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Home , Caribbean, Caribbean Sea, Culture of the Caribbean, History of the Caribbean, West Indies

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SECTION The

3 70°W Gulf of TEKS 1A, 1B, 2B, 3D, 15A, 15B, 18A B a ATLANTIC 80°W Tropic of Cancer h a m What You Will Learn… a If YOU lived there... s

Cuba Main Ideas You are a young sailor on ’s second voyage 1. The of the Caribbean to the New . The year is 1493. Now that your ship is in the islands includes European 20°W Caribbean , you are sailing from to island. You have seen 20°W colonization followed by inde- St. Dominque Puerto pendence. volcanoes and waterfalls and fierce natives. Columbus has decided Rico 2. The of the Caribbean to establish a trading post on one of the islands. You are part of the islands shows signs of past St. Croix St. Kitts and . crew who will stay there. 3. Today the Caribbean islands N have distinctive governments What do you expect in your new home? W E with that depend S on and . St. Lucia

St. Vincent Curacao

60°W The Big Idea Building Background In the late 1400s and early 1500s, The Caribbean islands have a European began to compete for . Sailing for , rich history and culture influ- Christopher Columbus made four voyages to the . He and enced by European colonization. his men discovered and explored many islands. Key Terms and Places dialect, p. 226 , p. 227 History refugee, p. 227 When Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, he , p. 228 actually discovered the Caribbean islands. These islands now cooperative, p. 228 include 13 independent . The countries themselves show the influence of those first European explorers. HRW-MS Maps Early History mg7fvs_islmap009aa Use the graphic organizer online European Colonies in the Caribbean 1763 to organize your notes on the Christopher Columbus first sailedfinal pass--6/24/05 into the Caribbean Sea from Caribbean islands. Spain in 1492. He thought he had reached the Indies, or the islands near . Therefore, he called the Caribbean islands the and the people who lived there Indians. Spain had little interest in the smaller Caribbean islands, but the English, French, Dutch, and Danish did. In the 1600s and 1700s, these countries established colonies on the islands. They built huge plantations that required many work- ers. Most Caribbean Indians had died from disease, so - ans brought Africans to work as slaves. Soon Africans and people of African descent outnumbered Europeans on many islands.

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European Colonies in the Caribbean, 1763

70°W Place European countries Gulf of each left their own mark on the HRW Middle SchoolMexico Geography B a islands they colonized. mg7fvs_islmap009ba 80°W Tropic of Cancer h a 1. Identify Who ruled Jamaica? European Colonies in the Caribbean m a 2. Contrast How did Spanish Locator s colonies differ from Dutch Final pass--6/20/05 colonies?

20°W 20°W

St. Dominque Puerto Jamaica Hispaniola Rico

Antigua British French St. Croix St. Kitts Danish Spanish Guadeloupe Nevis Dutch N Dominica 0 100 200 Miles W E Martinique 0 100 200 Kilometers S Caribbean Sea St. Lucia Projection: Azimuthal Equal-Area St. Vincent Barbados Curacao Aruba 60°W Grenada Tobago

HRW-MS Geography Maps B iographY mg7fvs_islmap009ca European Colonies in the Caribbean 1763 Toussaint-L’Ouverture Legend (c. 1743–1803) IndependenceFinal pass--6/20/05 A slave revolt led by Toussaint-L’Ouverture Toussaint-L’Ouverture was born a slave. (too-sahn loo-ver-toor) eventually helped A few years after he gained his freedom, a slave revolt broke out in . Tous- Haiti win independence from in saint soon realized the rebels did not have very good lead- 1804. Along with independence came free- ers, so he went on to form an army of his own. He proved dom for the slaves in Haiti. Ideas of indepen- to be an excellent army general. He later became a popu- HRW-MS Geography Maps dence then spread throughout the Americas. lar governor of Haiti, gaining the respect of both black mg7fvs_islmap009aa By the mid-1800s, the Dominican and on the island. European Colonies in the Caribbean 1763 final pass--6/24/05 had gained independence. The won Cuba from Spain, but Cuba gained independence in 1902. The still French possessions. Each has its own other Caribbean countries did not gain elected government and is also represented independence until more than 40 years in the French government. Most people on later, after II. At that time, these islands seem not to wish for indepen- the Europeans transferred political power dence from their ruling countries. peacefully to most of the islands. Many Caribbean islands still are not Reading Check Identifying Points of View independent countries. For example, the Why might an island’s people not be interested islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe are in gaining independence?

