8.3 Caribbean Ancestry, Migration & Ethnic Diversity
Key Takeaways
- The Kalinago and Taino were the region's indigenous peoples, present long before European arrival in 1492.
- Africans were brought to the Caribbean by force through enslavement; Indians, Chinese and Portuguese came later under indentureship contracts.
- Emancipation took effect on 1 August 1834, with full freedom following the end of apprenticeship on 1 August 1838.
- Russia is NOT a source of significant Caribbean ancestry, unlike Africa, India, China, Europe and the Middle East.
- Rural-urban migration is movement from countryside to city within a country; emigration is leaving a country and immigration is entering one.
8.3 Caribbean Ancestry, Migration & Ethnic Diversity
Quick Summary: Target 2 of the official Social Studies standards is "Appreciate diversity as the basis of human existence." At 15 of the 50 items, it is the largest strand on the CPEA Social Studies paper. Most of those items come back to one question: who are Caribbean people, and how did they get here?
The First Peoples
Long before 1492, the Caribbean was already populated.
| People | Where They Settled | Known For |
|---|---|---|
| Taino (also called Arawaks) | Greater Antilles - Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Bahamas | Farming cassava in conucos, pottery, the cacique chief system, hammocks, canoes |
| Kalinago (also called Caribs) | Lesser Antilles - Dominica, St Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad | Skilled canoe builders and navigators, fishing, strong resistance to European settlement |
Both groups left words still used every day across the region: hurricane, canoe, hammock, barbecue, tobacco, maize, iguana, cassava.
Kalinago communities survive today, most notably the Kalinago Territory in Dominica, and the Garifuna (Black Caribs) of St Vincent trace descent from Kalinago and African ancestors.
How the Different Groups Arrived
This is the distinction examiners test most often. Different peoples came to the Caribbean under completely different conditions, and the CPEA expects you to know which was which.
| Group | How They Came | Approximate Period |
|---|---|---|
| Indigenous peoples | Migrated by canoe from South America | Centuries before 1492 |
| Europeans | Voluntarily, as explorers, settlers, planters and officials | From 1492 |
| Africans | By force, through the transatlantic trade in enslaved people | c. 1500s to early 1800s |
| Indians | Indentureship - a contract to work for a fixed number of years | From 1838 (Guyana), 1845 (Trinidad) |
| Chinese | Indentureship and later free migration | From the 1800s |
| Portuguese (Madeira) | Indentureship | From the 1830s |
| Syrians and Lebanese | Voluntary migration, often into trade | Late 1800s onward |
Enslavement versus indentureship is the key contrast:
- Enslavement meant a person was treated as property, held for life, with no contract, no wages and no right to leave.
- Indentureship meant a person signed (or thumb-printed) a contract to work for a set number of years, usually five, in exchange for passage, wages, housing and sometimes a return passage or a plot of land.
Indentureship was harsh and often deceptive, but it was legally a contract with an end date. Enslavement was not.
A Classic Elimination Item
The specimen paper asks: "Which of the following countries is NOT a place from which a large number of ancestors of Caribbean people came? (A) India (B) China (C) Russia."
The answer is Russia. Large numbers came from Africa, India, China, Europe (Britain, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal) and the Middle East. Russia is not part of that story. Notice how the item rewards knowing the list rather than any single fact.
Emancipation: The Dates That Matter
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1807 | Britain abolishes the trade in enslaved people (not slavery itself) |
| 1833 | The Slavery Abolition Act is passed by the British Parliament |
| 1 August 1834 | Emancipation takes effect; most formerly enslaved people enter apprenticeship |
| 1 August 1838 | Apprenticeship ends - full freedom |
Emancipation Day is celebrated on 1 August across much of the Commonwealth Caribbean, and in several countries it is a public holiday. Apprenticeship was the four-year period during which freed people were still required to work unpaid for their former enslavers for part of each week - which is why the region marks 1838, not only 1834, as the arrival of real freedom.
It was the labour shortage that followed emancipation that led planters to recruit indentured workers from India, China and Madeira - which is precisely why Caribbean societies became so ethnically mixed.
Migration Today
Migration did not stop in the nineteenth century. Learn these four terms exactly:
| Term | Meaning | Caribbean Example |
|---|---|---|
| Emigration | Leaving your country to live in another | A nurse leaves Jamaica to work in Canada |
| Immigration | Entering a country to live there | A Guyanese family settles in Antigua |
| Internal migration | Moving within your own country | A family moves from one parish to another |
| Rural-urban migration | Moving from the countryside to the town or city | Andrea moves from her district to the city to work |
Worked example from the specimen paper: "Andrea has decided to move from her district to work in the city. This type of migration is..." Because she stays inside her own country and moves from country district to city, the answer is rural-urban migration.
Push and Pull Factors
- Push factors drive people away: few jobs, low wages, poor schools or health care, natural disasters, crime.
- Pull factors draw people in: employment, higher wages, better schools and hospitals, family already settled there.
Effects of Migration
| On the Place People Leave | On the Place People Go To |
|---|---|
| Loss of skilled workers ("brain drain") | Larger workforce and more skills |
| Fewer young people; ageing population | Overcrowding, squatting, pressure on housing |
| Remittances - money sent home - support families | Strain on water, roads, schools and clinics |
| Farmland may go out of use | Greater cultural variety |
Remittances - money sent home by relatives working abroad - are an important source of income for many Caribbean households, and are a term examiners like.
Which of the following is NOT a place from which a large number of ancestors of Caribbean people came?
What is the main difference between the arrival of enslaved Africans and the arrival of indentured Indian workers in the Caribbean?
Denise leaves her farming village and moves to the capital city in the same country to take a job in a hotel. What type of migration is this?
Emancipation took effect on 1 August 1834, yet many Caribbean countries mark 1838 as the year of full freedom. Why?