2. The Historical Process Flashcards
Caribbean society began with
migration
With slavery abolished in 1838, ex-plantation workers began to
move within the region for economic opportunities
countries in the region that ex-plantation workers moved to for economic opportunities (7)
1) British Guiana
2) Costa Rica
3) Cuba
4) Panama
5) Santa Domingo
6) Trinidad
7) Venezuela
why did ex-plantation workers move to Costa Rica
construction of the railroads (being done by the USA)
why did ex-plantation workers move to Panama
construction of the Panama Canal (started by the French, completed by the USA)
why did ex-plantation workers move to Trinidad and Venezuela
oil industry
why did ex-plantation workers move to British Guiana, Santa Domingo and Cuba
sugar industry (late 1800 when wages were higher)
numbers of ex-plantation that moved in immediate post-emancipation (3)
11,000 emigrated to Trinidad from Eastern Caribbean
5,000 went to British Guiana
Barbadians moved to St. Croix and Dutch Guiana (Suriname) 1800s
In contemporary Caribbean, strong economics attract
migrants
Trinidad’s migrants were primarily from
Windward Islands
Bahamas migrants were primarily from
Leeward Islands (to work in tourism)
Dominican Republic migrants were primarily from
Jamaica, and Eastern Caribbean (1980s)
The migrants that came to the Caribbean were (4)
1) Involved Jamaican labourers
2) Some from the Eastern Caribbean.
3) Worked in the sugar industry
4) Expected to return home at the end of crop season.
people who immigrated to the caribbean (4)
1) Amerindians
2) The Europeans
3) The Africans
4) Indentured Servants (Indians)
explain the immigration of Amerindians into the caribbean
they first crossed Bering Straight during the Ice-Age, following their food
then they came up from the Orinoco in Venezuela and went as far as Cuba and the Bahamas then they settled on island coasts for easy; food, travel, protection, and sometimes settled near to clay deposits
why did the Amerindians sometimes settled near to clay deposits
because they lacked technology to navigate the forest, and make it habitable
where the Tainos settled
Greater Antilles, Barbados
where the Kalinagos settled
Lesser Antilles
the Amerindians were exploited by
Spanish to extract labour using the Encomienda System
the Amerindians had their own
political, economic, recreational, social, and agricultural systems and Gender division of labour
when did The Europeans immigrate to caribbean
in 15th century (1492)
why did The Europeans immigrate to caribbean
In search of lust and greed.
Gold, Glory, God
what did The Europeans do when they immigrated to caribbean?
They enslaved the Amerindians via Encomienda but then the Encomienda ultimately failed, and they then used European Indentureship (Ridded Europe of vagrants, criminals and vagabonds) and then they settled in other territories
the territories The Europeans settled in after the Encomienda ultimately failed (4)
1) Spanish - Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola ii.
2) French - Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Martinique
3) English - St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua, Barbados iv.
4) Dutch - Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao (ABC islands)
when did the Africans immigrate to the Caribbean
African immigration started in 1600s and increased in 1700s due to Sugar Revolution
why did the Africans immigrate to the Caribbean
After the failure of Encomienda, Africans were used as labour
they were Brought from West Africa and they worked where there was slavery/colonialism: British/Spanish/French West Indies being exploited using Slavery (until 1838) and the Plantation System (after emancipation)
the Only form of forced migration to Caribbean was
the Africans
when did the Indentured Servants (Indians) immigrate to the Caribbean
Post emancipation (1838)
Most came from Calcutta and Madras in India
why did the Indentured Servants (Indians) immigrate to the Caribbean
for Extra and intra-regional migration - attempts to improve socioeconomic status
to region to satisfy labour demands in post-emancipation Caribbean
Worked under contract for 5, 7, or 10 years.
where did the Indentured Servants (Indians) settle when they came to the Caribbean (3)
Settled where there was great demand for labour: Trinidad, Jamaica and British Guiana
what did the Indentured Servants (Indians) bring when they came to the Caribbean
new cultures and Religions
what were the working conditions of the Indentured Servants (Indians) that came to the Caribbean
Horrible conditions, small wage, wages penalized for frivolous reasons.
they were Exploited using Indentureship and
worked under horrible conditions, small wage, penalisations for frivolous reasons
Emigration in the caribbean started in
early 1900s, continues to present
inter island migration is
migration between islands
reasons for emigration in the Caribbean (5)
1) Panama canal (Between 70,000-100,000 migrant workers in total)
2) Sugar & Banana Plantations
3) Railroads
4) oil industry
5) US, UK, Canada for more working conditions and economic development
migrants who came due to the panama canal settled where?
