Carib

Carib family (by John Gabriel Stedman)

File:Drawing of Caribe Woman.jpg

Drawing of a Carib woman

Carib, Island Carib or Kalinago people, after whom the Caribbean Sea was named, live in the Lesser Antilles islands. They are one of the two main tribes of Amerindian people who inhabited the Caribbean at the time of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World , the other being the Tanios, also known as the Arawaks. Like most of the Natives of the New World, the Carib suffered greatly from European conquest, and only a small group of ancestors survive today on the island of Domincia. Often the Carib are remembered for being ferocious warriors and for cannibalistic customs and have often been maligned by exagerated early European propagnda, that over-looked their many accomplishments and skills, such as sailing, navigation and basket weaving.

History

Although specific time tables are unknown, it is generally believed that the Arawaks were the first group to migrate from the Orinoco river area in South America to the islands of the Caribbean, sometime around 500 B.C.E. The Carib followed soon afterward, invading many areas the inhabited by the Arawaks, killing and subjugating their predecessors. By 1400 C.E., the Carib controlled most of the West Antilles and areas of the cost of Venezuela. After years of hostility, the two tribes settled into a general peace and cooperation, trading amongst each other and in some areas, such as the island of Dominica, the two cultures blended together.

In 1493, during his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus landed on the island the Carib had named Waitukubuli, which translates as "Tall is her beauty"; Columbus renamed the island "Dominica", from the Latin "Domingo", which means "Sunday" Columbus' first encounter with the Carib was marked by the natives' hostility towards the Europeans; whereas history records Columbus was welcomed and made quick connections with the Arawaks he encounter, Columbus and the Carib were almost instantly at odds with one another. After a few small but fierce skirmishes with the natives, Columbus and his men withdrew from the island of Dominica. Columbus named these natives "Caniba", after the land other tribes referred to as "Caritaba", where fierce cannibal warriors lived. Eventually the Caribs warmed to the Europeans and a trade developed; however, further European conquest soon proved the disastrous for the Caribs.

The Carib Expulsion was the ethnic cleansing of the Carib population which took place in 1660 on the Caribbean island of Martinique following the 1635 invasion and seizure by the French military that made it part of the French colonial empire. Using their overwhelming military superiority, the French forces of Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc forced the indigenous Carib peoples to French colonial rule. Through Cardinal Richelieu, France gave the island to the Company of the American Islands (Compagnie des Isles d'Amerique). French Law was imposed on the conquered inhabitants and the Jesuits arrived to convert them to the Roman Catholic Church. When the Caribs could not be sufficiently induced to supply labour for building and maintaining the sugar and cocoa plantations the Company desired, in 1636 King Louis XIII authorized the abduction of slaves from Africa for transportation to Martinique and other parts of the French West Indies. The Caribs soon revolted against French rule and under Governor Charles Houel sieur de Petit Pré a war was launched against them. Many were slaughtered; those who survived were taken captive in 1660 and expelled from the island, never to return.

By he 18th century the British Empire had started to move in and threaten the French and Spanish colonies. In 1763 the British captured the island of Dominica and forced the Carib onto a reserve of 232 acres, while the British took control of the rest of the Island and consumed its natural wealth and resources. The Carib on Dominica, although subjugated onto a small part of the Island, faired better than other tribes on other islands. In 1796 the British Empire took control of large parts of the Caribbean. The population of St. Vincent was relocated to an island off the coast of Honduras where they suffered from disease and mal-treatment. However, enough were able to make it off the island and thrive in small numbers in Central America. Across the rest of the Caribbean, the Carib and other indigenous tribes were decimated in numbers by the European suppression, disease and Inquisition. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Carib existed only on the reserve in Dominica and small parts of Central America.

Culture

Carib woman in traditional dress, typically cotton pants.

