The sugar plantations that dominate the economy of Trinidad begin gradually to give ground to the cultivation of cacao.

Trinidadian chocolate becomes a high-priced, much sought-after commodity and the Colonial government opens land to settlers interested in establishing cacao estates.

This provides a fresh avenue of economic development to French Creoles (white Trinidadian elites descended from the original French settlers), who are being marginalized economically by large English business concerns who are buying up sugar plantations.

Venezuelan farmers with experience in cacao cultivation are also encouraged to settle in Trinidad, where they provide much of the early labor in these estates. (Many of the former cocoa-producing areas of Trinidad retain a distinctly Spanish flavor and many of the descendants of the Cocoa Panyols—from espagnol—remain in these areas including Trinidad's most famous cricketer, Brian Lara.)