Myths and Realities of Caribbean History

By Basil A. Reid

This book seeks to debunk eleven popular and prevalent myths about Caribbean history. Using archaeological evidence, it corrects many previous misconceptions promulgated by history books and oral tradition as they specifically relate to the pre-Colonial and European-contact periods. It informs popular audiences, as well as scholars, about the current state of archaeological/historical research in the Caribbean Basin and asserts the value of that research in fostering a better understanding of the region’s past.
 

Contrary to popular belief, the history of the Caribbean did not begin with the arrival of Europeans in 1492. It actually started 7,000 years ago with the infusion of Archaic groups from South America and the successive migrations of other peoples from Central America for about 2,000 years thereafter. In addition to discussing this rich cultural diversity of the Antillean past, Myths and Realities of Caribbean History debates the misuse of terms such as "Arawak" and "Ciboneys," and the validity of Carib cannibalism allegations.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: University Alabama Press
• Release date: Jun 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9780817383169

Basil A. Reid

BASIL A. REID is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Department of History, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. His publications include Archaeology and Geoinformatics: Case Studies from the Caribbean; Myths and Realities of Caribbean History; Caribbean Heritage; and Encyclopedia of Caribbean Archaeology.

Book preview

CARIBBEAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOHISTORY

Series Editor: Antonio L. Curet

Myths and Realities of Caribbean History

BASIL A. REID

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS

Tuscaloosa

Copyright © 2009

The University of Alabama Press

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reid, Basil A., 1961–

  Myths and realities of Caribbean history / Basil A. Reid.

       p. cm. — (Caribbean archaeology and ethnohistory)

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-8173-5534-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Caribbean Area—History—Errors, inventions, etc. I. Title.

F2176.R43 2009

972.9′01—dc22

2008035776

ISBN: 978-0-8173-8316-9 (electronic)

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword

Introduction

Myth 1. Caribbean History Started with the Arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492

Myth 2. The Arawaks and Caribs Were the Two Major Groups in the Precolonial Caribbean

Myth 3. Columbus Met Arawaks in the Northern Caribbean

Myth 4. The Natives Encountered by Christopher Columbus in the Northern Caribbean Migrated from South America

Myth 5. The Arawaks Were the First Potters and Farmers to Have Settled in the Caribbean

Myth 6. The Ciboneys Lived in Western Cuba at the Time of Spanish Contact

Myth 7. The Island-Caribs Were Cannibals

Myth 8. All the Amerindians Migrating from South America to the Caribbean Island-Hopped from the Continent to the Lesser and Greater Antilles

Myth 9. The Spanish Introduced Syphilis into the Caribbean and the New World

Myth 10. Christopher Columbus Wrote the Version of His Diario (Diary) That We Use Today

Myth 11. The Spanish Colonists Brought Civilization to Native Societies in the Caribbean

