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The original indigenous population of the Caribbean all but disappeared within half a century of European conquest. Since then, people have come, willingly or not, from every corner of the earth. This process included one of history's biggest forced migrations-the importation of some five million African people into the Caribbean's plantation economy. Out of many one people" is Jamaica's national motto, and it applies just as well to the rest of the Caribbean. The region's population is a rich mixture of African, European, American, Asian and East Indian, its legacy a fusion of slavery, colonialism, and migration. This has created a unique culture, but a strict racial hierarchy still exists.
Europe conquered, colonized, and recreated the Caribbean in its own image. The first Europeans to settle in the Caribbean named cities, villages, and rivers after more familiar places at home. But with few exceptions, the physical legacy of European domination is confined to the Spanish-speaking areas of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, which received influxes of European immigration well into the present century. Each island has its paler-skinned elite, but Europeans as such make up a tiny minority in most Caribbean societies. The exceptions to the rule are the poor whites of Barbados, a community descended from indentured British laborers that has so tar refused to intermix at a11 with any of the Bajan communities.
Around 40 percent the population Of Trinidad is East Indian in origin. The stores and restaurants of Poor of Spain are filled with the sounds, sights, and scents of Indian subcontinent, while Hindu prayers flags surround many countryside homes. In Guyana slightly more than half the population is Indian, descended tram the indentured laborers of the 19th century
Even more striking is the disparity between Caribbean countries. Some, notably Haiti and the Dominican Republic, are among the world's poorest, while others including Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands, enjoy relatively high levels of prosperity. Economic hard ship have prompted many to leave the Caribbean's poorer countries to live and work in North America and Europe. Perhaps one in seven Dominicans lives in the U.S. and almost as, many Puerto Ricans live on the U.S. mainland as in Puerto Rico. In the 1950's, nearly I 0 percent of all Jamaicans emigrated to Britain. These exile communities provide lifeline a the Caribbean islanders. |
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Little remains of the people who predated the Caribbean s "discovery"
500 years ago. However, some of their words have entered the
vocabulary-barbecue, hammock, manioc for instance-but none of the placid Arawak
people survived the cultural devastation of the conquest. Today, only a handful
of Carib descendants are still found in Dominica and St. Vincent, scraping a
living by selling their handicrafts to visiting tourists.
T
he great majority of Caribbean people are at least in part descended from the
millions Africans who crossed the notorious middle passage. Africa is alive in
all dimensions of local life: music, language, religion, and cooking.
"Jamaica Talk" for instance, the island's patiois is largely
based on West African Ashanti dialect, while African speech and customs
commonplace in Haiti and around the eastern tip of Cuba. 
The
rich diversity of race and color conceals massive inequalities, within and
between individual countries. In Haiti, for instance, the one percent of
lighter skinned mulattos dominates the black majority. In most other
countries, a so-call "pigmentocracy" exists, equating light skin with
economic and political power. After more than 30 years of independent
government. Jamaica's Patterson the first block politician to hold the
post of Prime Minister.