The Carib Territory and People

The Carib People

Dominica’s indigenous people, the Caribs, were one of the original inhabitants of the island and reside on the northeast coast of the isle. They are more properly known as the Kalinago, a Carib word derived from “Kalinenmeti,” meaning “a good peaceful man”.

History

Around 500 years B.C., a group of Amerindians, the Arawaks, left their homes on the banks of the Orinoco River in South America. They traveled by rafts in dangerous seas, taking with them small animals, plants and seeds. One of the Caribbean islands they landed on was Dominica. Here they lived peacefully for almost 1,000 years until they were invaded and conquered by another group of Amerindians, the Caribs. Over the years the two cultures and languages became fused and their simple life-style based on fishing and the sea continued peacefully until the fifteenth century, when a new set of conquerors from Europe discovered the Caribbean.

Slowly the Caribs began to trust the Europeans sufficiently to begin to trade with them. Plantain, cassava, fruit and tobacco were exchanged for beads, knives, glass and tools. However, this all took place over a period of 200 years.

But, as with many indigenous peoples throughout the world, they were not impervious to European diseases and many Caribs were subsequently wiped out. By 1686 the Carib population, weak from illness and battle fatigue, had dwindled from 5,000 to a mere 400 people. In the interim period all traces of Amerindians had been eradicated throughout the rest of the Caribbean. Amazingly, from such a tiny handful of people the Caribs survived and even began to flourish, co-existing peacefully with the Spanish, Portuguese, English and French settlers.

Carib Territory

The Carib Territory (inset)

The Carib Territory is a district on the northeast coast with an area of some 3,785 acres. Approximately 3,500 Caribs currently reside in this region. It is bordered roughly on the north by ravine called Big River, to the west by the center of the Pagua Valley, to the south by a line leading inland from the Aratouri Ravine, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean (the land is in fact owned by the Carib Council, thus ensuring an element of independence for Dominica’s native people). This was the rugged, unoccupied part of the island to which the majority of Caribs retreated after the colonization of the rest of Dominica by the French and British. For years during the 19th century the district was known as the Carib Quarter.

In 1902 the British Administrator Henry Hesketh Bell, influenced by Victorian anthropology and a personal desire to preserve “the last of the tribe”, persuaded the British government to give him permission to declare the area as reserved for the Caribs. This was done on 4 July 1903. The plan of the Reserve was based on a tracing of the Byres map of 1776 but no actual survey was ever carried out and there has been continuous controversy over the boundary lines. Bell officially recognized a Chief of the Caribs. In 1952, local government introduced a council system and in 1978 a Carib Reserve Act was passed to further formalize the affairs of the Territory.

The Caribs Today

Kalinago dancer and performer

Today, the Caribs are a friendly people that continue to embody much of their cultural identity in unique activities such as tribal dances, canoe building, and basket weaving. Sadly, however, over the years other aspects of the Carib culture has been eroded. Today the Caribs worship at mainly Roman Catholic churches and speak English and French Creole, commensurate with the rest of Dominica. Although the Carib language has long since disappeared it still exists in many of the place names: e.g. Calibishie, Bataka.

A Carib person today is known as a Karifuna. The Waitukubili Kairifuna Development Agency (WAIKADA) is a non-profit organization that focuses on the preservation and development of the Carib culture and also hopes to improve the quality of life for its people. The Kalinago Center, a Carib documentation and archival center, is on King George Street in Roseau. Here, traditional Carib art and crafts are sold and information on the island’s indigenous people is made available. A fascinating historical photographic display is also present. The creation of a radio station in the Territory and the establishment of a community library, which will also serve as a museum and a cultural center, are high on the list of priorities.

The Carib Territory boasts in excess of 16 craft shops that produce high-quality straw hats, baskets and other handicrafts. However, the production of bananas is still the main source of income. Coconuts, copra, soya beans, ginger, tropical fruit, and various root vegetables are also grown in high numbers. The re-introduction of farine and cassava, which comes from manioc and was once the staple diet of the Caribs, is also making a welcome return. Some Caribs still take their living from the sea, but tackling the large Atlantic breakers is a highly dangerous business.

Salybia

The main community in the Carib Territory forming the administrative center of the district where the school, health center, Roman Catholic Church, police station and Carib Council Office is located. It is also the original center of the first 134 acres of land reserved for the Caribs by the British from 1765 and delineated on the Byres Map of 1776. It lies mainly in a valley that opens onto a rugged wave-swept shoreline. The Roman Catholic Church was granted 14 acres of the original land in the valley in 1864 by the British government for the establishment of a church, a presbytery and cemetery. The government subsequently used some of this land also for erecting state buildings such as the school and health center. Salybia was the scene of the “Carib War” in 1930 when a confrontation between Caribs and police related to the seizure of smuggled goods spilled over into a major incident whereby two Caribs were killed, a warship of the Royal Navy, HMS Delhi, was called, and flares were fired and searchlights used to frighten the Caribs into submission. A Commission of Enquiry was called to investigate the incident the following year.

Present-day Carib vendors in Salybia	Salybia Cemetery and Coast