Much of the historical narrative of the Carib culture has focused upon the aggressive and war-like characteristics of the Carib people. The Arawaks experiences of fighting and being conquered by the Carib influenced Columbus' account of the Carib tribes. In fact, Columbus' second hand knowledge of, and limited personal contact with, the Carib led to the creation of the word Cannibal. The English word cannibal originated from the Carib word karibna ('person') – as recorded by Columbus as a name for the Caribs. Although in recent years, the question of cannibalism has been debated by some anthropologists as well as contemporary Carib, there is significant historic evidence that instances of cannibalism were spiritual acts connected to deeply held war rituals; purportedly, male warriors would eat small amounts of the flesh of their enemies so as to assume their characteristics. More commonly, the Carib would collect the limbs of victims as trophies, and had a tradition of keeping the bones of their ancestors in their houses. The belief that the physical remains of the dead could be used to harvest some residual power of the living was central to Carib spirituality. Beyond the connection to warfare and sacrifice, the Caribs shared a more general religious outlook with the Arawak. Both are generally thought to have been polytheists, who believed in nature spirits and practiced forms of Shamanism. They believed in an evil spirit called Maybouya who had to be placated in order to avoid harm. The chief function of their shamans was to heal the sick with herbs and to cast spells which would keep Maybouya at bay. The shamans was very important and underwent special training instead of becoming warriors. As they were held to be the only people who could avert evil, they were treated with great respect. Their ceremonies were accompanied with sacrifices. As with the Arawak, tobacco played a large part in these religious rites.

The fact they were able to migrate from the continent to various islands in the Caribbean, as well as conquer already populated islands are testaments both to their skills as navigators and boat builders. The Carib were also skilled at basket weaving and pottery. The tribes subsited from fishing and small scale Agriculture. The social structure of Carib tribes were mostly patriarchal. Women carried out primarily domestic duties and farming, and often lived in separate houses from men. However, women were highly revered and held substantial socio-political power. The Caribs usually lived in smaller groups, but these groups were often not exclusive from one another. The local self-government unit may have been the longhouse dwellings populated by men or women, typically run by one or more chieftains reporting to an island council.

Because of a possible shared ancestory and years of assimilation, the Caribs shared many cultural similarities to the Arawak. After successfully conquering parts of the Caribbean, the Carib language quickly died out while the Arawakan language was maintained over the generations. This was the result of the invading Carib men usually killing the local men of the islands they conquered and taking Arawak wives who then passed on their own language to the children. For a time, Arawak was spoken primarily or exclusively by women and children, while adult men spoke Carib. Eventually, as the first generation of Carib-Arawak children reached adulthood, the more familiar Arawak became the only language used in the small island societies. This language was called Island Carib, even though it is not part of the Carib linguistic family. It is now extinct, but was spoken on the Lesser Antilles until the 1920's (primarily in Dominica, Saint Vincent, and Trinidad).

Contemporary Life

Because of Dominica's rugged area, Caribs were able to hide from European forces. Today, on the island's east coast, there is a 3,700 acre territory granted by the Crown in 1903. There were only 3000 Caribs remaining after many years of brutal treatment by the Spanish, French and British colonists. They elect their own chief. In July of 2003, Caribs observed 100 Years of Territory. In July 2004, Charles Williams was elected as Carib Chief.

There are several hundred ethnic Caribs in Trinidad, as well as a Carib population in St.Vincent-the size of which is not known. Some ethnic Carib communities remain on the South American mainland, in countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname. The sizes of these communities differ.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Allaire, Louis (1997). "The Caribs of the Lesser Antilles." In Samuel M. Wilson, The Indigenous People of the Caribbean, pp. 180–185. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida. ISBN 0813015316
• Steele, Beverley A. (2003). "Grenada, A history of its people." Macmillan Education, pp11-47
• Honeychurch, Lennox, The Dominica Story, MacMillan Education 1995.
• Davis, D and Goodwin R.C. "Island Carib Origins: Evidence and non-evidence" American Antiquity vol.55 no.1(1990).
• Eaden, John, "The Memoirs of Père Labat," 1693-1705, Frank Cass 1970.
• Ethnologue report on Carib [1]

External links

• Etnolinguistica.Org: online resources on native South American languages
• Ethnologue report for Carib languages
• http://www.cariblanguage.org/galibi.html
• Rosetta Project entry

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