incentive that the Cedula offered was a free grant of land to every settler who came to Trinidad with his slaves with two stipulations: the emigrant had to be a Roman Catholic and the subject of a nation friendly to Spain. This meant that the settlers would be almost exclusively French for only French planters could fulfil the requirements of Roman Catholicism and alliance with Spain", thus a large French and slave population began to immigrate to Trinidad and the island's economy began to flourish. Sugar quickly became Trinidad's most important crop, and as the sugar industry boomed, so did the Atlantic slave trade, bringing even more enslaved Africans to the island. This greatly affected the dominant culture of Trinidad. Creole culture became the norm of the black community and French influence could be seen in dress, music, and dance. "Along with the immigration of diverse cultural communities came more stratified social hierarchies. As early as 1779, Roume de St Laurent held the office of alcalde extraordinario of the cabildo. Those who sat on the cabildo, were without exception wealthy white land-owners and slave-holders whose politics were royalist and conservative, men committed to the preservation of slavery and white ascendancy." The cabildo became known as the ruling elite class of Trinidad. "By the 1790s British merchants had conducted a flourishing trade with Trinidad. Its geographical position made it an ideal base, which guaranteed that Trinidad would be safe from the British Navy." "In July 1795 a peace treaty between Spain and Republican France was signed, making Spain (and in turn the colony of Trinidad) to be firmly allied with France. Then, in October 1796, the French government succeeded in forcing Spain to declare war Britain which meant that Trinidad was now exposed to the British navy." With an ill-equipped military, Spain surrendered Trinidad on 18 February 1797, making the island a colony of Britain. "Britain continued to import slaves to work the sugar plantations into the 1800s although anti-slavery campaigns were beginning to gain popularity in England. In 1807, Britain saw the abolition of the British slave trade, though the colony continued to use slave labour to work the plantations. It was not until 1833 that the Act of Emancipation was passed and became law on 1 August 1834." "After the abolition of slavery, the British found a new populace to immigrate and work the plantations: East Indians. Between 1845