Why do I want to know about the West Indies?
A lot of the history in this website happens in the West Indies!
It is important that we learn about the West Indies before its colonisation by Europeans. So... let's dive in!
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A note on language
We have mostly used the term 'The West Indies'. We also use the term Caribbean. The meaning of both is very significant. Geographically they describe slightly different areas.
However, we absolutely recognise and respect that this area was home to (and continues to be) many peoples long before Europeans arrived and coined the term 'Indies'.
The West Indies
Public Domain
What are the West Indies?
The West Indies are an archipelago*. They are a series of 7000 islands that spring away from north western South America. As the islands arch towards the USA, they form the Caribbean Sea between themselves and Mexico.
Close to Venezuela you will find Trinidad and Tobago. The islands generally increase in size as you move in a northern direction. From Grenada and Barbados in the south, to the larger Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Cuba in the north.[3]
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*archipelago: A small group of islands
Who lived in the West Indies before colonisation?
The Islands of the West Indies were first populated by people from north-western South America and Central America. This happened over thousands of years.
People from South America were still moving to the islands when European colonisation began in the 1500s. The West Indies was a place that the Indigenous people called home. Their history and culture were within these islands. The people were known as the Taino. However, their cultures were as distinct as the islands they lived on.[1]
Later migrations brought more people from South America. They considered themselves as people from distinct islands, but with some sharing of culture and language. They called themselves Kalinago.[2]
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It is estimated that by 1492 there were 2 million people living in this area.
Where did the first people come from?
As we have seen, the first inhabitants came from the north western part of South America and central America. This took thousands of years.
The first people arrived about 6000 years ago (archaeologists call this the archaic migration.) There was a second large migration of people between 2500 – 3000 years ago (archaeologists call this the ceramic migration). There is lots of evidence left behind in the form of pottery... Hence the name!
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Dr Morgan Dalphinis notes, ‘The earliest known inhabitants of Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Vincent and St Lucia were the Arawak… In these islands, the invading Carib people colonised the Arawak.’ These islands were alive with migration and movement long before European intervention.
When did the islands undergo their greatest change?
The peopling of the West Indies changed the islands. They went from being uninhabited to having complex societies. People now used the environment to suit them.
This first colonisation took place over hundreds of years, and the difference this made to the islands was relatively slow and small.
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Christopher Columbus sailed from the Bay of Cadiz in Spain in 1492. He hoped to find a route to Asia across the sea, which would be quicker and cheaper to import spices and gold rather than across land on the Silk Roads. Instead, he found the West Indies and set off a chain reaction of colonisation that would have disastrous consequences for the Indigenous peoples there and allow for European colonisation to take hold.
How do we know about the first migrations?
We know when the first migrations happened and who made them.
Look at the archaeological record of South America and the West Indies.
Radiocarbon dating has allowed archaeologists to examine the DNA record of skeletons found in the islands which links to skeletons found in South America.
Also, archaeologists have studied the ceramics from the later time period. They include cooking items, bottles etc.
Why is this important?
We will study how the West Indies was changed by colonisation and by enslavement. It is important to know that these places were not empty. They had lots of people there already, who had their own cultures and beliefs and communities. They and their cultures were drastically affected by colonisation after 1492.