Skip to main content

How and why did the indigenous people arrive in the Caribbean?

Let me first address the "why" part of your question, as the "how" will be a little more complex. Most human migration, especially prior to the Modern period, was driven by a need or desire for resources. Even well into the Modern period, First Nations people (like the indigenous Taino and Arawak) lived highly mobile lifestyles driven by access to seasonal resources. So, why did indigenous Caribbeans migrate there? For access to food and other resources!


As I mentioned, the "how" is a little more tricky. We do not have historical records detailing the peopling of the Americas and must rely on archaeological materials and "best guesses." Archaeological evidence indicates that people were living in Trinidad at least eight thousand years ago, and by seven thousand years ago were continually pushing north towards Cuba. Based on this evidence, we could infer that once groups of people had arrived in South America, they began pushing northward into the islands of the Caribbean. There is also evidence to suggest that people migrated south from present-day Florida or east from the Yucatan peninsula.


How did these people get to the Caribbean islands? Based on the sea-floor geography and fluctuations in sea levels, they might've been able to walk or wade easily from one area to another! It is also possible that these people were building rafts or boats and using them to cross longer distances. It is rather unlikely that the peopling of the Caribbean was accomplished entirely by swimming, even though it is possible to swim for long distances. Children, the elderly, and the infirm would not have been able to make such long swims, so the use of a boat or raft would have been needed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more