History

• The Caribbean comprises over 700 islands, subdivided into the Greater and Lesser Antilles and further into the Windward and Leeward Islands
• Archaeologists support the theory that early man entered the Americas around 13,500 years ago by crossing the Bering Straits ice bridge from Siberia into Alaska
• Early settlers in the Caribbean, like the Taino and Kalinago, came from different areas and were preceded by other peoples by a few thousand years
• Staple crops of early settlers in the Americas included maize, cassava, and potatoes
• Villages established by early settlers in the Americas eventually developed into the great civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca
• The Europeans came after the Amerindians. The Spaniards came

  first In 1492, led by Christopher Columbus. They were followed by

  the English, French and Dutch. Atricans came as enslaved people

  from the late 16th century and Indentured Africans, Portuguese,

  Chinese and Indians between 1838 and 1845.
• Archaeologists believe that the indigenous groups practiced mixed farming, fishing, hunting, and gathering, with cultures based on animism and spirits
• The Taino group evolved from another indigenous group, migrating from the lower Orinoco through Venezuela and Trinidad into the Caribbean
• The Taino had a well-developed farming system based on cassava (manioc) cultivation, with hereditary leadership and an advanced culture and society
• The Kalinago migrated from the Amazonian basin to the Caribbean, also relying on cassava in their diet, but their leadership was based on war prowess
• Contrary to common belief, the Kalinago were not cannibals, but they did consume blood from the heart of a slain warrior to gain his power
• The Kalinago obtained their women from Taino raids, which explains the many similarities in Taino and Kalinago practices and language
• What did the Kalingos do to gain power?

  Drink blood of a slain warrior
• Explain Taino migration route

  Lower Orinoco through Trindad and Venezuela into the Caribbean
• The South American and Caribbean tropical rainforests provided humans and animals with food, clothing, shelter, and materials for construction, industrial, and medical uses
• The land in these regions afforded stable ground for settlement, especially on the protected leeward coasts, while rivers provided water
• Historically, indigenous groups in these regions cultivated cassava, maize, and potatoes, and extensively used native fruits like guava, pawpaw, soursop, and sapodilla
• Native hardwoods were utilized to make canoes, weapons, bowls, and duhos (ceremonial chairs)
• Indigenous people in these regions hunted agouti, deer, turtles, and iguanas, and fished for lobster, conch, and crabs
• They made tools and weapons from bones, wood, stones, and shells, pottery from clay, graters, mortars, pestles, and spearheads from stone, and hooks and decorations from animal bones
• Early European settlers depended on the Indigenous people's resources to survive
• What did the South American and Caribbean Rainforest provide humans and animals with?

  Food, Shelter and Medical
• What materials did the indigenous groups use to make tools and weapons?

  Bones, Clay, Stones, Wood and
• The Maya were the oldest of the three empires in Central and South America, alongside the Aztec and Inca empires
• The Mayan empire stretched from Southern Mexico in the North to Nicaragua in the South and flourished during the Classical Period, between 250 and 900 CE
• By 200 CE, the Mayan people had evolved from small agricultural villages into city dwellers, with cities serving as political, religious, and trading centers
• Mayan cities during the Classical period had populations ranging from 1,500 to 100,000 people, with over 45 cities in existence
• Mayan society was stratified, with classes including leaders called ahaw and halach uinik, priests, nobles, political officials, and laborers
• War captives in Mayan society became slaves and servants in the lowest class
• Mayan society was patriarchal, with men being dominant in the family structure
• Mayan religious beliefs included worship of many gods, with the ruler seen as semi-divine and an intermediary between men and gods
• Mayan society was patriarchal, with men being dominant in the family structure
• The Maya believed in an afterlife, but only those who were sacrificed went straight to heaven
• Religious activities in Mayan society included science, astrology, and mathematics, used by priests to forecast eclipses and determine planting times
• Mayan priests practiced divination, predicting the future
• The chief priest, the ahaucan, advised the ahaw and decided sacred days for worship and festivals
• Other priests included the chilane, with visionary power, and the nacom, who performed human sacrifice
• The lvlaya invented a haab, a lunar calendar of 18 months (ulnals), with a 365-day year and an extra 20-day month every five years
• Religious activities included dancing and games like pok-a-tok, where winners were heroes and losers were sacrificed
• During the classical period, Mayan city-states were run by nobles, with the ruler, the ahaw, living in the city