Port of Spain of the Caribbean, exporting both agricultural products and manufactured goods. Bauxite from Guyana is trans-shipped via facilities at Chaguaramas, about west of the city. The pre-lenten Carnival is the city's main annual cultural festival and tourist attraction. Today, Port of Spain is a leading city in the Caribbean region. Trinidad and Tobago hosted the Fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009 whose guests included US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Port of Spain is also home to the biggest and most successful stock exchange in the Caribbean, the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE). The
History of the Caribbean two-thirds of Hispaniola were conquered by Haitian forces in 1821. In 1844, the newly formed Dominican Republic declared its independence from Haiti. The nations bordering the Caribbean in Central America gained independence with the 1821 establishment of the First Mexican Empire—which at that time included the modern states of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The nations bordering the Caribbean in South America also gained independence from Spain in 1821 with the establishment of Gran Colombia—which comprised the modern states of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. Cuba and Puerto Rico remained as Spanish colonies until the Spanish–American