Migratory movements and the patterns of settlement by

different groups within the Caribbean from pre-Columbian

times to 1838
The impact of history on the Caribbean is great and a definition focuses on the shared history
of colonization and plantation production with forced labour. The first peoples came to the
Caribbean and occupied it long before Columbus came. They were thought to have entered
the western hemisphere via an ice bridge of the frozen Bering Strait in waves of migration
continuing down from Alaska, Canada, United States, into Central America and South
America, entering the Caribbean around 5000 BC (approx. 7000 years ago):

 The Tainos who went to the Greater Antilles – Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and the
Bahamas living on the coasts
 The Kalinagos of the Lesser Antilles sharing Puerto Rico and Trinidad with the Tainos.
The movement of both groups up the Antilles was part of the process of migration –
diffusion and not necessarily that the Tainos were on the run from the Kalinagos
 The Mayans who occupied central America – Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras
and part of Mexico. They lived in the highlands and were a more advanced civilization,
all were hunter/gatherers/farmers

They came in the Caribbean from the area around the Orinoco basin of Venezuela around
1000 years ago. Between the 1st and 7th centuries the Tainos began moving northward from
South America up into the Caribbean. The Kalinagos moved into the Caribbean 600 AD to 700
AD to settle in the in the Lesser Antilles using their piragas.
The
The ancestors of these first peoples most likely came from the Steppes of Eurasia,
following migrant herds of the animals they subsisted on. They would have left in
waves as competition for food resulted from their increased numbers. They would
have crossed the frozen Bering Strait which 10 000 years ago would have joined Russia
to North America. When they crossed some settled as the Eskimo and Inuit, others
moved on to Canada example the Iroquois, some pressed on to become the tribes of
Native Americans in the USA example the Apache, Dakota, Cheyenne and such. Others
kept on the move pushing down into Central America to become the Aztecs of Mexico,
the Mayans of Belize and other territories and the Incas of Peru.
These are among the best known in history because of their interactions with the
Spaniards, but there were numerous others who are alive today in South America
example the Wai Wai and Wapishani. They settled across Venezuela and Guiana.
Aruacan speaking tribes were also settled.
Entry into the Caribbean archipelago was from three directions –
 Down from the Florida panhandle into the Bahamas – the Lucayans
 Across from the Gulf of Mexico moving Eastward to the Lesser Antilles
 Up from South America to Trinidad, island hopping using the important piraga.
Tribes living in Florida at present call their dugout canoes Piragas as well.
Puerto Rico and Trinidad are the two places where both Tainos and Kalinagos
lived together. Kalinagos lived in Dominica, St. Vincent and Grenada. There is
still a substantial Kalinago population living on tribal lands in Dominica whilst
Trinidad has a small population in Arima.
Pai Tavytera Indians in Paraguay Aztecs

Mayans

Mayans Incas

Kalinagos Tainos
Then there were those who came after:

 The Europeans 1492-1640 - Spaniards came during the 15th century as part of
Columbus’ efforts to gain a trade route to the East, he therefore came here in theory
by error, though correct in his belief that the earth was round. Europe was in the
Renaissance – a period of renewed interest in science, technology and the arts after
the sacking of Europe by the Huns. Improvements in navigational devices pushed by
the Portuguese king – Henry the Navigator, improvements in shipbuilding and the
printing press made maps more widely available.

Columbus the Gutenburg press

Hidalgos

Columbus was patronized in his exploration efforts by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand,
who expected new lands, wealth and souls in return for their investments. Resulting from the
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, this was an effort to facilitate conversion of natives to Roman
Catholicism as a promise to Isabella. The Treaty of Tordesillas saw Pope Alexander declaring
that all lands west of the Azores belonged to Spain whilst East of the Azores and Brazil
belonged to the Portuguese. Never mind these places were already settled by the various
indigenous tribes.

