Ethnos

Carib

The Carib or Island Carib are a people of the Lesser Antilles islands, after whom the Caribbean Sea was named. Originally from South America, they are believed to have left the Orinoco jungles of Venezuela to settle in the Caribbean. The Carib men treated their women as servants and the women cooked, cleaned, and did whatever the men said. The men and women lived in separate houses and the men ruled over the women. One of the Caribs’ strengths were building and sailing boats. Also out of all the tribes in the Caribbean, the Carib always won the battles over the Arawak. (Rogozinski)

When Europeans arrived on the Caribbean Islands in the 16th century, they found the Caribs to be aggressive and warlike. Practises of cannibalism were noted by the explorers. In fact, the English word cannibal comes from the Spanish caníbalis, which was recorded by Christopher Columbus from the earlier Carib word karibna, meaning person. It is important to note, however, that the Carib only ate human meat during religious war rituals. Although some Native Americans practiced cannibalism (as did some Europeans), Columbus's characterization of the Carib as eaters of human flesh more likely reflected his desire to represent them as savages, for in 1503 Queen Isabella ruled that only cannibals could be legally taken as slaves, which encouraged Europeans to identify various Native American groups as cannibals.

Another overstatement of the Europeans was that the Carib were aggressive and loved to fight. They only started to fight when attacked by the Europeans.They used to inhabit various Caribbean islands, but were later pushed out by European colonists and were able to retain only two islands Dominica and Saint Vincent. The Island Carib of Saint Vincent were relocated to Honduras in 1796, where their descendants, the Garífuna, live today. Their resistance delayed the settlement of Dominica by Europeans, and a few thousand of them still remain there. The last known speakers of Island Carib died in the 1920s. ***