History

• Through the European impact on the indigenous people was significant, the indigenous people's contribution was wide ranging with many of their inventions still in use in the world today
• Items introduced by the indigenous people

  • Zero
  • Almanac and calendar system from the Maya
  • Canoeing
  • Kayaking
  • Tug-of-war
  • Many ball games (the rubber ball was introduced by the Olmec)
  • Snowshoes
  • Hammocks
  • Tipis
  • Smoking tobacco
  • Drinking chocolate
  • Chewing gum
• Certain place names including Haiti, Tobago and Palmiste are indigenous names
• Europeans benefitted from indigenous knowledge of the environment and used local people as guides during exploration and marine activity
• Indigenous knowledge of herbs and their uses was heavily relied upon by the Europeans and indigenous food prevented the invaders from starving
• Crops like potato and cassava were taken to Europe and other European colonies where they became staples
• Craft produced by the indigenous people

  • Designs of indigenous homes have been incorporated into modern architecture
  • Different styles of pottery were introduced to the Europeans
  • Indigenous beadwork and turquoise jewellery are high fashion items even today
  • Indigenous people were skilled in the art of melting gold and creating jewellery
  • Cotton was used to create fine cloths
  • Baskets and hammocks are popular items and basket weaving is still practiced today
  • Dyes from different plants are increasingly used for colouring and flavouring food as the demand for organic products increases
• Agricultural products domesticated by the indigenous people

  • Peanuts
  • Squash
  • Pumpkins
  • Tomato
  • Avocado
  • Pineapples
  • Guavas
  • Beans
  • Vanilla
  • Maize or corn
  • Potatoes
  • Cassava or manioc
• Corn and cassava were used to facilitate European colonization in Africa
• For the wealthy, cocoa was cultivated to make a warm beverage and it became a major plantation crop for export to Europe
• Tobacco was cultivated and harvested for its medicinal and religious purpose and the habit was transferred to Europeans
• A number of animals were also domesticated which we use today, including the llama
• The indigenous people were expert at extracting honey from bees without being stung
• In the beginning the indigenous people showed the Europeans how to grow crops for survival and trackers showed them how to hunt and where to find resources
• By the 16th century, however, Europeans had enslaved the indigenous people and forced them to work on encomiendas or on plantations
• Europeans who came to the Americas faced the sweltering heat and suffered from deficiency diseases, malnutrition and dehydration
• Europeans began to realise the medicinal value of local plants and with the help of the indigenous people learned about the nutritive and medicinal value of fruits and plants
• The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas signed between Portugal and Spain divided the world between two nations and angered the English, French and Dutch
• Ways the English, French and Dutch challenged Spain's monopoly

  1. Exploration of the Americas

  2. Attacks of pirates, privateers and Buccaneers

  3. Organizing illegal settlements in areas that the Spanish were not occupying and trading illegally with the Spanish colonists

  4. War in the Americas, including the Seven Years War (1763) and the War of Jenkins' Ear (1939)
• By the 1780s Spain was no longer a powerful nation in the Americas and was considered the lame duck of Europe
• European illegal traders, interlopers, took advantage of the long time it took Spanish ships to bring supplies and one of the most important products demanded by colonists was slaves
• In the 17th century, the merchant houses employed lord proprietors to organise colonies and recruit colonists to grow profitable crops like tobacco, cotton, cocoa, coffee, indigo and timber
• Early settlers faced hardships, hurricanes, disease and drought and attacks from the Spanish and Kalinago and had to grow food crops to survive
• Tobacco


  First introduced by the indigenous people to the Europeans, demand increased as smoking or taking snuff became fashionable, but by the 17th century, cheaper but better quality Virginian Tobacco flooded the market and prices dropped, causing tobacco planters to move to sugar cultivation
• Cotton


  First grown by the English colonists in St Christopher (St Kitts) and Barbados in the 1620s and by the French in Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Christopher, Sea Island cotton was of high quality, soft and much prized, but competition from American cotton caused prices to drop and with the changeover to sugar some planters gave up on cotton, where it continued to exist in the 18th century, pests like the boll weevil and chenille severely damaged the industry
• Cocoa


  First used by the Mayan and the Aztec elite as a beverage, cocoa was carried by Cortez to Spain in 1528 and soon became popular in Europe in the 1600s, not as a beverage, but as a confectionery, cocoa was introduced to Trinidad by the indigenous people and cultivated under Spanish rule, especially after 1783 when it was an export crop
• The colonial systems were foreign to the indigenous people and in addition to the encomienda system, repartimento demanded that all indigenous people over 18 years provide a week's service for pay
• In their colonial drive the Europeans used tricks, alliances and force to dominate the Americas while the indigenous people met them with diplomacy and Stone Age tools
• Cultural impositions on the indigenous people

  • Many families and communities were forced off their land and found it difficult to adapt to the new foreign systems
  • Extended family life patterns were disrupted
  • Europeans replaced their towns and cities with Spanish towns, forts, administrative buildings, churches, haciendas and plazas
  • The indigenous people were forced to convert to the Roman Catholic faith and follow European traditions instead of their own
  • Indigenous people were seen as inferior 'pagans' and were forced to wear European clothing, eat European food and learn European languages
  • The guidance they had formerly sought from their traditional ruler was no longer available
• Economic destabilization of the indigenous people


  • Staple crops like maize and manioc were neglected
  • Indigenous people were forced off their land to areas which were not economically viable and the food they produced was consumed by Europeans
  • Hunting grounds were destroyed and fish stocks depleted
  • European animals like cattle, horses, sheep and goats were allowed to graze on indigenous crops or trample them
  • The indigenous people could not supply the labour needed for the new intense plantation, which led to the introduction of enslaved Africans
• The new crusade would unite all the lands they found and vanquish pagans and heathens
• When the Spanish rediscovered the Americas in 1492, little did the people know it spelled destruction for the indigenous way of life
• Europeans brought with them a different culture, technologically superior weapons and machinery, new agricultural products such as wheat, barley, oats and animals such as cattle, sheep, pigs and goats
• Europeans also brought germs such as smallpox which decimated populations and of course Christianity, which superseded indigenous beliefs
• Demographic Collapse


  In 1492, it was estimated that the indigenous population numbered around 40-60 million, within 30-40 years, however, nearly 95% were dead
• At the same time thousands of foreigners from Europe were pouring into the Americas, as migration changed the demographic landscape
• Europeans were immune to the many diseases that evolved in Europe; the isolated indigenous population, however, were not
• Diseases like smallpox, typhus, influenza, and measles once contracted spread rapidly among the indigenous people who had never encountered these diseases and did not have a cure for them
• The decline of the indigenous people was exacerbated by European mistreatment including overwork, enslavement under the encomienda system, war and displacement of people from their homes
• Settlements were destroyed and forests cleared. The destruction led to forced migration, food and labour shortages