carib M1 S2

• Migratory Movements and Settlement Patterns from Pre-Colombian Times


  1. Pre Columbian: Caribbean populated due to movement from South America and Central America

  2. The New World populated due to movements of the Asiatic (Asian) People from Bering Land Bridge

  3. The first Americans migrated into North America from Asia more than fourteen to twenty thousand years ago via an overland route across the frozen Land Bridge

  4. The oldest known remains in the Caribbean were found in Rock Road, Penal, Trinidad (Banwarie Man)

  5. The first group of people found was called the Ciboney and they primarily existed in the Lesser Antilles

  6. The next known migration was the Tainos (Note: Arawak is the language) and the last group of Amerindians was the Kalinagos (Caribs)

  7. The Tainos primarily inhabited the Greater Antilles and the Caribs inhabited the Lesser Antilles
• Tainos


  • Able to achieve a high level of cementary living
  • Had a very Dependable Advanced Scientific Agricultural Practice, one of their main crops was the cassava
• Kalinagos (Caribs)


  • Very fierce people
  • Often times exploited Tainos
  • Captured Tainos people for sacrifice (Eating them for Ceremonial Purposes)
  • Became a major part of European history because they resisted European Oppression much more than the Tainos
• The Amerindians suffered under Europeans and this then led to Genocide of the Amerindians at the hands of the Europeans
• Reasons for Amerindian Genocide

  • Diseases brought by Europeans
  • Wars of European Conquest
  • War Animals (e.g. Dogs, Horses)
  • Destruction of Food Supplies
  • Slavery in the Mines
• Signalled a turning point in history, the year of "Discovery"


  1492
• There was a Superimposition of a Eurocentric / Ethnocentric Attitude of Ownership, Domination and Exploitation upon the Caribbean since the Caribbean was described as being inferior
• The New World opened up avenues for European Wealth Exploitation
• Europeans look upon the New World with the attitude of Ownership
• In the Pursuit of Wealth, Labour Systems (Eg. Repartimiento, Encomienda) become necessary
• The 3rd major movement into the Caribbean was the African Forced Movement preceded by the Europeans and Amerindians


  1518
• More and more Ethnicities created a Plural Society and this becomes a Legacy
• There were more European Nations in the Caribbean
• New Political Powers and new Races meant that the Social and Cultural Reality of the Caribbean began and remains in a Diversified Manner
• African Slavery firstly existed in Brazil. The Portuguese brought the first major Plantation type Crop: Sugar Cane
• Spain used their Slaves for Mining while the French, British and Dutch used their Slaves for Agriculture
• Creation of the Abolition Act, ensuring closure of the Slave Trade


  1807
• The Abolition Act did not mean the End of Slavery, the Current Slaves, as well as Children of those Slaves, remained Slaves
• The Apprenticeship Program started, considered the Transition Phrase from Slavery to Freedom


  1834
• The Apprenticeship program was the beginning of the end of Slavery
• The Passage of the Emancipation Act was signed, the freedom of African Slaves


  1838
• After Emancipation, Africans began to move away from the Plantations, seeking opportunities in places such as Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Cuba and Guyana
• The Africans, after Emancipation, were seeking land to hide from the Europeans, creating a new group in the Caribbean called the Peasantry
• The Coco Penòl comes to fill a labour vacuum left by the Africans in the Cocoa fields, these people were typically "Red" - a mixture of White and African
• There are Sociological Impacts (How People Think, Live, Operate) across the Caribbean due to Movements into, out of or between Caribbean Countries
• Because the Europeans had the reigns of Power Overtime, they would have influenced the Social, Institutional and Cultural Norms and Frameworks
• Cultural Imperialism


  The practice whereby a Dominant Culture (usually a Technology Superior Group) attempts to promote their own Culture and Belief over that of Another (Usually a Country with Fewer Resources)
• Sociological Phenomena Operating in the Caribbean Today

  • Cultural Imperialism
  • Hybridization
  • Creolization
  • Transculturalation
  • Interculturation
  • Syncretism
  • Cultural Pluralism
  • Cultural Diversity
  • Cultural Erasure
  • Enculturation
  • Assimilation
  • Socialization
  • Social Stratification / Social Mobility
  • Class Consciousness and Classism; Colour Consciousness
  • Socio-Economic and Political Models being Hybridized
  • Social Institutions
  • Social Organizations
  • Material Culture
  • Non-Material / Symbolic Culture
  • Race Politics
  • Formation of Minorities: Sub-Cultures and Alienated Groups
• There are Legacies of European Intervention and currently pose Development Challenges today
• Movement out of the Caribbean

  1. Stimulated by the Desire for Better Opportunities

  2. The 1st movement out of the Caribbean was by the Africans in 1838

  3. After 1838, there have been several other Movements out of the Caribbean such as: Building of Panama Canal (1900 Onward), World War One (1915 – 1920) and World War Two (1939 – 1945)

  4. In more recent times, such as the 1980s and 1990s to the more present day, people have been Seeking Opportunities in the Metropolitan Nations
• 1838 and the Peasantry became Significant; as this signals the beginning of the Movement towards Independence. This Movement lasted for more than 100 years
• 1838 witnesses the Importation of Chinese Labourers, they went to Larger Territories as Africans would have been moving away from Plantations and since the Smaller Territories have little place for settlement
• Chinese Labour lasted from 1838 onward but there was a Major Shift to East Indians in 1845 because Chinese weren't able to cope with the Rigors of Plantation Work
• During the Outward Movement Time, Caribbean People were starting Diasporic communities wherever they went
• Slavery was meant to fill the Labour Vacuum caused by the Genocide of the Amerindians
• The Amerindians had the Repartimiento and Encomienda Labour Systems while the Africans had the Slavery Labour System and Agriculture Business Model
• Slavery advances the Imperialistic Thrust so Europeans can make as much Money as possible
• Slavery and the Plantation System were part of the Capitalist Economic Structure
• Slavery becomes a Unique Way of Increasing the Profit Margin
• Labour is Bought (until Death) instead of Regular Payment for Services