Caribbean History From
Colonialism to Independence
AM217
David Lambert
Lecture: Pre-Columbian
populations and societies
Tuesday 13th October,
11am-12pm
Major phases in the long history of
the Caribbean
[T]he sea-crossing technologies – canoe, caravel, and
container ship – serve as symbols of the main periods of
Caribbean history. The last – the container ship – defines
a short period, the last fifty years. The caravel stands for a
period ten times as long, the 500 years from 1492. The
canoe accounts for another multiple of ten, the previous
5,000 years or more. Each of these vessels carried with
them whole cultures, representing an increasingly global
cargo.
B. W. Higman, A Concise History of the Caribbean
(Cambridge, 2011), p. 327.
Pre-Columbian populations and
societies
1. Changing perspectives on the preColumbian past
2. Terminology and historiography
3. Patterns of migration
4. Pre-Columbian societies
5. Contexts and legacies
Map 1 (1492-1504)
F. R. Augier et al., The Making of
the West Indies (1960), pp 3-4
The native people of the West Indies and North and South
America were Indians…In the large islands of the Caribbean
and in the Bahamas lived the Arawaks…The Arawaks took
the first impact of European colonisation. They are usually
described as ‘peace-loving’ and do not seem to have spent
their energies in perfecting weapons of war; but they were
not meek or helpless. Their conquerors faced long years of
resistance which only ended with the extermination of the
Arawaks. The small islands to the south were inhabited by
Caribs. They were cannibals and lived by attacking their
neighbours. They were also skilled seamen and took great
pride in physical endurance. As the European colonists
penetrated into these islands, Carib resistance was fierce,
aggressive and continued for a much longer time than that
of the Arawaks who were invaded first.
Pre-Columbian terminology
• Complex social patterns simplified through
descriptive terms used due to European…
– Misunderstanding
– Language problems
– Nature of encounters
– What they were told
• Examples:
– ‘Taino’
– ‘Carib’
Pre-Columbian terminology
• Our understanding is being improved by…
– Research by archaeologists and
ethnohistorians
– Genetic data
– Scientific analysis of material culture, food
stuffs and use of environmental proxies
• Yet, much of the historiography has been
shaped by older ideas
Pre-Columbian phases of human
settlement
1. The Archaic Period
2. The Ceramic Age
– Saladoid culture
– Ostionoid culture
Map of the Caribbean
The Archaic Period
• According to Antonio Curet’s recent
survey, the earliest evidence for human
presence 5000-4000 BCE
• Two migrations:
- From NE South America to Trinidad
- From Central America (via the Yucatan
Peninsula) to Cuba/Hispaniola
The Archaic Period
The Archaic Period
• According to Antonio Curet’s recent
survey, the earliest evidence for human
presence 5000-4000 BCE
• Two migrations:
- From NE South America to Trinidad
- From Central America (via the Yucatan
Peninsula) to Cuba/Hispaniola
Map of the Caribbean
The Ceramic Age: Saladoid Culture
• New groups arrived in eastern Caribbean
from South America around 500 BCE
• ‘Saladoid’ people spread from island to
island as far as Puerto Rico and parts of
Hispaniola
• Interbred with previous Archaic
populations
• Created ‘creolised’ societies
Saladoid pottery
Reconstruction of a Saladoid
settlement
Cassava (manihot esculenta)
The Ceramic Age: Ostionoid Culture
• People designated as the ‘Ostionoids’
followed 600-900 CE
• Spread to Greater Antilles and Virgin
Islands
• Differences from Saladoid culture:
– Larger centralised settlements and
ceremonial sites in more densely populated
Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
– More hierarchical chiefdoms
– Disconnection with South America?
Chiefdoms in Hispaniola
Chiefdoms in Hispaniola
Map of the Caribbean
Population estimates for 15th century
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hispaniola – 1-2 million
Puerto Rico – 250,000-500,000
Cuba – 100,000-150,000
Jamaica – less than 100,000
Bahamas – perhaps 40,000
Total – 2 million would be a conservative
estimate
(Figures from Barry W. Higman, A Concise History
of the Caribbean (Cambridge, 2011), p. 50).
Pre-Columbian societies in broader
context
The Caribbean Basin has a long, complex, and dynamic history
that began thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans.
During all this time, social processes such as migrations, culture
change, development of social stratification, colonization, and
transculturation combined to create a broad diversity of cultural
and social expressions similar to the diversity observable in the
region today. The archaeological record is one way to learn
about the history of these processes, particular that of the period
before the first European documents. It offers ample evidence
that the Caribbean has always been an arena of interaction,
integration, contestation, and amalgamation, leading to the
emergence throughout the archipelago of truly “creole” cultures.
Antonio Curet, ‘The Earliest Settlers’ (Chicago, 2011), p. 67.
Major phases in the long history of
the Caribbean
[T]he sea-crossing technologies – canoe, caravel, and
container ship – serve as symbols of the main periods of
Caribbean history. The last – the container ship – defines
a short period, the last fifty years. The caravel stands for a
period ten times as long, the 500 years from 1492. The
canoe accounts for another multiple of ten, the previous
5,000 years or more. Each of these vessels carried with
them whole cultures, representing an increasingly global
cargo.
B. W. Higman, A Concise History of the Caribbean
(Cambridge, 2011), p. 327.
CARICOM’s ten-point reparations plan
Number 3: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
The governments of Europe committed genocide upon the native
Caribbean population. Military commanders were given official
instructions by their governments to eliminate these communities
and to remove those who survive pogroms from the region.
Genocide and land appropriation went hand in hand. A
community of over 3,000,000 in 1700 has been reduced to less than
30,000 in 2000. Survivors remain traumatized, landless, and are the
most marginalized social group within the region.
The University of the West Indies offers an Indigenous
Peoples Scholarship in a desperate effort at rehabilitation. It is
woefully insufficient. A Development Plan is required to rehabilitate
this community.