During our expedition, we’ve met many people who live on Caribbean islands. We found the people who live here come from all over the world, just like in the United States. But of all people we met, we never were introduced to any descendants of the first people who lived on these islands. The original Caribbean settlers were the peaceful Taino ("Tie-ah-no") who came from South America (See January 2, 2001 journal). The Taino were later followed – and eventually killed off – by the fierce Caribs ("care-eebs"), who also came from South America. Even though the Carib people are gone, some of their words – barbecue and hammock – have made it into our language. After Columbus visited the Carribean, other Europeans came and made the islands colonies of their faraway homelands. The Caribs were killed fighting with the Europeans or died from the diseases that the Europeans brought with them. The Europeans that came to the Caribbean were soldiers, sailors, and settlers. We met some people who were descendants from these early European settlers. We also met some Europeans who had just come here. Most of the people we met are descendants of about five million black African slaves who the Europeans brought here to work their plantations. Even though slavery ended here over 150 years ago, the former slaves stayed while most of the Europeans left. We found that on the islands where there were once big plantations, black people are the majority and white people are the minority (Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Martin-St. Maarten, Statia, and Anguilla). On the islands where there were never large plantations, the population is just opposite (Saba and St. Barts). On some islands (Antigua, St. Kitts, and St. Martin-St. Maarten), we met descendants of people from India. Indian people were brought to many Caribbean islands as workers in the 1800s. On some islands, people from India own the shops. Many of the duty-free shops in St. Maarten are owned and run by descendants of people from India, for example. As we traveled from island to island, we also met people from China and Turkey who lived in the region. We found that no matter where they were from originally, or what color they are, people living in the Caribbean today seem to get along with each other. The people we met were all friendly and wanted to help us, as well! We especially had fun with some of the kids here. Before Christmas break we only saw kids as they walked to school dressed in their school uniforms. (All kids here wear school uniforms.) Later, when the schools were off for Christmas break, we met some of the kids that live on these islands. The kids were curious about us and about our trip. We told them how we were showing kids in the United States what their islands were like. Most of the island kids only know about the United States from watching TV shows. We explained that right now many of the U.S. kids were in the middle of big snowstorms. Then we had to tell them what snow is like – because most Caribbean kids have never seen it! |
At the edge of the rainforest on St. Kitts, we found something left by the Caribs. This rock carving is of a man with his pregnant wife.
Our guide on our St. Kitts rainforest hike was Chris, a descendant of European settlers. Chris's colleague, Peter, is a descendant of African slaves that were brought to the Caribbean to work the plantations.
On Anguilla, a local band visited our ship and played some island songs. The man on the left is playing a musical instrument made of a broomstick, a wash tub, and a piece of string.
Our dive master in St. Kitts was VJ. VJ is from Guyana, but is descended from Indian workers that came to Guyana. (VJ is holding a spider crab.)
We met these kids in Antigua. Clockwise from the front: Rodney, age 10; Daniel, age 8; Clarence, age 10; and Gertrude, age 10. |
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January 9, 2001
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