settled permanently at terminal points of the canal; Panama City, Colón
how migrants preserved their caribbean culture (4)
1) Ate Caribbean food – red beans & rice
2) Listened to calypso
3) Spoke English or French Creole
4) Established special schools with English instruction
who constructed the panama canal
it was started by the French and finished by the USA
migrants who came for Sugar & Banana Plantations settled where? (5)
British Guiana
Costa Rica
Cuba,
Honduras
Santa Domingo
what west indies migrate to the US, UK, Canada
WW2 (sent to rebuild society in the US)
1951-1960 about 280,000 West Indians went to Britain to work on the London Transport and as Nurses but they worked in dirtiest, lowest paid, least skilled occupations and were not welcome in the UK
Migrants needed to rebuild Britain in 1950s post-war
what are some significant themes in the development of Caribbean society and culture
1) migration
2) economic systems
3) responses of people to oppression and genocide
4) political and economic movements towards independence.
An ethnocentric outlook views
history and current affairs from the point of view of one’s own culture
explain the early Migratory movement and settlement patterns
nomadic Amerindians/Indigenous Peoples’ migrated from Asia to settle in North, Central & South America.
(nomads-moved about in groups or tribes searching for food, and pasture lands for their herds in the face of harsh winters).
last Ice Age of the world large sections of the earth including land, seas and oceans were covered with ice. mongoloid peoples of East Central Asia migrated from their homeland across the Bering Strait which connects Siberia with Alaska in North America.
- Sioux, Cherokee Indians and Eskimos settled North America
- the Mayans settled in countries of Central America.
- The Tainos and Kalinagos migrated further south in the Caribbean in the Greater and Lesser Antilles
The Mayans established city states while the Tainos and Kalinagos did not develop beyond the village stage with rudimentary (basic) social and political structures.
The history of the Caribbean can be divided up chronologically into different historical periods, but running through them are some common themes that connect people’s experiences and the legacies of these through time.
The main themes are:
migration of different groups into, within and out of the region and their cultural and social impact
oppression through conquest, colonization and imposed systems of production, including forced labour;
resistance to this oppression
what was the migration movement that happened 11,000–12,000 years ago
the settlement of various Eurasian groups in the Caribbean
what was the migration movement that happened 1200s–1300s
Migration of the Tainos to the Greater Antilles and the establishment of Kalinagos settlements in the Lesser Antilles
what was the migration movement that happened in 1492–1494
The arrival of Columbus; Pope gives Spain exclusive rights to the colonies; beginning of Spanish settlements in the Caribbean
what was the migration movement that happened in 1500s
Spaniards begin to extort control of the Americas through the establishment of colonies, systems of government, economic systems and systems of production such as encomienda
what was the migration movement that happened in 1600s–1700s
Migration of colonizers from other European nations into the Americas; the establishment of plantations and labour systems such as African slavery; challenges to Spain’s control of the Americas
what was the migration movement that happened in 1791–1832
Period of revolutions; the slave trade ends; emancipation movements
what was the migration movement that happened in 1833–1838
Emancipation of enslaved Africans; alternative labourers introduced to colonies from India (indentureship)
what was the migration movement that happened in 1838 –1865
Continued recruitment of indentured labour from India to the Caribbean; recruitment of indentured labour from China (1850s–1866)
what was the migration movement that happened in 1865–1930s
Morant Bay rebellion (1865); East Indian indentureship ends (1917); labour riots and disturbances of the 1930s
what was the migration movement that happened in 1940s–present
universal adult suffrage granted; internal self-government granted; independence movement
Eurasia is
the combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia; more directly located in the area now known as Siberia
kalinagos settled mostly where?
Lesser Antilles
eg. north-west Trinidad, Puerto Rico, parts of Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia
the kalinagos settled along the coast in the lesser Antilles for
- Protection
- Fishing
- Recreation
- Household purposes
- Transportation
Tainos settled where?
Settled in the Greater Antilles
eg. Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, San Salvador (San Salvador), Barbados
Tainos settled along the coast in the Greater Antilles for
- Protection
- Fishing
- Recreation
- Household purposes
- Farming
- Transportation
where did the mayans settle?
