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The Kalinago genocide was the genocidal massacre of an estimated 2,000 Kalinago people by English and French settlers on the island of Saint Kitts in 1626.
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| Genocide of indigenous peoples |
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The Kalinago genocide was the genocidal massacre of an estimated 2,000 Kalinago people by English and French settlers on the island of Saint Kitts in 1626.
During the early 17th century, Kalinago leader Ouboutou Tegremante had become uneasy with the increasing number of English and French settlers emigrating to the island of Saint Kitts. The settlers soon outnumbered the Kalinago and began to clear land around the island to establish farms. [1] In 1626, Tegremond allegedly began plotting to massacre all European settlers on Saint Kitts under the fear that they would "completely take over the island"; he purportedly dispatched messengers to Kalinago communities on other West Indian islands, informing them to come to Saint Kitts by canoe at night for the planned attack on the settlers. However, a Kalinago woman named Barbe informed Sir Thomas Warner and Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc of Tegremond's supposed plan; taking pre-emptive action, the English and French invited the Kalinago to a party where they became intoxicated. When the Kalinago returned to their village, a combined force of English and French settlers attacked them and 120 Kalinago were killed in the attack, including Tegremond.[ citation needed ]
The following day, roughly 4,000 Kalinago were forced by the settlers into the area of Bloody Point and Bloody River where battle broke out; historian Vincent K. Hubbard estimates 2,000 Kalinago were massacred while attempting to surrender. [2] The account of the massacre by Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre described "piles of [Kalinago] bodies" after the massacre. [3] 100 settlers were also killed in the battle, with one French settler going insane after being struck by a poisoned arrow from a Kalinago archer before dying. Historian Melanie J. Newton says the belief in the plot by Tegremond to kill the settlers was based on "slim intelligence". According to Newton, the settlers' belief that the Kalinago would attack them was rooted in popular depictions of indigenous West Indians as "untrustworthy cannibals who ultimately had to be eliminated" rather than in any real evidence of a plot. [4]
The remaining Kalinago fled into the mountains, and by 1640, those who were not enslaved by European settlers were forcibly removed to Dominica. [2] [3]
Through subsequent decades of European colonialism in the Caribbean, Kalinago populations on other islands were subjected to further massacres. [5] German legal scholar Andreas Buser argued in 2016 that these massacres, including that on Saint Kitts, could be considered genocides under the 1948 Genocide Convention. [6] This history of genocidal attacks against the Kalinago has led to perceptions that "there are no indigenous peoples left in the Caribbean." [7]
Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a singular nation state. Nevis is located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago about 350 kilometres (220 mi) east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Antigua. Its area is 93 square kilometres (36 sq mi) and the capital is Charlestown.
Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Lesser Antilles. With 261 square kilometres (101 sq mi) of territory, and roughly 48,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere, in both area and population, as well as the world's smallest sovereign federation. The country is a Commonwealth realm, with Charles III as King and head of state. St. Kitts and Nevis offers an economic citizenship programme, the oldest of this kind in the world, criticised due to the risks of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.
Saint Lucia was inhabited by the Arawak and Kalinago Caribs before European contact in the early 16th century. It was colonized by the British and French in the 17th century and was the subject of several possession changes until 1814, when it was ceded to the British by France for the final time. In 1958, St. Lucia joined the short-lived semi-autonomous West Indies Federation. Saint Lucia was an associated state of the United Kingdom from 1967 to 1979 and then gained full independence on February 22, 1979.
The Kalinago, formerly known as Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an Indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language known as Island Carib. They also spoke a pidgin language associated with the Mainland Caribs.
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In English, the term Leeward Islands refers to the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. The more southerly part of this chain, starting with Dominica, is called the Windward Islands. Dominica was originally considered a part of the Leeward Islands, but was transferred from the British Leeward Islands to the British Windward Islands in 1940.
The French West Indies or French Antilles are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
The culture of Dominica is formed by the inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Dominica is home to a wide range of people. Although it was historically occupied by several native tribes, it was the Taíno and Island Caribs (Kalinago) tribes that remained by the time European settlers reached the island. "Massacre" is a name of a river dedicated to the murders of the native villagers by both French and British settlers, because the river "ran red with blood for days." Each claimed the island and imported slaves from Africa. The remaining Caribs now live on a 3,700-acre (15 km2) Carib Territory on the east coast of the island. They elect their own chief.
Pierre Belain, sieur d'Esnambuc was a French trader and adventurer in the Caribbean, who established the first permanent French colony, Saint-Pierre, on the island of Martinique in 1635.
Massacre is a town in Saint Paul Parish, Dominica, with about 1,200 inhabitants. It is located on the central west coast of the island, to the north of the capital, Roseau, on the Massacre River.
Bloody Point is a headland in Trinity Palmetto Point Parish, Saint Kitts. The Stone Fort or Bloody River runs towards Bloody Point. In 1626, European colonists massacred 2,000 Kalinago people at Bloody Point.
Bloody River or Stone Fort River is a river or ghaut in Saint Kitts which starts from the South East Range, flows west of the village of Challengers and exits at Bloody Point.
Tegremante was the Kalinago chief on St Kitts when Thomas Warner arrived by 1623 to establish a colony. He was killed in his sleep during the Kalinago Genocide of 1626.
Sir Thomas Warner was a captain in the guards of James I of England who became an explorer in the Caribbean. In 1620 he served at the brief-lived English settlement of Oyapoc in present-day Guyana of South America, which was abandoned the same year. The Dutch controlled most of the territory. Warner is noted for settling on Saint Kitts and establishing it in 1624 as the first English colony in the Caribbean.
Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. Dominica's closest neighbours are two constituent territories of the European Union, the overseas departments of France, Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast. Dominica comprises a land area of 750 km2 (290 sq mi), and the highest point is Morne Diablotins, at 1,447 m (4,747 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census.
The Massacre River is a river on the Caribbean island of Dominica.
The Kalinago Territory, previously known as the Carib Reserve or Carib Territory (outdated/derogatory), is a 3,700-acre (15 km2) district in the Caribbean island country of Dominica. It was established for the Indigenous Kalinago people who inhabited the region prior to European colonization and settlement.
The Chief of the Kalinago Territory presides over the Kalinago Council, the local government of the Kalinago Territory. The position is the equivalent of a village council chairperson elsewhere in Dominica. Beginning in the late 20th century, Kalinago Chiefs have also acted as a representative of the Kalinago Territory to other indigenous populations in the Caribbean region, and have worked with organizations including the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
Migration from Ireland to Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies began in the 1620s, when the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis became part of the British Empire, and continued into the 18th century.
Robert le Frichot des Friches, sieur de Clodoré was a French governor of Martinique from 1665 to 1667. He was an energetic and effective leader during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, in which France was an ally of the Dutch from the start of 1666. He used Caribs as auxiliaries, and helped take several islands in the Antilles from the English.
Vincentian nationality law is regulated by the Saint Vincent Constitution Order of 1979, as amended; the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Citizenship Act of 1984, and its revisions; and various British Nationality laws. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Vincentian nationality is typically obtained either on the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; or under the rules of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth abroad to parents with Vincentian nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalisation. There is not currently a program in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for persons to acquire nationality through investment in the country. Nationality establishes one's international identity as a member of a sovereign nation. Though it is not synonymous with citizenship, for rights granted under domestic law for domestic purposes, the United Kingdom, and thus the commonwealth, have traditionally used the words interchangeably.
17°18′12″N62°47′19″W / 17.3033°N 62.7885°W
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