History Past Papers Answers

2016 May/June
Question 1
When the Europeans arrived in the
Caribbean, they encountered Tainos and
Kalinagos living on different islands
1. Name two islands that were occupied
by the Tainos
Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad,
Hispaniola and the Bahamas
2. Name two islands that were occupied
by the Kalinagos
Kalinagos - Puerto Rico, Trinidad,
Grenada, St Vincent,
St Lucia, Dominica, Martinique,
Guadeloupe, Antigua, St Kitts/Nevis,
Montserrat, Tobago
3. Outline THREE reasons for the
migration of the Tainos and Kalinagos in
the Caribbean
1. Migration was an integral part of
their culture.
Indigenous communities were small and
it was normal for new communities to
be established when the population
grew beyond a size that was sustainable
in a particular location.

2. Depletion of the resources used

for food and shelter, caused by
climatic/weather changes and natural
attrition, also stimulated migration to
new areas. E.g. when the animals they
hunted for food became scarce
because of the destruction of their
habitat by strong winds or because of
disruptions in their food chains.
3. The indigenous people were
seafaring. They were expert boat
 builders and sailors and were very
familiar with the tidal movements in
the region. As fishing and trading were
important activities for both groups,
they travelled around the region in
search of new fishing grounds and to
establish new trading contacts so they
were able to locate areas for new
settlements.
4. In Taino communities, agriculture
was an important part of the
economy, hence depleted soils would
also stimulate migration to new areas
for settlement.
5. The Kalingos made raids on the
Tainos capturing their women, and
establishing settlements in the areas
they captured. They pushed the Tainos
out of the Lesser Antilles, as a result
the Tainos sought refuge in new
territories to escape from Kalinago
attacks.
6. Examine THREE features of the
settlement pattern of the Taino and
Kalinagos when the Europeans came
Tainos
Location
1. Near to fresh water (rivers and
streams) to allow for easy access to
water for domestic purposes, for
trading, recreation, communication,
transportation, fishing and irrigation
of crops
2. Near to fertile lands or forest
clearings.
Residences
Houses
⮚durable, roofs thatched with palm
leaves, wood rafters
⮚Usually circular in style with conical
roofs
⮚Built round wood with wattle and
thatch roofs
⮚Separate house for the gods/zemis
in each village
⮚Each family house/caneye had one
large room

Furnishings
⮚no flooring

⮚no furniture except the hammock on

which they slept
⮚ stone or polished wooden seats

⮚some sort of table made of wood or

stone
Cacique’s house/bohio
⮚larger than the others

⮚rectangular in shape

⮚have several rooms

Village arrangement
⮚Around a central open space or
square where both men and women
participated in public and ritual
 functions such as feasting, dancing
and playing ball games.
Agriculture

⮚Near flat fertile land for agriculture

(Tainos)
⮚on coastal plains for agriculture
(Tainos)
Security

⮚on hillsides overlooking the sea

for defence purpose .

Kalinago
Location

⮚On the windward side of the

islands or on low hills to guard
against surprise attacks.
 ⮚Near the sea to watch out for
intruders and to launch their
attacks against the Tainos.

Village arrangement

⮚highly mobile and small as moving from

island to island was normal consisted of a
number of carbets/large rectangular
communal huts built of palmetto or
bamboo and occupied by the men.
Huts/ajoupas made of light pool and
palmetto thatch in which children live
with their mothers.
Furnishings

⮚included carved and highly polished

wooden stool a table, a few pieces of
pottery, an
image of the household god and
hammocks

QUESTION 2

What was the name of Kalinago chief

ouboutu/ubutu/obutu

State THREE qualities a Kalinago chief was

expected to possess
 Strong
 Fearless in battle
 A good swimmer and diver
 Able to withstand bodily injury without
showing
pain
 Good record of killing enemies
(b) Describe THREE Features of the
Kalinago raid on the Tainos Villages
Preparation
 The chief organized the canoes and the
fighters. This would have been done well
in advance of the other activities.
Appropriate trees would be selected and
the best craftsmen set to the task of
constructing canoes suitable for war.
These were specially designed to
accommodate a team of warriors and for
speed required in the surprise attacks.

 The initiation rites for boys prepared

them to be brave, skilled warriors. In
addition to the seasoned fighters who
would be selected as leaders of canoes,
the most skilled young men would be
included in the team.

 The women helped in the preparation of

the weapons such as preparing the cotton
to tip the arrows and in the preparation of
any required provisions.

 The Kalinago men met at the village

house (carbet) and planned the
raid/expedition. The chief would outline
the strategy to be followed and identify
the leaders of each
canoe and all the details of the attack.

 An old, experienced Kalinago woman

recited a long list of wrongs committed by
the Tainos which incited the men to make
the raid/attack.
The raid
 Most raids were sudden and done at
moonlight.

 The Kalinago arrived by canoes and

armed with spears/bows/arrows.
 The women who accompanied the men
on the raids were left to man the canoes
on the beach.

The arrows were dipped in oil, set alight

and shot at the thatched roofs of the
Tainos’ houses thereby setting them
ablaze. The Taino men were killed, taken
prisoner or
tortured while the women were taken as
wives or unfree
workers.

Aftermath
 Bodies of the dead were placed in the
canoes and taken away. The wounded
were left behind.
 On their way home they celebrated by
singing songs of triumph and shouted
insults at their victims.
 After the chief had his selection, the
young unmarried warriors were rewarded
with wives. The wives were used to
farm lands or to produce children.
 Tainos who escaped relocated usually to
another island where they established a
new settlement. The Kalinagos occupied
the vacated land or land in its environs
and
established a new village.

Features of the Government of Kalinago

Society
Organization
 Kalinago society did not have a rigidly
structured
political system. It was organised for
warfare and was
heavily male oriented.
 There were few laws and disputes were
settled on an
individual basis by the parties concerned.
 There were two sets of chiefs, the main
chief or military
leader and the village chiefs, nobles and
priests.
The Village Chiefs
 Kalinagos lived in villages each family
having its own
village and operated with an independent
existence except
in war time.
 Village headman, called Tiubutuli
Hauthe, was a lesser
governor, who enjoyed a great deal of
independence in the
management of the affairs of the village
during peace
time. He supervised fishing, hunting and
farming and led
the village in ceremonies and
entertainment.
Examine THREE Features of the
Government of a Kalinago society. (The
Military Leader)
 The main leader was military and
elected from the proven warriors. He was
called the Obutu/ Ubutu/Oboutou. He
was the commander in chief of all
warriors.

 Anyone wishing to stand for election as

a military leader had to have killed several
enemy warriors with his own hands
including at least one cacique (Taino
chief).

 His main responsibility was to protect

his people from surprise attack and lead
successful raids against the Tainos. These
military responsibilities were the most
important to Kalinago society. He
organised all war preparations,
formulated the war strategy and led the
warriors to war. When a raid was planned
he called the men of the villages together
to plan the exercise.

 The Oboutou determined when to wage

war, when to call a meeting to plan a raid,
when and how the raid should be
conducted, who should be attacked and
who should lead the canoes and pirogues
to be used in the raid. He presided over
the victory celebrations and distributed
the booty.

 He was highly respected and always

moved with attendants. He was allowed
to have several wives and enjoyed many
privileges.
 QUESTION 3
3.Name TWO English ports that were
involved in the transatlantic trade
English Ports
1. Liverpool
2. London
3. Bristol

Name TWO West African places from

which captives were obtained.
1. Gold Coast/Ghana
2. Windward Coast/Liberia
3. Slave Coast/Togoland Western Nigeria
4. Senegambia
5. Angola
6.Oyo/Dahomey/Benin/Ashanti/The
Forest States
7. Calabar
 b. Outline THREE ways in which captives
were obtained in Africa for the
transatlantic trade in captive Africans.
Raids
1. Raids on villages which took place
especially at night time
2. Raids at night made use of both the
element of surprise and the
darkness of night.
3.Fires were usually set on villages and
terrified villagers
scampering to safety were captured and
chained and marched
away to the forts.
Ambush/Kidnapping
6. Unsuspecting individuals or small
groups of people were
ambushed at rivers, on their way to or
from work or in
isolated areas captured and chained.
7 Trickery
 Some people were tricked. Some who
sought to assist the
traders found themselves captive. Some
were encouraged to
join search parties, or come on board
ships to transact
business and were taken away.

Explain THREE features of the process

involved in bringing captives from the
point of capture to the plantations in the
Caribbean
BEGINNING
1. Captive men, women and children
were shackled together in
a line called the slave coffle and marched
from their
point of capture, which in some instances
was far inland,
to the coast.

MIDDLE
Conditions at the Fort
1. At the coast captives were held in
barracoons which were
holding bays at the lowest level of the
Forts until there
were sufficient numbers to fill the slaver.
Captives
could be held here for as much as 200
days.

2.Barracoons were dark, hot,

overcrowded dungeons which
lacked ventilation, sanitation and privacy.
Food was poor
and women were subject to abuse.

3. A rectangular hole at the top of the

room was the only
opening which might allow any light or
ventilation into
the room. Its main function was to ensure
that the
captives were always under scrutiny. Its
value to permit
light and ventilation was minimised by
overcrowding and
by the fact that the room was located in
the basement and
away from any source of light or breeze.

