Just 8 miles off the coast of Venezuela, near the mouth of the Orinoco River, lies Trinidad, the most southerly of the Caribbean Islands. The island is most adored for its abundance of flora and fauna, though it is famous as the birthplace of calypso and steel band music. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish developed sugar and cocoa plantations on the island. By 1797 the British captured the island, naming it a Crown Colony in 1802. Both Trinidad and Tobago became a single colony in 1889 and fully independent in 1962.