Reasons for other European nations being interlopers

This 1494 Treaty giving Spain and Portugal all lands denied other European countries a share
of empire and wealth but Spain could not supply her dispersed colonies with goods. Besides
the Pope’s word held no power for the British and Netherlands who had embraced
Protestantism, rejecting Roman Catholicism. Although Catholic, France was embittered with
the Vatican as they felt that the Pope should be French rather than a Roman. But it was the
fabulous wealth of the New World that beckoned.

They were seen as interlopers when they came to the New World as they were in defiance of
the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Asiento or Spanish licence to trade. The British, French and
Dutch came to steal and smuggle. Capturing the Spanish Armada or flotilla of boats laden
with New World riches signaled Spain’s incapability to defend so vast an empire, and that
there was simply a lack of man power for effective occupation.

But once they saw that they could settle, a mass migration of poor whites began from
Western Europe – vagabonds, criminals, farmers and persons affected by war, famine,
poverty and hardships. Contracted as indentured labourers or servants they were to farm in
tobacco and other cash crops.

Europe therefore embarked on exploration and expansion. Columbus’ voyages triggered the
arrival of the Spanish, then later the French, English and Dutch as rivals into the region
bringing with them their language, culture –music, dance, art forms, religion, laws and
government, cuisine, new crops, animal species, technology and many other aspects that
have changed and shaped modern Caribbean society. Intent on becoming wealthy, they
exploited the Tainos and tried to remove the Kalinagos, reverting to other large scale labour
as needed in the different systems of production.

The Europeans settled in what became towns and claimed vast tracts of land further inland as
their property and built estate houses, claiming for themselves the majority of agricultural
land. Amerindians who fled or survived were pushed into the interior. They convinced their
government that the Indigenous people were all dead and that they needed new labourers.

 The Africans – from 1515 Spain gave Portugal the asiento or licence to trade in
Africans to work on the cattle ranches and mines alongside Amerindians. In 1640 the
sugar revolution saw millions of enslaved Africans being brought in.
Africans were raided as they slept in their village clearings in the dark of night, often
by Portuguese aided by other African natives, usually from other tribes/clans. The raid
may have begun with fire being set to the huts and shots being fired by muskets.
Africans were grabbed and chained in the confusion.

Slave Raid

barracoons
Coffle
They were coffled one to another and made to march on a long, wearisome journey
through forests, to the coasts. They were to never see their homeland or loved ones
left behind dead or alive again. On the march, the sick and infirmed, old or young who
slowed down the march were cut off from the coffle and left to die as the line moved
on.
On the coast it was a terrifying sight for many natives who had never seen the ocean
and waves, they also thought that the ship was a great beast that would swallow
them. They were kept to recover in barracoons or fortressed prisons on the coasts.
Those that did not eat had their front teeth chiseled out to be forced fed. Wounds
were packed with gunpowder and lime juice concoction. An even crueler fate awaited
them. Hundreds were packed and shackled into ships that the Europeans had
redesigned for human trafficking.
 slave ship

Millions were caught and sold over the centuries and many died on the Atlantic
crossing – the Middle Passage, from unsanitary conditions and deprivation to be
unceremoniously dumped overboard. It was said that a slaving ship could be smelt
from 10 miles away on the seas.
They were auctioned on the ports and taken to estates in the colonies. They were
housed on the lowlands on the fringes of the fields on the plantations but after eman-
cipation moved to hillsides in Jamaica, St. Lucia and Antigua and open places in rural
areas away from estates, to become the peasantry e.g. Liberta in Antigua. They also
farmed the slopes on the volcanic Lesser Antilles.

 The Chinese were brought in to Trinidad as early as 1806 in anticipation of the end of
the slave trade in 1807
  In 1834 the British West Indies began importing white immigrant labour from Ireland,
Scotland and Germany with the majority coming from Ireland. Jamaica in particular
imported 5000 to boost their white populace
 1838 Emancipation was declared and Africans were no longer legally enslaved. The
white planters with their ‘sugar production only estates’ worked on convincing their
governments that they would be ruined financially if they were not able to find cheap
labour immediately and in large numbers. This ushered in new systems of production.

