders to the recent period of Soviet control, Latvians have felt
politically, economically, linguistically, and culturally colonized by outsiders.
The postcolonial perspective has been increasingly applied by scholars to the newly
independent states of the former Soviet Union. Since the field opened wide with the
groundbreaking article “Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post-Soviet?” by David
Chioni Moore, much has been written on the subject, including a large volume entitled
Baltic Postcolonialism. Though focusing on language and literature, identity and
memory also come into play. Karl E. Jirgens argues both that foreign rule over Latvia
and the other Baltic States manifests itself in “a form of psychic colonization, a coloniza-
tion of the mind” and that this has resulted not only from Soviet rule in the twentieth
century but nearly a millennium of foreign domination by “some benevolent and many
malevolent subjugating governments” (47). Tellingly, Jirgens, in his specific Latvian
example of a “fusion of discourse,” utilizes the 1930s official visit of Emperor Haile Selas-
sie of Ethiopia to Latvia; he juxtaposes Selassie’s condemnation of the former status of
Balts as serfs and his status among Rastafarians as the messiah with the fact that
 Nationalities Papers 503

“Latvia, or more specifically, the Duchy of Kourland in the 17th century had conducted an
economic colonization of Tobago as a crown colony” (64). Additionally, in the same
volume Kārlis Račevskis argues that “the elaboration of the postcolonial perspective
can indeed be termed crucial in terms of the Baltic peoples’ attempts at understanding
themselves as well as gaining a sympathetic hearing from others at this stage of their
post-Soviet era of rebirth and recovery” (166). In line with the notion that Tobago lurks
in the background of postcolonial discussions of Latvia, Račevskis mentions in his end-
notes that “Latvia was even a colonial power at one time” and provides a brief description
of the Duchy of Courland’s colonial ventures (182). Indeed, it seems that the elaboration of
Tobago as a part of Latvia’s national past with Latvians as colonizers goes a long way
toward mitigating the present postcolonial identity of victimhood.
In her work on British national identity, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707 –1837,
Linda Colley attempts to explain how the UK created a unified national identity for the
peoples of the multiethnic island of Britain. To Colley, the expanding British overseas
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empire was a critical element in the construction of British identity and loyalty. For the
Scots, “the British army had been one of the few departments of the state wide open to
Scottish ambition” (Colley 126), an institution that became increasingly important as
the UK became a global power. Since higher service on the island of Britain itself was jea-
lously guarded by the English, service abroad became a critical means for Scots to ascend
the social ladder. In this manner, “a British imperium, in other words, enabled Scots to feel
themselves peers of the English in a way still denied to them in an island kingdom” (130).
Similarly, the largely enserfed Latvians of Courland had little hope for advancement
within the Duchy itself. But, with a tradition of service in the merchant and war fleet of
the Duchy, the acquisition of colonies boded well for the ethnic Latvian subjects of the
Duchy. Settlement on Tobago was the ticket to liberation from feudalism, as Latvian colo-
nists would have owned land and lived as freemen there. Though the Tobago colony did
not survive long enough to actualize such a development, it is likely that the small German
population of the Duchy would have necessitated a change in social relations beginning in
the colonies. In the long run, Latvian Courlanders could have gradually become equals to
the Baltic German Courlanders through their participation in the miniature colonial empire
of the Duchy.
One lament frequently heard in post-Soviet Latvia is that “we could have been
Finland,” had not the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States in 1940. The implication
in this statement is that if left independent and neutral in the postwar period, Latvia
could have ascended like Finland to become an economic powerhouse and per capita
one of the wealthiest nations in the world. One can glean from Latvian historians that
this same notion is applied to the more distant past as well – “we could have remained
Courland” is the implied statement. Jukka Rislakki, ironically a Finn himself, wrote
perhaps the most overt expression of this sentiment:
In the 1600’s rich and proud Courland kept Gambia and Tobago as her colonies. When the
Latvian provinces were annexed to Russia in the late 1700’s, they were among the most devel-
oped and industrialized areas in the entire empire. At the start of the 2000’s Latvia was a notch
below the developing country of Trinidad-Tobago in the UN’s statistics on human develop-
ment. (Rislakki 183)
Had Courland’s neutrality been respected by its neighbors, a very favorable counterfactual
history could be expounded. In this scenario Courland could have retained its colonies and
economic dynamism, with the Latvian peasantry in time presumably becoming emanci-
pated from serfdom and enfranchised as citizens of that state. But because the Duchy
under Jacob embodied a “kind of progress and well-being that [. . .] has seldom been
 504 H.C. Merritt