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Culture Festivals and Food Today nearly all Caribbean islands show People on the Caribbean islands celebrate signs of past colonialism and slavery. These a variety of holidays. One of the biggest signs can be seen in the ’s culture. and most widespread is . Carnival is a time of feasts and celebration before People, Languages, and Religion the Christian season of Lent begins. People Most islanders today are descended either usually celebrate Carnival with big parades from Europeans or from Africans who and fancy costumes. Festivals like Carnival came to the region as slaves, or from a mix- often include great music. FOCUS ON ture of the two. Some Asians also live on Caribbean food and cooking also READING the islands. They came to work on planta- reflect the region’s past. For example, What words in slave ships carried foods as well as people the paragraph on tions after slavery ended in the region. food signal Languages spoken in the region reflect to the Caribbean. Now foods from Afri- comparison? a colonial heritage. Spanish, English, or ca, such as yams and okra, are popular French as well as mixtures of European there. Also, in Barbados, people eat a dish and African languages are spoken on called souse, which is made of pigs’ tails, many islands. For example, speak ears, and snouts. This dish was developed French Creole. Creole is a dialect , or a among slaves because slaveholders ate the regional variety of a language. best parts of the pig and gave slaves the The region’s past is also reflected in the leftovers. Another popular flavor on the religions people practice. Former French islands, , was brought to the region by and Spanish territories have large numbers people from India who came as plantation of Catholics. People also practice a blend workers after slavery ended. of Catholicism and traditional African Reading Check Generalizing How does religions. One blended religion is Santería. Caribbean culture reflect African influences?

Languages of the Caribbean Language Countries

Antigua and , Barbados, English and Tobago

Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Creole English Jamaica, Bahamas

Creole French Haiti, Dominica,

Cuba, , Republic

Interpreting Charts What language do people speak in Barbados?

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connecting to the Arts Caribbean Music The Caribbean islands have produced many unique styles of music. For example, Jamaica is famous as the birthplace of reggae. Merengue is the national music and dance of the . is the home of steel-drum and calypso music. Here, a band in the performs on steel drums. Steel-drum bands can include as few as 4 or as many as 100 musicians. The instruments are actually metal barrels like the kind used for shipping oil. The end of each drum is hammered into a curved shape with multiple grooves and bumps. Hitting different-sized bumps results in different notes.

Drawing Inferences What role might trade have played in the development of steel-drum music?

The Caribbean Islands Today Haiti Many Caribbean islands share a similar Haiti occupies the western part of the history. Still, each island has its own island of Hispaniola. Haiti’s capital, Port- ­, government, and culture. au-Prince, is the center of the ’s lim- ited industry. Most Haitians farm small Puerto Rico plots. Coffee and sugarcane are among Once a Spanish , Puerto Rico today Haiti’s main exports. is a U.S. commonwealth. A commonwealth Haiti is the poorest in the is a self-governing territory associated with Americas. Its people have suffered under another country. Puerto Ricans are U.S. a string of corrupt governments during citizens, but they do not have voting rep- the last two centuries. Violence, political resentation in Congress. unrest, and poverty have created many Overall, Puerto Rico’s economy has political refugees. A refugee is someone benefitted from U.S. aid and investment. who flees to another country, usually for Still, wages are lower and unemployment­ political or economic reasons. Many Hai- is higher on the island than in the United tian refugees have come to the United States. Many Puerto Ricans have moved to States. the United States for better paying jobs. On January, 12, 2010, a catastrophic Today, Puerto Ricans debate whether­ their struck close to Port-au-Prince. island should remain a U.S. common-­ The quake devastated Haiti, leaving about wealth, become an state, or 230,000 Haitians dead, 300,000 injured, become an independent nation. and over a million homeless. Today, many Haitians continue working to rebuild their lives and nation.