Conclusion

Glossary

References Cited

Index

Illustrations

1.1. An Indian Cacique of the Island of Cuba

1.2. A time line for Trinidad and Tobago

1.3. Nuer time-reckoning system

1.4. Banwari Trace, Trinidad

1.5. Stone artifacts from Banwari Trace

2.1. Saladoid site locations, northeastern South America

2.2. Ortoiroid and Casimiroid migration and colonization

2.3. Casimiroid art

2.4. Early and late Saladoid sites, Lesser Antilles

2.5. Saladoid-La Hueca colonization of the Caribbean

2.6. Asymmetrical Saladoid vessel from Erin, Trinidad

2.7. Trants, Montserrat, northern Leeward Islands

2.8. Lapidary stone found at Blanchisseuse, north Trinidad

2.9. Saladoid stone pendant found at Blanchisseuse, north Trinidad

2.10. Elliot’s and Royall’s in Antigua

2.11. A Saladoid adorno from Whitelands, Trinidad

2.12. A sample of Saladoid sites in Trinidad and Tobago

2.13. Saladoid village layout at Blanchisseuse, north Trinidad

2.14. Saladoid village layout at Manzanilla, east Trinidad

2.15. Barrancoid colonization of the Caribbean

2.16. Barrancoid-influenced Saladoid adorno

2.17. Troumassan Troumassoid colonization of the Caribbean

2.18. Troumassan Troumassoid pottery

2.19. Suazan Troumassoid colonization of the southern Caribbean

2.20. Suazan Troumassoid pottery

2.21. Lover’s Retreat, Tobago

2.22. Island-Carib colonization of the southern Caribbean

2.23. Precolonial Barbados

2.24. Conch (Strombus gigas) axadze from Silver Sands, Barbados

2.25. Conch (Strombus gigas) axadze from Silver Sands, Barbados

2.26. Chronology of the series and subseries of cultures in the West Indies

2.27. Ostionan Ostionoid pottery

2.28. Stewart Castle and Retreat, Jamaica

3.1. The Taínos in the Caribbean at the time of Spanish contact

3.2. Advance of the Arawakan speech-communities

3.3. Classic, Western, and Eastern Taínos at the time of Spanish contact

4.1. El Caimito pottery

4.2. The Saladoid-Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.3. The Saladoid-Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.4. The Saladoid-Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.5. The Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.6. The Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.7. The Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.8. The Archaic-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.9. The Archaic-Saladoid-La Hueca-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.10. The Archaic-Saladoid-La Hueca-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.11. The Archaic-Saladoid-La Hueca-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.12. The Archaic-Saladoid-La Hueca-Ostionoid-Taíno model

4.13. The Archaic-Saladoid-La Hueca-Ostionoid-Taíno model

5.1. Early ceramic sites in central Cuba

5.2. Palms (Prestoea pubigera)

5.3. Sapodilla (Sapotaceae)

6.1. Guanahatabeys in western Cuba

7.1. Cannibal Indians, from a 1621 engraving

7.2. Mancos Canyon in southwestern Colorado

7.3. Burial remains from Mancos Canyon

7.4. Human bones from Mancos Canyon

7.5. The Battle of the Vega Real, Hispaniola, April 1495

8.1. Overlapping visibility areas in the Lesser Antilles

8.2. Ocean currents in the New World

8.3. Trade winds and currents in the Caribbean

8.4. Direct jumps by Saladoid groups from South America

8.5. Traditional Greenland kayak skeg

8.6. Carib skeg

8.7. Distances between coasts and landmass visibility ranges

9.1. Image of spiral-shaped organism that causes syphilis

9.2. A sickroom interior showing preparation and use of guaiacum

9.3. Syphilitic damage to the human skull

10.1. First voyage of Christopher Columbus, 1492–93

10.2. Columbus’s journeys through the Bahamas on his first voyage

11.1. Chiefdoms in Hispaniola based on the names of caciques

11.2. Location of ball court sites on Puerto Rico

11.3. Aerial view of the Caguana dance and ball courts

11.4. Two-plaza site of MC-6 on Middle Caicos

Foreword

History is alive! It is a subject that is continuously adding new information, new interpretations, and new perspectives on the past. It has also been used to serve political, cultural, and social objectives to the point where many historical treatises are best described as propaganda. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the colonialist efforts to portray the grand heritage of the colonizers and to deny any history to the peoples they subjugated. Historian Michael Craton expressed this quite eloquently in his study of enslaved peoples in Jamaica, titled Searching for the Invisible Man.

History operates on several levels. At its most abstract, historians debate the roles of methods and theories for creating the past. Debates concerning the interpretation of particular events and historical processes comprise a second level in which different interpretations of the facts compete for acceptance and seek to represent different perspectives on the past. It is through these filters that popular histories are constructed. This end product often has been presented as the story of great men, their extraordinary deeds, and the times in which these deeds were accomplished.

For the masses, formal history is dead. It is little more than a random collection of names and dates. You memorize the facts, take and pass your exams, and then forget everything you learned because it has no relevance in your life. Although this is an easy way to progress toward a diploma and profession, you sacrifice your soul in doing so. As Bob Marley sang, If you know your history, then you would know where you’re coming from.