repeated in the Baltics”, it was destroyed by “envious neighbors” (Rislakki 68– 69).
Courland – indeed, all of present-day Latvia and Estonia – arguably formed the most
developed part of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union following its annexation
to each in 1795 and 1940 respectively. But present-day Latvia, at present secure as a
member of NATO and the EU, can now hope for the kind of economic and trade
success enjoyed by Courland without having to fear realpolitik-based machinations of
its neighbors.
Tobago functions not only as a symbol of colonial power and the potential of success
for Latvians but also as a toponymic reminder of Latvia’s existence. Courland, and Latvia
as a whole, have appeared only intermittently on political maps, while their topographical
features have changed names many times over the years. Though the name New Courland
did not endure for the island, “Courland” remains the place name of two bays, a valley, a
river, and a region of the island. In his seminal work, Imagined Communities, Benedict
Anderson notes “the strange habit of naming remote places . . . as ‘new’ versions of
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(thereby) ‘old’ toponyms in their lands of origin” (187). This topographical parallelism
has a number of political consequences for both the colony and metropole. These enduring
place names have been a means for propagating knowledge of Courland – and by exten-
sion Latvia – on Tobago and in the wider Caribbean. In this way, it is no wonder that
Latvian historians constantly emphasize these shared place names in their works. But
non-Latvian histories of the island of Tobago also, for reasons of ignorance or conven-
ience, often use the term “Latvia” anachronistically when referring to the Duchy of Cour-
land. One work refers to Courland as a “former principality of Latvia” while another
equates Courland with Latvia by noting simply that Courland is “now Latvia, a part of
the Soviet Union” (Black et al. 9; Ottley 13). Hinting at continuity, the parallel toponyms
suggest the perpetuation of Latvian language, culture, and customs during periods in
which they were being suppressed in Latvia itself.
Certain aspects of the Tobago colony and its legacy are ripe for comparison with Israeli
national identity, with Yael Zerubavel’s work, Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and
the Making of Israeli National Tradition, as a basis. One aspect thereof that Zerubavel
addresses is the fall of the mountain fortress of Masada to the Romans, in which Jewish
Sicarii rebels committed mass suicide in order to avoid capture. Though an ancient
event, both the site and the story behind it were rediscovered in modern times. During
the first half of the twentieth century Masada, owing to the power of the myth and its
remote and exotic location, became a pilgrimage destination for Zionist youth organiz-
ations. After the founding of Israel, the state began to take interest in the site, funding
archeological expeditions and improving access to the site. As the head of the team of
archeologists, Yigael Yadin often noted that both “the archeological and national interests
were closely entwined” in the venture (Zerubavel 65). Similarly, the lasting significance of
the Courlander colony combined with the very existence of shared toponymy make it poss-
ible for these parts of Tobago to function as a sacred space for Latvians.
The emergence of a sizable Latvian diaspora in the postwar period has been a catalyst
for this process; unable to return to Soviet-ruled Latvia, Tobago could function somewhat
as a substitute for their homeland. To the ruins of the colony of New Courland the Cour-
land Monument was added in 1978 as a formal memorial, furthering the possibility of
commemoration. The emergence of formal pilgrimages to the island organized by nation-
alist organizations such as the World Federation of Free Latvians mirrors the early trips to
Masada by Zionist youth organizations. Rituals embedded in the Latvian national tra-
dition, such as the celebration of the Midsummer holiday on the island, have been trans-
ferred over as a part of these pilgrimages. As “the summer solstice is hardly observed in
 Nationalities Papers 505

Western Europe, but . . . is celebrated by virtually all Latvians in Latvia” (Broks, Tabuna,
and Tabuns 123), commemorating the occasion on Tobago surrounded by the sacred
geography of the former Courland colony is an ideal means of strengthening national iden-
tity among émigrés. Admittedly, these pilgrimages are not numerically large, but, as in the
early decades of the Masada journeys, they represent an important beginning. Addition-
ally, since they involve Latvians from all over the world, who can then share their experi-
ences with their own local Latvian community, or even via web logs and photo-sharing
web sites, they could become quite large and influential indeed. The emergence of arche-
ological expeditions with municipal and state support suggests that the pilgrimages may
enter a new, more significant phase, as Masada did when it fell under the patronage of
the Israeli state. In this manner, Tobago has been transformed by these processes into a
part of Latvian national history both to those within and those living outside Latvia.
Unlike the Duchy of Courland’s other colony at the mouth of the river Gambia, Tobago
continues to grow in importance in Latvian culture. Though both the Gambia and Tobago
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were prominent in Latvian national consciousness, in particular during the interwar period,
the Gambia has faded while Tobago’s star has risen. The simplest reason for this is that the
Gambia is a less appealing target for appropriation into Latvian national history. Few
ethnic Latvians traveled to that African trading post and none attempted to settle there per-
manently, in direct contrast to the settler colony on the island of Tobago. The possessions
in the Gambia were held more briefly than Tobago, and the Duchy made fewer attempts to
regain them. James Island is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but was named as
such as a result of its notoriety in the slave trade; such a dark legacy is not attractive
for appropriation by Latvians. Additionally, the reasons for de-emphasizing the Gambia
may be as simple as internalized prejudices on the quality of life in Africa versus in
the Caribbean. For example, Bundurs contrasts the Gambia rather unfavorably with
Tobago:
The climate in the Gambia is unhealthy, hard for Europeans to bear, humid and warm, and
especially intolerable during the rainy season (from July to October) . . . On the island [of
Tobago] is a healthy and pleasant climate, mildly warm without rapid changes [in tempera-
ture]. Large tropical storms did not rage over the island. Rain is sufficient, besides in
October in which it occurs all month without interruption. On the island is colorful vegetation.
The soil is fertile. (Bundurs 12 –17, auth. trans.)
As Smith notes, not all peoples are equally endowed in terms of their community’s past.
Similarly, the Duchy of Courland’s colonies were not equal in their development, demo-
graphics, and legacy. Thus, Tobago has become a significant component of the Latvian
national narrative while Gambia remains on the periphery.
Latvia is a country in many ways without an illustrious past, and it often seems to be
without a necessarily bright future. The Courland colony of Tobago provides a potential
remedy for both of these. To quote Edgar Anderson, “Thus Latvia begins to get into its
‘grand history’ through the backdoor – via the West Indies” (Senie kurzemnieki
Amerikā 348, auth. trans.). However, the symbol of Tobago is not only relevant to the
past; Latvia is projecting a potentially glorious future through the prism of Courland at
the height of its power. The former Tobago colony has become increasingly important
for Latvian national identity as it has developed during the twentieth and as it continues
to mature in the twenty-first century. Though all national identities are to a certain
degree constructed, not every nation is blessed with the same wealth of material from
the past from which to build this identity. For a nation like Latvia, which has been so
often conquered and subjugated by foreigners during the past millennium, there is all
the more need for a heroic and impressive past. Lacking an obvious period for this, the
 506 H.C. Merritt