Settled in Central America eg. Honduras, Guatemala, Southern Mexico and the Belize, Yucatan Penninsula
An ethnocentric outlook is what
An ethnocentric outlook views history and current affairs from the point of view of one’s own culture.
Caribbean history has in the past been written by
persons with a Eurocentric perspective.
That is from a European outlook.
So Caribbean history was thought to have started when Columbus arrived in 1492.
This has been rectified by later Caribbean historians eg Dr. Eric Williams
Our historiography (the writing of our history)
was heavily influenced by Eurocentric views, which
meant that scholars thought of Caribbean history as
beginning when
Columbus arrived in the New World
The fact that the earliest remains of Caribbean habitation are found in both Trinidad and Cuba suggests that
migrations into the Caribbean were not just from south to north but that people also entered the region from Central America, and even Florida
Most scholars believe that the original inhabitants of the American continents came from Asia at the end of the last Ice Age, when there was still a land bridge across the Bering Strait
Taino is now used to refer to
Arawaks
The Tainos evolved out of
cultural mixing among the earlier peoples of the Greater Antilles; they did not come as a separate wave of migration
The Pre-Columbian period refers to
the period before the arrival of Columbus in the Americas (that is, that period prior to 1492)
When Columbus landed in Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and The Dominican Republic) in 1492, he mistakenly believed that
he landed in the East.
This is the reason he called the region the Indies and referred to the indigenous people as “Indians”
The indigenous people or Amerindians that Columbus met in Hispaniola were called
the Taino people.
It was later discovered that in other islands in the Caribbean there was another indigenous group call the Kalinagos (or Caribs).
It is believed that the Caribbean got its name from the Caribs who were so aggressive towards the Europeans
where did Both the Taino and Kalinago people settled
Trinidad and Tobago and Puerto Rico
family organization of Tainos
village settlements
along river valleys and coastal areas
social organization of Tainos
women did farming, (slash and burn)
men did hunting and fishing,
their society was hierarchical and pacific
men and women lived together in the same household and raised children
government of Tainos
led by a Cacique who inherited his rule.
The Cacique was a religious leader and was therefore a high priest and judge.
He settled all disputes.
He was assisted by elderly men called mitaynos.
customs of Tainos
flattened forehead of babies
singing, dancing, smoking tobacco, playing batos.
Smoking was very important because it allows them to communicate with the spirits
food of tainos
seafoods (fish, crabs and shrimp),vegetables, pepper,
pepper pot soup, cassava, iguana, small dogs and other small animals. Barbeque.
Architecture of tainos
rectangular houses made of thatch, straws, wood and poles.
The Cacique house was usually the biggest and rectangular to distinguish from the others
Farming methods of tainos
women did the farming (but men must have assisted to help to do strenuous work such as digging etc)
slash and burn farming
farming for subsistence
primitive tools
Technology of tainos
canoes (boats that could trade with other islands and sometimes to Central America), stone tools, spears, bows and arrows, straw baskets, hammocks etc
Religion of tainos
Believed in spiritualisms, spirits takes the forms of zemis (which appeared in any shape and form), believed that the spirits were present in everything , led by the Cacique
appearance of kalinagos
dark complexion with long, straight black hair, short sturdy built, tall and strong and wore chains and pierced different section of their bodies
family of kalinagos
village settlement
Social organization of kalinagos
women did farming (often kidnapped Taino women to do this),
men did hunting and fishing,
society was very militaristic,
men and women lived separately apart
Government of kalinagos
Led by the Ouboutou (chief leader),
Leaders were elected from a test of bravery (usually from warfare and skills in battle),
no organized system of justice
independent families
Religion of kalinagos
spiritualistic, believed in evil spirts (maboya)
Customs of kalinagos
very decorative, singing, dancing, smoking tobacco.
Initiation into manhood, boys had to go to school to learn how to fight, flattened babies’ forehead, wore jewellery, paint faces (perhaps due to heat but gave them an aggressive appearance).
food and technology of kalinagos
similar to the Taino
Architecture of kalinagos
rectangular houses made from indigeous materials (straws, wood, poles etc)
what was the main system of production in indigenous societies
Slash and Burn farming
Slash and Burn farming is
a method of cultivation in which forest areas where burned and cleared for planting.
The indigenous people would cut down forest areas and leave them to dry. After they are dry, they set them ablaze. The ash from the trees will fertilize the land
Burning trees was also and important way to clear lands for the creation of fishing plots or housing
Miscegenation refers to
sexual relations and therefore genetic mixing between different races
the Mayans settled inland, in the dense forest regions, for the following reasons:
- Protection
- Farming
- Firm foundation to construct their buildings.
