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THE CARIBS and GARIFUNA of ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
 

  • “The Black Caribs of St. Vincent”, Newsday Historical Digest, June 24, 2001, Page 28—Extract: “….The Caribs held St. Vincent in such strength that the island was one of the last of the lesser Antilles to be settled by Europeans and the first group of settlers, whether French or English, had to make treaties with the Caribs in order to get a foothold. The last of these treaties was made in 1773, ten years after the island became British….”

  • “The Brigands's War in St Vincent: The view from the French records, 1794-1796”, by Curtis Jacobs, paper presented at the University of the West Indies’ St. Vincent Country Conference, 22-24 May, 2003—extract: “The Brigands' War - also called 'The Second Carib War' - took place in the Eastern Caribbean, particularly in the Windward Islands, between 1794 and 1798. Today, it is an almost forgotten episode in the history of the then mortal struggle between Britain and France throughout the eighteenth century, for control of this sub-region of the Caribbean. The origins of this conflict, however, go back even further then the eighteenth century and into the very beginning of the European presence. Whereas the Spaniards quickly subdued the indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles of the west Caribbean, those of the eastern Caribbean had held up the advance of European colonisation for two centuries. After the original Spanish colonisers had effectively passed from the scene, the indigenous peoples found themselves in a three-cornered contest between the rival colonialisms of Britain and France. This lasted from around 1625 to 1796. St Vincent was caught in the middle of this conflict. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, a new people had emerged on the island. According to Shephard, around 1675, a slave ship was wrecked on the coast of what is known today as Bequia. The survivors of this shipwreck were then accepted by the indigenous peoples who then inhabited the island. Through inter-marriage between the two peoples, a new people appeared. They were called the 'Black Caribs' as distinct from the 'Yellow Caribs,' the original inhabitants….”

  • “The ‘Carib’ Story”, by Helan Sheran: a brief essay on the ‘Black’ and ‘Red’ Caribs of St. Vincent, as well as the Garifuna/ Garinagu of Central America, with links to various Web resources on the latter, including: Red (or Yellow) Caribs in Yurumei (St. Vincent); Red (or Yellow) Caribs in Watikubuli (Dominica); Black Caribs in Belize; Black Caribs in Guatemala; Black Caribs in Honduras; and, Black Caribs in Nicaragua.

  • “The 'Carib' Work Stones of Chateaubelair: curio or calendar system?”, by Claudius Fergus, paper presented at the University of the West Indies’ St. Vincent Country Conference, 22-24 May, 2003—extract: “This paper takes a new look at the aboriginal culture site atop the Chateaubelair/Petit Bordel promontory, which was first brought to the attention of scientists and culture historians by resident archaeologist, Dr. Earle Kirby in 1969. His report remains the standard work on Amerindian rock-art in St Vincent. No petroglyphs were identified: the only reference was to "work holes", an adjunct of pre-historic rock-art. Interestingly, while many of the petroglyphs in the report have become well known to local residents, international scholars, and the tourism industry, the site at Petit Bordel has relapsed into obscurity in the archaeology and culture history of the pre-Columbian peoples of St Vincent. The site was not included in the report by archaeologists, Bullen & Bullen (1969), nor by C.N. Dubelaar (1995). Indeed, the Petit Bordel "holes" have remained virtually unknown to the majority of Vincentians and even to most residents of Chateaubelair and Petit Bordel, which lie astride this very intriguing archaeological site….”

  • CARIBS—“The island of St.Vincent has a mixed population of blacks, Orientals, whites and Caribs. Before the coming of the Europeans and the other races that followed such as the blacks and the Orientals, St.Vincent was settled by Caribs who exists today on the Windward coast of St.Vincent (from Sandy Bay to Fancy) and at Greiggs (see fig 1). The island today has very few pure Caribs, most of them have interbred with the blacks and are now called black Caribs due to the colour of their skin. This document describes the life of the Caribs before the Europeans arrived, the struggle to regain their lost land that had been taken away by the Europeans in addition to the life of the Caribs has it is placed in today's scenario…”

  • The Caribs of St. Vincent—Extract: “By the best accounts which I have been able to collect, the Black Caribbs originally sprung from the cargo of a Guinea ship, which was wreched on one of the Grenadilloes. They were brought over to this island by the Yellow Caribbs, who were the Aboregines or native inhabitants, with many of whom they were soon connected, forming a motley mixture, such as we now see; but in which the negro-colour and features chiefly prevail. They continued in this interchange of good offices, till such time as the Black Caribbs perceived their superiority to the others in number and strength, who then drove the Yellow Caribbs to the leeward part of the island, where a few of them only now remain. The greater part of the latter went to the islands of Tobago and Trinidade, in both of which islands their posterity are to be seen at present. It is unnecessary to follow them through the detail of their wars, and of their treaties with the French, who at length formed a settlement in the island. At the treaty of peace in 1763, the Caribbs possest the most valuable part of this island. By the treaty which was made with them in 1773, they gave up an extent of country, comprehending about fourteen miles in length, and from three to four in breadth; only part of which was settled in 1779, when the French invaded the island….”

  • “The Caribs of St. Vincent (1793)”—passage from a historical text used in a two week module on Migrations in the Americas as part of a course offered at the World History Center at Northeastern University—sample: “By the best accounts which I have been able to collect, the Black Caribbs originally sprung from the cargo of a Guinea ship, which was wreched on one of the Grenadilloes. They were brought over to this island by the Yellow Caribbs, who were the Aboregines or native inhabitants, with many of whom they were soon connected, forming a motley mixture, such as we now see; but in which the negro-colour and features chiefly prevail. They continued in this interchange of good offices, till such time as the Black Caribbs perceived their superiority to the others in number and strength, who then drove the Yellow Caribbs to the leeward part of the island, where a few of them only now remain. The greater part of the latter went to the islands of Tobago and Trinidade, in both of which islands their posterity are to be seen at present….”

  • “The Caribs of St. Vincent”, a personal testimony by Kirtneey Deane: “My mother’s father was a Carib and also her mother, so my mother is a Carib. My grandmother has seven kids and all of them are Caribs. Most of the Caribs in St. Vincent are mixed with Negroes. The true Caribs there are Amerindians. My mother is a Carib and my father is a Negro. My mother has eight kids. All of us are mixed with Negro….”

  • “Chatoyer's Artist: Agostino Brunias and the depiction of St Vincent”, by Lennox Honychurch, paper presented at the University of the West Indies’ St. Vincent Country Conference, 22-24 May, 2003—extract: “In 2002, the paramount chief of the Black Caribs of St Vincent, Chatoyer, (Chatawe), was declared the National Hero of St. Vincent. The visual representation of Chatoyer as a nationalist icon of an independent Caribbean state in the 21st century was set in place by the paintings and engravings of him, which were done by an Italian artist, Agostino Brunias, in the 18th century. Today his paintings and engravings sell for thousands — and in the case of the larger paintings for hundreds of thousands of dollars — in the auction houses of London and New York. His art was escapist as it was romantic, it distorted the harsh realities of slavery in St Vincent and the Lesser Antilles so as to satisfy his absentee planter clientele and yet in its detail it reveals aspects of Caribbean heritage that are impossible to glean from the texts of documentary archives. Historic illustrations in the tourism literature of St Vincent today still use Brunias' engravings to depict an idyllic plantation society in tune with the demands of the tourism product which, in matters of history prefers a selective memory in the same way that the plantocracy favoured a selective depiction of reality….”

