Garifuna World

Welcome to the Garifuna World! You are about to experience the origin of the Garifuna community, their incorporating process to society, their resistance to English and French Colonization and their deporting to Honduran land. The Garifuna society, also known as the Black Caribs, was first originated in XVII in San Vicente, about a century after th... e conquering of Central America, South America, and the lower Antilles. The conquerors were not interested in San Vicente and Dominica at first because of its topographic features, lack of precious metals and grasslands for cattle raising, but the Caribs did become interested because of its magnificent areas for fishing. Who were the Caribs? The Caribs were strong, robust men, of small stature, and mongoloid physical features. They had long, black, straight and thick hair, perfectly cut to their forehead and were generally dressed in a colorful christening skirt. Their original name was Callinagu and their place of origin was from the Orinoco Delta, which they abandoned for conquering the Lower Antilles. When they arrived to the Lower Antilles, they exterminated the Arahuaco men, but decided to keep the women for their convenience. The union of these two Indian groups gave origin to a new society called the Caliponan (also known as the Yellow Caribs, Red Caribs, and Amerindians). The beginning of the formation process was in 1635, and believed to have been caused by the sinking of two Spanish ships loaded with black slaves who were being delivered to their buyers. In those days it was common for the Caliponan to give misleading directions, which lead them to the riverbanks where they disposed the ships from their shipments (gold, wine, and slaves) and killed all of the crewmembers. The Africans were anxious to establish friend links to avoid being sent back to their owners as slaves; therefore they soon adopted their customs and native garifuna language . Shortly after, they married the Caliponan women who gave birth to a whole new kind of siblings. Their ...Read More