A Brief

History

First inhabited by American Indian tribes, the islands were later conquered by the Spanish, English, French, and Dutch. Once slaves were introduced, the decimated civilizations blended with the Africans and Europeans.

t Columbus landing on the island of Hispaniola

First Inhabitants and the Conquistadores

The Caribbean began to be inhabited around 5000 BC when the Arawak communities migrated from South America. Columbus arrived in 1492, establishing La Isabela on Hispaniola and mapping the islands from Trinidad to Cuba. His arrival spelled doom – in his wake came gold-hungry Spanish conquistadores who settled the major islands, enslaving the natives to mine. Within decades, indigenous peoples were almost wiped out by overwork, massacre, and disease, and as such the Spanish began importing African slaves to supply the need for labor.

Sugar and Slavery

The phenomenal growth of the sugar industry in the 17th century was made possible by African slave labor. Men, women, and children were captured and packed aboard ships to the New World where most were auctioned to European plantation owners. Britain shipped more than three million Africans to the Caribbean between 1662 and 1807, by which time slaves outnumbered the white population by ten to one. They toiled in the fields with little respite from flogging or worse. Slave masters suppressed rebellions with force, but by the end of the 18th century, uprisings had grown in size and frequency. A rebellion in 1804 in Saint-Domingue led to the creation of the world’s first black republic, Haiti. Meanwhile slavery was coming under fire from humanitarians. The rising costs of producing sugar heightened criticism of the “plantocracy”. Slavery was abolished in the British colonies in 1833-34, the French in 1848, the Dutch in 1863, in Puerto Rico in 1873, and in Cuba in 1886.

Creole Culture and Island Independence

Each island evolved its own Creole culture which crystallized, into nationalist independence movements. After Haiti and the Dominican Republic gained independence in 1804 and 1844 respectively, the United States declared war on Spain in 1898. This Spanish–American War ended with Spain’s defeat. Cuba and Puerto Rico were ceded to the U.S. In 1903, the U.S. granted freedom to Cuba, which experienced a boom-and-bust economy ending in 1959, when Fidel Castro toppled General Batista and the island became a communist nation. Meanwhile, the Danes sold their Virgin Islands to the U.S. back in 1917, and in 1958, an attempt to forge the British-ruled islands into an independent Federation of the West Indies foundered. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were the first British colonies to gain independence in 1962 and others followed. Today Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba, and Sint Maarten are dependents of the Netherlands; Guadeloupe and Martinique of France; and Anguilla, Montserrat, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos are British Overseas Territories.

The Caribbean Today

The Caribbean is a region of diverse cultures and an eclectic mix of the old and the new. Today, thanks to the gorgeous beaches, sunny climate, and laidback lifestyle, the economic basis for most islands is tourism. Many large resorts were built in the 1950s, and tourism increased dramatically when flights opened up a decade later. The number of visitors rose from 1.3 million in 1959 to four million in 1965, and has continued to increase ever since.

The trend in modern times in the Caribbean is political stability and economic development, and the Caribbean people have succeeded in maintaining democratic forms of government. In a historic meeting in 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama met Raúl Castro to re-establish and normalize relations between Cuba and the U.S. and currently, most trade embargos and travel restrictions have been eased.

In recent years, a series of natural disasters have blighted the region. A powerful earthquake struck Haiti in 2010 and in 2017, hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria wreaked devastation.

Did You Know?

More than 30 million people visit the Caribbean yearly despite some major hurricanes since 2015.

The Age of Pirates

The wealth of the Caribbean lured pirates in the 16th century, who preyed upon and looted ships sailing from the Caribbean to Europe. They blazed a terror trail, operating out of ports including Port Royal in Jamaica and Tortuga in Haiti. Attacks increased until 1697, when the Treaty of Ryswyck was signed.

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