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Dominican Republic Cuba has been run by a Communist The Dominican Republic occupies the government since came to eastern part of Hispaniola. The capital is power in 1959. At that time, the govern- Domingo. was the ment took over banks, large sugarcane first permanent European settlement in plantations, and other businesses. Many the . of these businesses were owned by U.S. The Dominican Republic is not a rich companies. Because of the takeovers, the country. However, its economy, health U.S. government banned trade with Cuba care, education, and housing are more and restricted travel there by U.S. citizens. developed than Haiti’s. Agriculture is the Today the government still controls basis of the economy in the Dominican the economy. Most of Cuba’s farms are Republic. The country’s tourism indus- organized as cooperatives or government- try has also grown in recent years. owned plantations. A cooperative is an along the are popular with organization owned by its members and many tourists from Central and South operated for their mutual benefit. America as well as from the United States. Besides controlling the economy, Cuba’s government also controls all the Cuba newspapers, television, and radio sta- Cuba is the largest and most populous tions. While many Cubans support these country in the Caribbean. It is located policies, others oppose them. Some people just 92 miles (148 km) south of . who oppose the government have become Havana, the capital, is the country’s largest refugees in the United States. Many Cuban and most important city. refugees have become U.S. citizens.

Cubans Divided

Government-sponsored rallies are a part of Cuban life. Mean- while, some Cubans try to flee their country on tiny rafts.

Analyzing Visuals How can you tell that the people in the raft are trying to flee Cuba?

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Other Islands Caribbean Tourism The rest of the Caribbean islands are Tourism has helped Caribbean small countries. Jamaica is the largest of economies. New developments, the remaining Caribbean countries. The like this hotel in , have also changed many islands’ smallest country is and Nevis. landscapes. It is not even one-tenth the size of Rhode Island, the smallest U.S. state! A number of Caribbean islands are not independent countries but territories of other countries. These territories include the U.S. and British . The and France also still have some Caribbean territories. Some of these islands have enough land to grow some coffee, sugarcane, or spices. However, most islands’ economies are based on tourism. Hundreds of people on the islands work in restaurants and hotels visited by tourists. While tourism has provided jobs and helped economies, SUmmary and PReview The Caribbe- not all of its effects have been positive. an islands were colonized by European For example, new construction sometimes countries, which influenced the culture harms the same natural environment of the islands. Today the islands have tourists come to the islands to enjoy. different types of governments but simi- lar economies. Next, you will read about Reading Check Contrasting How are the countries in that are also governments of Puerto Rico and Cuba different? located near the Caribbean Sea.

Section 3 Assessment ONLINE QUIZ Reviewing Ideas, Terms, and Places Critical Thinking 1. a. Describe What crop was the basis of the colonial 4. Summarizing Look over your notes. Then use economy on the Caribbean islands? a diagram like this one to note b. Make Inferences Why do you think most specific influences smaller Caribbean countries were able to gain on the region and ­independence peacefully? where they came 2. a. Define What is a dialect? from in each circle. Caribbean b. Explain In what ways have African influences You may add more Islands shaped Caribbean culture? circles if you need to. 3. a. Recall What is a refugee, and from what ­Caribbean countries have refugees come? b. Make Inferences Why do you think many Cubans support their government’s policies? Focus on Writing c. Evaluate What would be the benefits and 5. Telling about the Caribbean Islands These islands ­drawbacks for Puerto Rico if it became a U.S. state? have a fascinating history and a rich culture. Take notes and define the common culture traits that unify the region for your travel guide.

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