Many people are content to leave the debates concerning Caribbean history to the professionals. Unfortunately this approach excludes the general public, and their knowledge and understanding of the past are then based on outmoded notions concerning the peoples who lived in the past. But history is not simply a collection of faceless facts. It is the story of people, their ancestors, the chaos of their daily lives, and of how all of us developed and changed to reach the present. And it plays an active role in charting our futures.

Fortunately, there are a few scholars who recognize the role of history and have the necessary skills to translate new developments, new ideas, and new interpretations into a language that is easily understood by the general public. Basil Reid is exceptional in this regard. Dr. Reid recognized that many popular beliefs, which he calls myths, reflect inaccurate and sometimes colonialist interpretations of the past. In this fascinating book he systematically dissects these myths and points the direction toward new interpretations and perspectives. In doing so he enriches all of our lives by improving our understanding of the past.

William F. Keegan

Curator of Caribbean Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History and Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, Gainesville

Introduction

This book seeks to correct many of our misconceptions about precolonial and European-contact periods in the Caribbean. It is also intended to inform popular audiences as well as scholars about the current state of archaeological/historical research in the Caribbean and the value of this research in fostering a better understanding of the region’s past. History is based not only on written records but also on a rich array of archaeological and oral data. Contrary to popular opinion, the history of the Caribbean did not begin with the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. It started about seven thousand years earlier with the advent of Archaic groups from South America, then the migration of other Archaic groups from Central America about two thousand years thereafter. The next wave of migrants, the Saladoids, came from South America in 500 B.C. and, like their Archaic forerunners, established several indigenous communities in the Caribbean. These communities eventually evolved into new cultural groups, creating a rich tapestry of cultural traditions and indigenous societies throughout the northern and southern Caribbean. The misuse of the terms Arawak and Ciboneys, and the inaccuracy of references to Carib cannibalism are among the eleven myths debunked in this book.

Archaeological/historical research of the precolonial and contact periods is ongoing, offering new insights into our understanding of these early cultures. A prime example of this concerns which group was the first to have brought pottery-making and agriculture to the Caribbean. For years, the Arawaks were touted as the first; then the Saladoids were accorded that honor; and recently the Archaic peoples have been deemed to be the first potters and farmers. Such is the nature of the beast in academia, where open-mindedness and a willingness to debate the issues are essential as we contend with sometimes controversial subject matters in the marketplace of ideas. As new evidence emerges to disprove notions about the past, these notions should be replaced by new ones, regardless of how long they have been actively promoted in books and articles. The sifting of the most current evidence to determine facts from myths is this book’s primary purpose.

I acknowledge the generous assistance of Naseema Hosein-Hoey, who typed and collated some of the research materials and helped prepare the glossary, and Christopher Riley, who produced most of the visual materials. I also gratefully acknowledge the copyright permissions given by Yale University Press, the University of Alabama Press, Princeton University Press, University Press of Florida, Wellcome Trustees, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Arie Boomert, David Watters, Anne Stokes, David Steadman, Jay B. Haviser, Philip Allsworth-Jones, Michiel Kappers, Richard Callaghan, Marc Dorst, José Oliver, Paul Comeau, Yasmin Baksh-Comeau, Reg. Murphy, and Peter L. Drewett. I am very grateful to both William Keegan and Luis Antonio Curet for reviewing the text and providing constructive criticism. I also thank William Keegan for writing the foreword.

Finally, I profusely thank my beloved wife, Joan, and our son, Gavin, for their incredible patience and generous moral support, as I spent time drafting, writing, rewriting, and editing the book. This book is dedicated to these two fine individuals.

Myth 1

Caribbean History Started with the Arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492

History is often associated with the introduction of writing. But the people who lived in the Caribbean before Columbus arrived had a rich and well-rehearsed oral history, and left a record of their activities that can be studied using archaeological methods.

Definitions of History

History is not based only on written records but on all human actions, including those recorded orally and reflected exclusively in the archaeological rec ord. The conventional definition of history says that Caribbean history began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean