Sieyès had once told Georgiana that the modern history of the rule of law in Louisiana began in 1712, when Louis XIV granted Antoine Crozat a charter to develop, administer, and use the region. The charter stipulated that the land was to be governed according to French edicts, ordinances, and the Custom of Paris. Before that, Louisiana had been ruled according to Spanish colonial methods, or rather, had not been ruled at all.
Besides the East India Company, France also had the West India Company. Although it existed for only nine years, this company, established by charter in 1664, had been administering the Antilles since 1646. Bishop Richelieu had also bestowed favors upon the French West India Company, and Tobago was classified as belonging to it at the time.
The book Georgiana was reading, an introduction to Trinidad and Tobago, was internal material from the French East India Company. The earliest inhabitants of the island were, naturally, Native Americans, mainly divided into the Arawaks and Caribs. The Caribs were warlike by nature; they used poisoned arrows in battle and also ate human flesh.
The Arawaks had seized Tobago from the Caribs. They did not practice cannibalism, and the two peoples fought one another for many years, until Columbus discovered the island during his third voyage to the New World.
When the Spaniards arrived, they first searched for gold and spices, only to find cannibals instead. The first crew to land on the island nearly all died, though before that they had been scrambling ashore, eager to become its first discoverers.
Columbus did not remain here long. After leaving the name Cape Galera on the map, he continued westward, passing through the strait and entering the Gulf of Paria. On modern maps, the gulf appeared to have only two exits. One