Duchy of Courland’s colony on Tobago has been appropriated and subsequently trans-
formed into a Latvian colony, a colony of the colonized.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Dr. Aviel Roshwald for his assistance with this project. His
advice and encouragement were very valuable. The Library of Congress has also been an
invaluable resource and the staff in the European and Hispanic reading rooms were
friendly and helpful.

Notes
1. Alternatively spelled the Kurs and Semgallians. Their names correspond to two of contemporary
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Latvia’s four regions: Courland and Semigallia (Latv.: Kurzeme and Zemgale). The Duchy of
Courland or Courland for short (Latv.: Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste; Ger.: Herzogtum
Kurland und Semgallen). The English term Courland and adjective Courlander (as opposed to
Couronian, Courish, etc.) shall be used unless quoting a source.
2. Also known as Jacob or Jacobus (Latv.: Jēkabs Ketlers; Ger.: Jakob von Kettler). James will be
the name used unless quoting a source.
3. For an exhaustive account of Duke James’s colonial policy, see Mattiesen.
4. (Latv.: Jaunkurzeme; Ger.: Neu Kurland.)
5. “CARIBS: A tribe of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas . . . they did inhabit Tobago, where
they grew the tobacco which they traded with Caribs of the other islands” (Anthony 102).
6. (Latv.: Jaunzemgale; Ger.: Neu Semgallen.)
7. The word tauta means both “nation” and “people” in Latvian (cf. Volk, narod). “Nation” will be
the English equivalent used in this paper.
8. Today named Tartu (arch. Latv.: Tērbata) and located in Estonia as it is situated in the northern
half of Livonia.
9. Alternatively known by the Latvian spelling of Edgars Andersons.
10. Kalps is the Latvian word for “servant” or “farmhand.”
11. Under proper Latvian orthography the names would be “Jānis Muļķis,” “Burvim/Burvis,”
“Jānis Bruveris,” “Ķeniņš,” and “Pērkons.”
12. (Latv.: “Tobago” maina kursu; Rus.: «Tpbadp» nfo>fm lurs.)
13. Kārlis Ulmanis, the interwar leader of the Latvian Farmers’ Union, overthrew the parliamentary
system in a coup d’état in 1934. He then built an authoritarian regime centered on Latvian eth-
nonationalism, agrarianism, and corporatism.
14. In Latvian, “Tirdzniecı̄bas centrs TOBAGO” (T/C TOBAGO). The slogan of the mall, appropri-
ately for the theme of imagined communities and national identity, is “Let loose your imagin-
ation!” (Atraisi savu iztēli!).
15. “Jānis” and “Baiba” are both typical ethnic Latvian names, and the word used for “song,”
“daina,” has a special connotation toward folklore and national identity in contrast to
“dziesma,” a more general word for song.
16. Kārklis, Streips, and Streips indicate that a number of Latvian colonists in Tobago emigrated as
the island slipped out of Courlander control, resettling in New England and along the southern
Atlantic coast of the present-day US. Thus, the connection to Tobago may be even more direct
than assumed.
17. Midsummer, consisting of Midsummer’s Eve (Latv.: Lı̄go) and Midsummer’s Day (Latv.: Jāņi),
is by far the most important holiday on the Latvian calendar, celebrated on 23 and 24 June,
respectively. Latvians observe Midsummer with numerous folk traditions retained from the
pre-Christian era.

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