Caribbean History: From Colonialism to Independence
AM217
Lecture 2: Pre-Columbian populations and societies
‘The islands of the Caribbean remained uninhabited longer than almost any other of
the world’s major resource-rich regions’ (Higman, 2011, p. 9). This lecture considers
the peopling of the Caribbean region and the nature of the societies that were
established there prior to the arrival to Europeans.
Lecture structure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Changing perspectives on the pre-Columbian past
Terminology and historiography
Patterns of migration
Pre-Columbian societies
Contexts and legacies
Changing perspectives on the pre-Columbian past
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.
F. R. Augier et al., The Making of the West Indies (London, 1960), pp 3-4.
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’, 2011, p. 67.
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Caribbean History: From Colonialism to Independence
AM217
Indigenous names for the Caribbean. Reproduced from Tony Martin, Caribbean
History: From Pre-colonial origins to the present (London, 2013), p. 3.
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Caribbean History: From Colonialism to Independence
AM217
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.
http://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2014/March-2014/CARICOM-nations-unanimouslyapprove-10-point-plan (last accessed 5 October 2015)
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