4.Captives were fed through the

rectangular opening as the
‘slop” was thrown into the gutters in the
room which were
also used to drain human waste. This
allowed food to
become contaminated resulting in a high
incidence and
spread of diseases which contributed to
the high death
rate which was a feature of the
barracoons.
5. The opening was also used to conduct
security checks on
the captives to ensure that they did not
escape and as
the means for sailors or other men at the
Fort to select
women victims for sexual abuse.

MIDDLE
The Middle Passage
1.When there was sufficient “cargo” and
the ship arrived,
captives were led through the “door of no
return” and
marched from the dungeon along a
passageway which led to
the sea. The terrified captives were
packed into small
boats which took them to the awaiting
ships.
2. The ships replicated the cramped
insanitary conditions of
the barracoons. In fact, the physical
conditions on the
ships were worse than the barracoons as
for many captives,
sailing the rough seas for an extended
period was a new
and sickening experience. Captives were
usually tightly
packed like sardines. Sanitation was
lacking as the boat
reeked of perspiration, faeces and rotting
food.

3. Captives were shackled to each other

regardless of age or
gender. Sick, dying and dead captives
were shackled to
each other. This was intended to prevent
rebellion and
secure the cargo but it facilitated the
spread of diseases
on the ships.

4. Diseases were rampant and contagious

diseases killed a
large number of captives. Death was
common during the
journey. Some died from diseases which
were common
occurrences aboard ship- yellow fever,
scurvy, dysentery,
measles and small pox- as the cramped
insanitary
conditions favoured the spread of
contagious diseases.
Dead captives were thrown overboard,
feeding the sharks
that followed the ships. 10% of the
captives died on the
journey but some slavers lost as much as
30% of their
cargo. Sometimes ships were attacked by
pirates and were
engaged in conflict causing some captives
to be killed or
wounded and so increasing mortality
during the voyage.

5. Like the barracoons, the ship offered no

privacy as
everything happened in the full glare of all
captives and
the crew. Most were near naked, all
witnessed births and
deaths alike. There was no special
consideration for
menstruating, pregnant or nursing
women. Sexual abuse of
women was a common practice. Captives
were therefore
stripped of their dignity.
6. Psychological torture was a feature of
existence on the
slaver. The captives did not know where
they were going
and where they were when they arrived.
Most were
unaccustomed to sailing and they had no
idea when it would
end. Rough seas made the experience
even more terrifying.
The visibility of constant human suffering
and its
associated sounds added to the
psychological torture.

7.Bad weather could lengthen the period

of this tormenting
exercise from its normal 50 days. This
could cause food
supplies to run low and captives made to
do without.
During periods of stormy weather live
captives were thrown
overboard to lighten the ship.

8. Captives resisted by refusing to eat but

the ships were
equipped with mouth openers to force
feed them. There were
rebellions at sea as captives attacked the
crew when they
could and in a few instances captives
overpowered the crew
and attempted to return to Africa. Some
jumped overboard
to escape the trauma.

END
Arrival in the Caribbean
1. As the ship came closer to port there
was an attempt to
clean up and prepare the captives for
arrival. On landing
they got their first glimpses of the
Caribbean, stretches
of beach, trees that bore some similarity
to their
homeland.

2. Captives were washed and oiled in

preparation for sale.
This was an attempt to cover unsightly
marks, blemishes
or wounds to try to obtain maximum
prices.

3. Captives were lined up in the market on

shore where they
were examined by purchasers. This was
another
activity that inflicted terror on the
captives as they
were surrounded by numbers of
predominantly white males
grabbing and poking at them. Eyes, teeth
and body parts
were examined as purchasers sought to
get the best value
for their money.

4. Sale was often by auction when the

captives were sold to
the highest bidder. There was also sale by
scramble when
purchasers grabbed and tried to secure
the desired
captive.

5. Then they were taken by their new

owners to the
plantations. Here they were introduced to
plantation life
by being handed over to experienced
enslaved Africans to
be seasoned into the plantation regime.
Question 4
State FOUR uses of land on a typical sugar
estate
 Pasture
 Cane fields
 Gardens/orchards/provision grounds/
flower gardens
 Habitation
 Factory buildings
 Woodland

Describe the functions of THREE types of

buildings that could be found on a typical
sugar estate.
The Great House
 Accommodated the planter or his
representative. This was the central
plantation building which was usually are
flection of the wealth of the plantation
owner.
 It was constructed and furnished in popular
European style of the day with long open
verandahs to facilitate ventilation and allow
open view of plantation operations.
 Other houses for resident white plantation
officials were not as imposing as the great
house.
Accommodation for the enslaved
 Huts or barracks were made of simple
material, usually wooden with thatched roofs.
Factory Buildings
 Processing of sugar, mill house, boiling
house, storing house, curing house, store
rooms for tools and supplies.
Other Buildings
 Stables for horses, cow sheds
 Workshops for carpenters, blacksmiths and
masons to repair and upkeep buildings and
machinery
 Some buildings, usually inconspicuous, were
used to store ammunition
 Estate hospital – used for treatment or for
the housing
of sick.
 Detention house/jail for the housing for
those who were deemed to have committed
crimes. Reserved for punishment.