  • Colonial Challenges: Britons, Native Americans, and Caribs, 1759-1775, by Robin F. A. Fabel: "In this examination of British colonial practices, Robin Fabel investigates the reactions of native populations to British imperialism in the two decades before the American Revolution. Specifically, he looks at the Cherokees, the small tribes of the Mississippi, and the Black Caribs of the Windward Islands--all groups whose territories bordered on British settlements, all groups who first cooperated with and later resisted British diplomatic and military intrusions…"

  • The Garifuna—“The history of the Garifuna (or Garifune) begins before the year 1635 on the island of St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean. St. Vincent was inhabited by a tribe of Indians who called themselves Arawaks. The Kalipuna tribe from mainland South America invaded St. Vincent and conquered the Arawaks. The Arawak men were all killed and the Kalipuna warriors took the Arawak women as wives. The inhabitants of the island were then the union of these two tribes. The word "Garifuna", which means ‘cassava eating people’…”

  • “Race, Ethnicity, and Social Stratification in three Windward Islands,” by Klaus de Albuquerque and Jerome L. McElroy (September, 1999)—Abstract: “This study examines 1991 census data in three majority African-Caribbean societies: Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent. It concludes that traditional stratification models based on race/colour and colonial privilege are outdated. Education explains most inter-group income and occupational differences. After two decades of political independence and economic modernization, the top tier of the hierarchy is comprised of an educated elite of black professionals, politicians and businessmen. With the possible exception of the Carib Indians at the bottom, minority groups are very small with limited socio-economic impact.”

  • St. Vincent, from the website of the Caribbean Students Association at Hobart and William Smith Colleges—recapitulates some of the older colonial accounts of the Caribs—“…By the time Columbus discovered St Vincent on his third voyage in 1498, the Caribs were occupying the island, which they called Hairoun. They had overpowered the Arawaks, killing the men but interbreeding with the women. The Caribs aggressively prevented European settlement until the 18th century but were more welcoming to Africans. In 1675 a passing Dutch ship laden with settlers and their slaves was shipwrecked between St Vincent and Bequia. Only the slaves survived and these settled and mixed with the native population and their descendants still live in Sandy Bay and a few places in the northwest. Escaped slaves from St Lucia and Grenada later also sought refuge on St Vincent and interbred with the Caribs…”

  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines: a brief historical sketch from iExplore/National Geographic—“When Spanish explorers first sighted St Vincent, the island was thickly settled with Carib Indians who had driven off the earlier Arawak settlers. Heavy Carib resistance kept European colonists at bay long after most other Caribbean islands had well-established European settlements…”

  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a brief history for Canadians: “St. Vincent was first settled by the Ciboney from South America around 5000 B.C. In about the 3rd century A.D., the Ciboney were succeeded by the Arawaks, who, in turn, were overpowered by the Caribs, a warlike people who came north from South America in the 14th century. Europeans began to settle in the Caribbean in the 16th century, but the Caribs protected St. Vincent from European colonization until the 18th century. The Caribs were, however, more welcoming to Africans…”

  • St. Vincent & The Grenadines, U.S. Department of State, Background Notes, Published By The Bureau Of Public Affairs, November 1994: “Ethnic groups:  African descent (66%), mixed (19%), East Indian (6%), Carib Indian (2%)….Carib Indians aggressively prevented European settlement on St. Vincent until the 18th century, although African slaves--whether shipwrecked or escaped from St. Lucia and Grenada and seeking refuge in St. Vincent--intermarried with the Caribs and became known as ‘black Caribs’. Eventual tensions between the Caribs and the black Caribs led to a civil war in 1700….Battles known as the Carib Wars continued between the British and the black Caribs until the British subdued the black Caribs in 1796.  That year, General Abercrombie crushed a revolt fomented by the French radical Victor Hugues.  Over 5,000 black Caribs were eventually deported to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras”.

  • “The Yellow Caribs of St. Vincent”—an early colonial portrait of a Carib family in St. Vincent, extracted from Rogozinski, Jan.  A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and Carib to the Present. New York: Meridian, 1992.

This page was last updated on: Saturday, 29 July, 2006