The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna (Caribbean Studies Series)

In The Black Carib Wars , Christopher Taylor offers the most thoroughly researched history of the struggle of the Garifuna people to preserve their freedom on the island of St. Vincent. Today, thousands of Garifuna people live in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the United States, preserving their unique culture and speaking a language that directly descends from that spoken in the Caribbean at the time of Columbus. All trace their origins back to St. Vincent where their ancestors were native Carib Indians and shipwrecked or runaway West African slaves—hence the name by which they were known to French and British colonialists: Black Caribs. In the 1600s they encountered Europeans as adversaries and allies. But from the early 1700s, white people, particularly the French, began to settle on St. Vincent. The treaty of Paris in 1763 handed the island to the British who wanted the Black Caribs' land to grow sugar. Conflict was inevitable, and in a series of bloody wars punctuated by uneasy peace the Black Caribs took on the might of the British Empire. Over decades leaders such as Tourouya, Bigot, and Chatoyer organized the resistance of a society which had no central authority but united against the external threat. Finally, abandoned by their French allies, they were defeated, and the survivors deported to Central America in 1797. The Black Carib Wars draws on extensive research in Britain, France, and St. Vincent to offer a compelling narrative of the formative years of the Garifuna people. In The Black Carib Wars, author Christopher Taylor offers the fullest, most thoroughly researched history of the Garifuna people of St. Vincent, and their uneasy conflicts and alliances with Great Britain and France. The Garifuna--whose descendants were native Carib Indians, Arawaks and West African slaves brought to the Caribbean--were free citizens of St. Vincent. Beginning in the mid-1700s, they clashed with a number of colonial powers who claimed ownership of the island and its people. Upon the Garifuna's eventual defeat by the British in 1796, the people were dispersed to Central America. Today, roughly 600,000 descendants of the Garifuna live in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, the United States, and Canada. The Garifuna--called'Black Caribs'by the British to distinguish them from other groups of unintegrated Caribs--speak a language and live a culture that directly descends from natives of the Caribbean at the time of Columbus. Thus, the Garifuna heritage is one of the oldest and strongest links historians have to the region before European colonialism. The French, the first white people to live on St Vincent, attempted to subdue the Black Caribs but eventually developed an alliance with them. When the Treaty of Paris ostensibly handed St. Vincent to the British crown in 1763, the British clashed with the Black Caribs but, like the French, eventually formed another treaty. This cycle of attempted colonialism of St. Vincent by France and England alternately would continue for three decades. After repeated conflict and desperate measures by the European powers, the Garifuna were forced to surrender. In March 1797 the last survivors were loaded on to British ships and deported to the island of Roatán hundreds of miles away in the bay of Honduras. A little over 2,000 men, women and children were all that were left--perhaps a fifth of the Black Carib population of just two years earlier. It was a cataclysm. But the Black Caribs--the Garifuna in their own language--survived and their descendants number in the hundreds of thousands. This book offers a thoroughly researched history of the struggle of the Garifuna people to preserve their freedom on the island of St. Vincent. Today, thousands of Garifuna people live in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the United States, preserving their unique culture and speaking a language that directly descends from that spoken in the Caribbean at the time of Columbus. All trace their origins back to St. Vincent, where their ancestors were native Carib Indians and shipwrecked or runaway West African slaves—hence the name by which they were known to French and British colonialists: Black Caribs. In the 1600s they encountered Europeans as adversaries and allies. But from the early 1700s, white people, particularly the French, began to settle on St. Vincent. The treaty of Paris in 1763 handed the island to the British, who wanted the Black Caribs’ land to grow sugar. Conflict was inevitable, and in a series of bloody wars punctuated by uneasy peace the Black Caribs took on the might of the British Empire. Over decades, leaders such as Tourouya, Bigot, and Chatoyer organized the resistance of a society that had no central authority but united against the external threat. Finally, abandoned by their French allies, the Black Caribs were defeated, and the survivors deported to Central America in 1797. The book draws on extensive research in Britain, France, and St. Vincent to offer a compelling narrative of the formative years of the Garifuna people Dedication Contents Acknowledgments and Note on Text Introduction 1. Youroumaÿn 2. Good Friends, Cruel Enemies 3. Quel Roi? 4. Allies of the French 5. A Pity It Belongs to the Caribs 6. The Cry of Liberty 7. Calvary of the Caribs 8. Aftermath Appendix 1. The Anglo-Carib Peace Treaty of 1773 Appendix 2. Return of the Charaibs landed at Baliseau from July 26th 96 to Feb 2nd 1797 Appendix 3. Numbers, Names, and Ages of Charibs Surrendered, taken the 28th May, 1805 Appendix 4. The Indigenous Population Notes Further Reading and Bibliography Index Youroumayn Good Friends, Cruel Enemies Quel Roi? Allies of the French A Pity It Belongs to the Caribs The Cry of Liberty Calvary of the Caribs Aftermath Appendix 1: The Anglo-Carib Peace Treaty of 1773 Appendix 2: Return of the Charaibs landed at Baliseau from July 26th 96 to Feb. 2nd, 1797 Appendix 3: Numbers, Names, and Ages of Charibs Surrendered, taken the 28th May 1805 Appendix 4: The Indigenous Population.