C. Explain how labour was organized on a

typical sugar estate
 Enslaved labour was divided into domestic
workers, skilled workers and field labourers.
 Enslaved domestics worked in the Great
House as cooks, butlers, wet nurses, maids,
laundresses, seamstresses, tailors, carriage
drivers, nannies and personal attendants of
the owners and their families. Usually the
lighter skinned, more attractive and those
considered more intelligent of the enslaved
population were chosen for work in the Great
House.
 The skilled workers were highly prized for
their skills determined the profits of the
exercise. These were the boilers, rum makers,
repair men who kept the machinery in good
working order for the duration of the
production exercise. This group also
comprised carpenters, tailors, seamstresses,
blacksmiths, masons and boatmen who
handled
the boats used to transport sugar and other
items to and from the plantations. These
would usually be the more seasoned enslaved
Africans or enslaved “creoles.”
Field labourers were divided into three
gangs:
 The great gang was composed of the
strongest men and
women who did the hardest work on the
plantation.
 The second gang was next in strength did
the jobs that were less strenuous than those
done by the first gang.
 The third or weeding/hogmeat gang was
made up of the oldest men and women and
young children who did the lightest field
work.
 This group of workers would normally
include the more recent arrivals from West
Africa who would remain in this class until
they demonstrated particular skills or
abilities. The gangs were led by drivers or
driveresses who supervised and dictated the
pace of
work of the workers under their charge.
 The very old and disabled men were used as
watchmen and
the old women put to care for the young
children while
their mothers worked in the field.
 Women dominated the field workers and
men, the skilled
workers but there were women boilers on
some plantations.

 Some enslaved men and women who

possessed particular
skills and knowledge, worked as “doctors” or
“doctoresses,” nurses, tending the sick in the
estate
hospitals.
 In addition there were stable men,
fishermen and those
who tended the estate animals.
Identify and describe any 3 main functions
one mark each

QUESTION 5
List FOUR geographical features which
facilitated the development of maroon
communities in the Caribbean
 Sea
 Rivers
 Forests
 Caves
 Mountains
 Swamps
 nearby uninhabited islands
Describe THREE features of the origins and
growth of maroon communities in Jamaica
1. Communities developed in Jamaica
from 1655 when the British defeated the
Spaniards and took control of the island.
The enslaved Africans fled to the
mountains and joined or formed Maroon
communities.
2. Constant flow of recruits seeking
freedom led to growth of the Maroon
communities. This flow increased as with
plantation, expansion and increases in the
size of the enslaved population, maroon
communities offered an alternative to
enslavement and a subhuman existence
on the plantations.
3. Favourable Topography of Jamaica
 The Jamaican environment provided
opportunities for freedom because of the
existence of significant forested areas
 4. Permitted the maroons to defend
themselves against the forces sent to
retrieve them and to form large
communities that were self-sustainable.
Maroons could cultivate their food.
5. The policies of the maroon leaders
also assisted the growth of their
communities. For example, Nanny’s policy
stated the following:
 To accept all black runaways into their
ranks
 Initiation ceremony was a declaration of
loyalty to the community.
 Stand defiant in face of the
determination of the Jamaican government
to break their resistance.
 This determination was characteristic of
maroon leaders in the region.
c. Examine THREE strategies used by maroon
communities to overcome the obstacles to
their development.
Strong internal organization

⮚They were a strongly knitted community

and not individual oriented.
⮚All resources were shared so members
were not exploited.
⮚Members had responsibilities but all work
was devoted to
the benefit of members of the
community.

⮚Maroon property was a community

owned and managed and was designed to
take care of all its members.

⮚Reconnected with Africa and ancestral

traditions which
shaped many community activities and
togetherness.
 ⮚Provided a challenge to the plantations
which do not
afford human dignity to Africans.

⮚Embarked on a strong drive to increase

Maroon population
to increase the chances of success of the
Maroon
community.

⮚Rigid code of discipline applied in maroon

communities
strengthened the community and helped to
handle conflicts
and disagreement.

⮚To protect their communities, they paid

close attention to
security details such as placing lookouts,
camouflaging
entrances to their settlements.

QUESTION 6
a) Name the leader of the Jamaican rebellion
of 1831.
b) Name THREE religious leaders who were
blamed for the rebellion of 1831

c. State THREE causes of the 1831 rebellion in

Jamaica.
d. Explain THREE consequences of the 1831
rebellion in Jamaica