ABOUT THE CARIBBEAN
The geography of this tropical region varies in size and topography across the
islands to Guyana. The Bahamas (named ‘shallow waters’ by the Spanish) are
coral islands. Jamaica is mountainous. Barbados is flat. Trinidad is mostly
flat plains with a few hills and low mountains. Guyana, roughly the size of
Britain, with her coastal plain only a few nautical miles from Trinidad, is
mostly rolling highlands with savanna (open grasslands) in the south.
See picture gallery, Rainforest, Guyana.
The immense Kaiteur Falls, Guyana (740 feet high, over four times the size of
Niagara Falls, Canada). Jungle
vegetation around the Kaiteur Falls
The original inhabitants of the Caribbean were the Arawaks and Caribs. Europeans
arrived from Spain, Holland, France and Britain. The indigenous populations
were seriously depleted and displaced but traces of their language remain. The
linguistic and cultural influence of the West Africans, whose ancestors were
transported to the region as slaves, remains very strong. Indentured labourers
from India added their contribution to Caribbean society.
Knowing the history of the Caribbean region goes a long way towards
understanding its people. The individual islands and mainland Guyana have a
unique cultural identity shaped by the European colonists, the African legacy
of slaves, and the enduring legacies of the native Indian tribes.
The Tainos (Arawaks) and Caribs
At the time of the Spanish Conquest the Tainos lived in the group of islands
called the Greater Antilles – Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic
and Puerto Rico – and the Bahamas, Trinidad and Amazonia. They were peaceful
people living in well-structured communities. Columbus described the Tainos as
‘the best people on earth’.
A reconstructed Arawak village in St Lucia,An
abandoned Arawak canoe by the Orinduik Falls in Guyana
The Taino had problems with invaders before Europeans arrived. The Caribs, a
warlike people from the north of South America drove them from the islands of
the Lesser Antilles. Carib then became the dominated culture. A mistaken belief
is that the Caribs were fearsome cannibals. Ritual cannibalism was practised
but certainly did not involve consuming their captives.
There are 30,000 Arawaks living in Guyana. A symbolic BOHIOS, a large round hut
like the ones originally used by the Caribs and Arawaks, stands proudly in the
capital city of Georgetown, a few yards from the sea wall and close by the
Meridian Pegasus, a prestigious modern hotel.
An inspirational story for children
The Hoatzin is the national bird of Guyana. If a predator threatens, the mother
bird flies off leaving the fledgling in danger. The baby then drops from the
tree into the waters below and swims at an astonishing speed. When it is safe
to emerge it clambers out with the aid of its claws by way of fallen branches
and roots and climbs back up the tree.
Information from the Georgetown Museam
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