- For trade
- Easy access to building materials.
what discrimination did Migrants encounter
Were forced to assemble in ghetto apartments.
Non-whites were kept out of public entertainment spots. Eg. pubs.
Racial tension caused riots between white and black youths.
This Outward migration has led to
the Diasporic Caribbean
political systems of Maya and Inca
Both Maya and Inca also had complex political systems
Maya elect their leaders while the Inca had a hereditary system where leaders rose to power based on family ties, supported by complex religious beliefs that validated leaders and their privileges.
what were some Amerindian inventions?
cassava cakes
taino barbecue
hammock
extraction of dyes from woods
tobacco cultivation and smoking
cacao cultivation and chocolate making
Words such as hurricane, canoe, barbecue, hammock, tobacco, cannibal, cay (or key), barracuda, maize, cassava, cacao, manicou, agouti and savanna Place names and names of natural features in Trinidad and Tobago, for example, include Arima, Tunapuna, Mucurapo, the Caroni and Oropuche rivers, the Taman and Aripo mountains
how/why was cassava cakes adopted by the Europeans
These cakes made of cassava/yuca flour did not spoil as easily as European wheat bread and helped to sustain the Europeans while they travelled in and out of the Caribbean
today’s usage of cassava cakes
Called ‘bammy’ in many Caribbean territories (other names include ‘ereba’, ‘casabe’) and traditionally eaten with fish (just like the Tainos did).
A main source of income for many rural Caribbean farmers who sell them to hotels and locals alike.
how/why was taino barbeque adopted by the Europeans
this method of cooking preserved the meat for long periods.
today’s usage of tainos barbecue
Jamaican jerk chicken and pork is a direct derivative of Taino barbecue.
how/why was hammocks adopted by the Europeans
it was installed on ships as a means of cheap bedding for sailors, and in trees to keep explorers off the ground and away from insects and other crawling creatures.
today’s usage of hammocks
Used in homes in rural areas to relax or sleep.
Many have been installed in major hotels and tourist attractions for relaxation
how/why was Extraction of dyes from woods adopted by the Europeans
The dye industry became a major Caribbean economic activity for many Europeans.
This accompanied the increased cultivation of cotton in the Americas to fuel large European clothing factories.
today’s usage of Extraction of dyes from woods
The use of wood dyes is not widespread throughout the Caribbean as a commercial activity.
The tradition is still continued by many high schools that teach students how to extract and apply these dyes as part of their course work.
how/why was Tobacco cultivation and smoking adopted by the Europeans
Became a major cash crop for the European colonies (later to be largely replaced in many areas of the Caribbean by sugar). It was grown on large farms and often rolled into cigars and exported. Tobacco smoking became a symbol of the wealthy in Europe.
today’s usage of Tobacco cultivation and smoking
Its cultivation is still a very important industry in some Caribbean countries, such as Cuba.
how/why was Cacao cultivation and chocolate making adopted by the Europeans
Chocolate was an important product to the European colonial economies up to the 20th century
today’s usage of Cacao cultivation and chocolate making
Agro diseases have led to a decline in cacao cultivation in the Caribbean.
However, it is still produced in the region.
Until 2009 the Dominican Republic led the world in ‘Fairtrade-certified’ cacao production and it remains a key producer.
how/why was Words such as hurricane, canoe, barbecue, hammock, tobacco, cannibal, cay (or key), barracuda, maize, cassava, cacao, manicou, agouti and savanna.
Place names and names of natural features in Trinidad and Tobago, for example, include Arima, Tunapuna, Mucurapo, the Caroni and Oropuche rivers, the Taman and Aripo mountains adopted by the Europeans
Specifically Caribbean or American terms passed into common usage, a process facilitated by the use of Amerindian translators.
today’s usage of Words such as hurricane, canoe, barbecue, hammock, tobacco, cannibal, cay (or key), barracuda, maize, cassava, cacao, manicou, agouti and savanna
Place names and names of natural features in Trinidad and Tobago, for example, include Arima, Tunapuna, Mucurapo, the Caroni and Oropuche rivers, the Taman and Aripo mountains
Many Amerindian words have become part of the language of Caribbean people and beyond, even if we are unaware of their origins.
it is believed that the first set of Europeans who came were
the Spanish in 1492 who established colonies in different areas of the Caribbean
