| History of Antigua and Barbuda |
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Pre-Columbian Antigua and Barbuda included the Archaic tribes, the Arawak, and possibly the Kalinago. The oldest major site on Antigua dates to c. 2900 BC, and the oldest site on Barbuda dates to c. 1875 BC. At the time, Antigua was referred to as Waladli (formerly Yarumaqui), and Barbuda was referred to as Wa'omoni.
The Archaic tribes were hunter-gatherers, usually traveling in small groups rather than living in villages. The most important archaic sites include Twenty Hill, River (Barbuda), and Jolly Beach. They likely discovered Antigua and Barbuda on canoes originating from Central or South America. Their language is unknown and were characterised by shell and stone tools. [1] According to carbon dating, the oldest discovered minor site on Antigua dates back to 3106 BC in Little Deep, Mill Reef, [2] and the oldest discovered site on Barbuda dating to 3685 BC in the River area. [3] [4]
The Ceramic period began with the arrival of Arawaks from Venezuela. [5] They arrived by canoe up the Caribbean islands. They were agricultural, made pottery, and established the first villages. They at first coexisted with the Archaic tribes, resulting in an overlap between the eras. Some historians have said that the Kalinago (Island Caribs) likely replaced the Arawaks, but because of nearly no evidence of cultural change other than less advanced pottery, this has been hard to make certain. It is thought that if this theory is correct, that the two groups coexisted and mixed. [1]
Another source says that the Arawak inhabited Antigua from c. 35 AD to c. 1100 AD, later being replaced by the ceramic-making Saladoids, who were replaced by the Kalinago in 1500 AD. [6] They maintained many fishing villages. [7] The last Amerindian site in the country dates to 1505 AD in Indian Town, Barbuda. [3] Amerindian attacks on Codrington continued until the early 1700s. [8]
The Arawaks and Kalinago did not wear clothes, but on occasion would wear a belt or an apron. They had long hair with a fringe near the eyebrows, and women would comb the men's hair and grease it to make it appear darker. The Kalinago would flatten babies' foreheads to appear more attractive. Modified fish vertebrae were used to make earrings. Necklaces were made using transparent fish bones and seashells, snail shells and bird feathers were also used. People would often redden their body daily to please their enemies, and used black face paint from gum tree root. The face paint was used during feasts and fighting. [1]
Most food was obtained by fishermen, with fish being shot with bow and arrows, and then being retrieved through diving. Digging sticks were used to make gardens and fire was used to clear forests. Food was often roasted on a boucan, which left an ash layer that was scraped off. Cassava was the staple food of the islanders, as it traveled well on their canoes and could be processed to make flour. Red-rumped agouti was a species of rodent that was hunted by dogs and was smoked and boiled in cassava juice. Large birds were grilled and small birds were boiled. Fish and crabs were also boiled. Tomali (now known in Antigua as pepper pot) was a method of food storage that 17th-century missionaries described as unhygienic. Maize and native fruits were also consumed, as well as alcoholic wi'ku and raw fish eyes. [1]
Amerindians made pottery using flint, stone, and shell tools, which were believed to ward off evil spirits with their "elegant" designs. [1]
The first Arawakan Antiguan boats were hollowed out tree trunks, sometimes having planks on the sides. A boat-building village was likely located near the east of Monks Hill, due to many conch-shell hand adzes and other tools being found in the area. The trees were cut down and hollowed on the spot after a year-long seasoning process. The bare hull was then taken to the village for finishing. For launching, the canoes could be slipped down a steep hill, for example in Falmouth Harbour. The canoes were used for communication, fishing, and inter-island trade. [1]
With the arrival of the Arawaks, the first houses and villages were built to tend to their cassava crops. Missionaries and historians have noted that the homes were about 12 feet across and 25 feet high, with a tall central post holding up the roof. The height was used to make rainwater quickly run off the roof. On the top of the roof, a rock was balanced, which was believed to bring good luck to the inhabitants of the house. Hammocks were also hung from the central post of the home to the round surrounding wall. [1]
The Arawakans worshipped three gods, Yocahu, Atabeyra, and Opiyel Wa'obiran. Yocahu was believed to be the supreme god, Atabeyra the goddess of fertility and childbirth, and Opiyel Wa'obiran took the form of a dog and was the guardian of the spirits of the dead. Sprits were believed to live in zemis (or zemies), images that were made of cotton, coral, stones, shells, and other materials. Shamans were medicine men and "priests", who were believed to be able to influence powerful sprits. Narcotics and incense burners were heavily used. [1]
Petrogylphs were believed to be protection from evil spirits. The only known petroglyphs in the country are located in Indian Cave, Barbuda. [9]
Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign archipelagic country in the Caribbean. It lies at the conjuncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles.
The history of Antigua and Barbuda covers the period from the arrival of the Archaic peoples thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Antigua and Barbuda were inhabited by three successive Amerindian societies. The island was claimed by England, who settled the islands in 1632. Under English/British control, the islands witnessed an influx of both Britons and African slaves migrate to the island. In 1981, the islands were granted independence as the modern state of Antigua and Barbuda.
Barbuda is an island and dependency located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda as an autonomous entity. Barbuda is located approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of Antigua. The only settlements on the island are Codrington and its surrounding localities. Barbuda is a flat island with the western portion being dominated by Codrington Lagoon, and the eastern portion being dominated by the elevated plateau of the Barbuda Highlands, with salty ponds and scrubland spread throughout the island. The climate is classified as tropical marine.