Migratory movements within and outside the region from 1838 to present day

1838 – 1917

Indentured labourers came from China at first but did not stay on the estates long but went
to shopkeeping, laundries etc. They went to Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana. Cuba also
imported 125 000 Chinese from 1847 to 1874. In the period 1852 – 1893 some 20 000 Chinese
were brought in to the British Caribbean with 12 000 to Guyana, 5 000 to Jamaica and the
remaining 3 000 to Trinidad,

The larger number of Asian immigrants came from India to Trinidad and Guyana and Surinam.
The French imported 68 000 into Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana and the Dutch
several thousand Indians and Javanese into Surinam. The largest percentage went to Trinidad
and British Guiana where labour shortages were seen as more acute. (As the larger territories
there was more land available for the ex-enslaved to leave the plantations and squat in free
villages.) They worked on 3 -5 year contracts/9 hours a day/6 days a week on sugar, coffee,
cocoa and banana estates. From 1838 to 1917, 416 000 Indians were brought in with 239 000
going to Guyana and the rest 134 000 to Trinidad.

The British Caribbean had poor sanitary conditions in barracks, with cooking done outdoors
and quarters being cramped, poorly ventilated with a lack of privacy. They were given a 3
month ration but had to start planting immediately for subsistence and/or buy overpriced
food from the estate house indebting themselves. Forfeit of debt was an extended contract.
They were paid low wages, both men and women but differentially, and were often paid in
rum given the absence of coinage in the Caribbean. They were jailed for any infringement,
flogged and beaten, sent to fields despite actual illness. Some hid out in fields to die. Some
served out their contracts and returned to India and others remained to renew contracts.
Those who stayed were given land in the rural areas close to the estates so that they could
continue to work in sugar.
 Peru Estate St. James

In the late 19th and 20th centuries migration was the common feature as there was
expansion in agriculture in non-British territories and labour was in demand. Caribbean
people therefore migrated. The need also arose for skilled and casual workers in the oil
industries. People went to:

 Aruba and Curacao oil industries

 Build railways in Panama and Colon from 1880 to 1910
 Build the Panama Canal from 1904 to 1914, particularly Barbadians and Jamaicans,
where at first they sent remittances then never returned
 Work on banana plantations in Costa Rica and Honduras
 Work on coffee and sugar estates in Cuba particularly Jamaicans
 Panama Canal

Several waves of migration seemed to be the answer to overpopulation in the Caribbean

where too many people relied on scarce resources in the face of depressed economic
conditions.

Canada, Britain and the USA

In the 50s and 60s there was migration to Canada, Britain and the USA. In the USA they went
to New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia. In the later 1900s these
territories allowed Caribbean migrants into their territories.

Many Haitians have migrated to Miami and many others illegally board boats to travel to the
US. These often end in impounding and even fatalities. Some go to Jamaica and others cross
to the Dominican Republic, as the sugar industry there has been attracting Haitian workers
since prior to 1900.

 In 1920 -28 000 Haitians migrated

 In 1935 – 52 000 Haitians migrated

There is a strong Haitian community but a 2014 ruling by the Dominican Republic government
has seen an expulsion of Haitians and Dominican Republic citizens of Haitian heritage. The
population of Dom. Rep.is Spanish/Arab whilst the Haitians are predominantly Black. Conflict
often results.

Caribbean diaspora

Post World War 11 saw the largest wave of migration to Britain and France who ‘welcomed’
Caribbean migrants to help rebuild their countries after the devastation of war. Hundreds of
thousands left which concerned citizens into pressuring their governments to establish 1960s
1970s Immigration Laws. So when these stringent policies were put in place Caribbean people
looked to Canada and the USA and again only the most qualified were allowed in. Whilst this
migration opens the way for improved education and standard of living for both the migrants
and the families they leave behind through the remittances they send, (many Jamaican and
Trinidadian households are supported by remittances which contribute to GNP), it could be
contributing to brain drain and dependency theory as well as neo-colonialism.

The people who first came - the indigenes, and those who were brought - the Africans,
Chinese and Indians, also had a rich history and culture prior to encountering the Europeans.
They built empires, used technology, had governance and civilizations. Please take time to
read up on them.