The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno, who lived in the Greater Antilles and northern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. All these groups spoke related Arawakan languages.
The Kalinago, also called 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 Kalinago or Island Carib. They also spoke a pidgin language associated with the Mainland Caribs.
The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc which begins east of Puerto Rico at the archipelago of the Virgin Islands, swings southeast through the Leeward and Windward Islands towards South America, and turns westward through the Leeward Antilles along the Venezuelan coast.
Arawak, also known as Lokono, is an Arawakan language spoken by the Lokono (Arawak) people of South America in eastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It is the eponymous language of the Arawakan language family.
Saint George, officially the Parish of Saint George, is a parish of Antigua and Barbuda on the island of Antigua. Saint George borders Saint Peter to the southeast, and Saint John to the west and south. Saint George is mostly farmland and savanna in the south, dense forest in the Blackman's Peninsula area, marshland in the Fitches Creek area, and dense forest in the northwest. It is the smallest parish in Antigua and Barbuda, and the parish capital is Fitches Creek. The largest city in the parish is Piggotts. Saint George is the newest parish, splitting from the parish of Saint Peter in 1725. It had an estimated population of 8,817 in 2018.
Saint Mary, officially the Parish of Saint Mary, is a parish of Antigua and Barbuda on the island of Antigua. Saint Mary borders Saint John to the north, and Saint Paul to the east. Saint Mary is dominated by the Shekerley Mountains, and its northern border is largely defined by the mountains, and by Cooks Creek. The largest city in the parish is Bolans, home to the Jolly Harbour neighbourhood, and the parish church is located in Old Road. Saint Mary was permanently established with the other four original parishes in 1692. It had an estimated population of 8,141 in 2018.
Ceramics of Indigenous peoples of the Americas is an art form with at least a 7500-year history in the Americas. Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns, censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks, toys, sculptures, and a myriad of other art forms.
At the time of first contact between Europe and the Americas, the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean included the Taíno of the northern Lesser Antilles, most of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas, the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles, the Ciguayo and Macorix of parts of Hispaniola, and the Guanahatabey of western Cuba. The Kalinago have maintained an identity as an Indigenous people, with a reserved territory in Dominica.
The Igneri were an Indigenous Arawak people of the southern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Historically, it was believed that the Igneri were conquered and displaced by the Island Caribs or Kalinago in an invasion some time before European contact. However, linguistic and archaeological studies in the 20th century have led scholars to more nuanced theories as to the fate of the Igneri. The Igneri spoke an Arawakan language which transitioned into the Kalinago language.
The Saladoid culture is a pre-Columbian Indigenous culture of territory in present-day Venezuela and the Caribbean that flourished from 500 BCE to 545 CE. The Saladoid were an Arawak people. Concentrated along the lowlands of the Orinoco River, the people migrated by sea to the Lesser Antilles, and then to Puerto Rico.
The Ortoiroid people were the second wave of human settlers of the Caribbean who began their migration into the Antilles around 2000 BC. They were preceded by the Casimiroid peoples. They are believed to have originated in the Orinoco valley in South America, migrating to the Antilles from Trinidad and Tobago to Puerto Rico. The name "Ortoiroid" comes from Ortoire, a shell midden site in southeast Trinidad. They have also been called Banwaroid, after another archaeological site in Trinidad.
Indigenous people in Venezuela, Amerindians or Native Venezuelans, form about 2% of the population of Venezuela, although many Venezuelans are mixed with Indigenous ancestry. Indigenous people are concentrated in the Southern Amazon rainforest state of Amazonas, where they make up nearly 50% of the population and in the Andes of the western state of Zulia. The most numerous indigenous people, at about 200,000, is the Venezuelan part of the Wayuu people who primarily live in Zulia between Lake Maracaibo and the Colombian border. Another 100,000 or so indigenous people live in the sparsely populated southeastern states of Amazonas, Bolívar and Delta Amacuro.
Taíno is a term referring to a historic Indigenous people of the Caribbean, whose culture has been continued today by their descendants and Taíno revivalist communities. Indigenous people in the Greater Antilles did not refer to themselves as Taínos, as the term was coined by the anthropologist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1836. The Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles are sometimes referred to as Island Arawaks. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Lucayan branch of the Taíno were the first New World peoples encountered by Christopher Columbus, in the Bahama Archipelago on October 12, 1492. The Taíno historically spoke a dialect of the Arawakan language group. They lived in agricultural societies ruled by caciques with fixed settlements and a matrilineal system of kinship and inheritance. Taíno religion centered on the worship of zemis.
Benjamin Irving Rouse was an American archaeologist on the faculty of Yale University best known for his work in the Greater and Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean, especially in Haiti. He also conducted fieldwork in Florida and Venezuela. He made major contributions to the development of archaeological theory, with a special emphasis on taxonomy and classification of archaeological materials and studies of human migration.
The pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia refers to the ancient cultures and civilizations of Colombia.
This article covers the history of Antigua and Barbuda from the end of the Pre-Columbian period in 1493 to 1687. During this era, the first African slaves were brought to Antigua and Barbuda, and the native population was driven to near-extinction. For much of this period, Antigua and Barbuda was officially known as the Colony of Antigua.