List of indigenous names of Eastern Caribbean islands on:
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This list of the indigenous names of the
This list of the indigenous names of the Eastern Caribbean
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...
islands is a compilation of the indigenous names that were given by Amerindian people to those islands before the Europeans started naming them. The islands of the Eastern Caribbean were successively settled beginning with Trinidad at least around 5000 BC, long before European arrival in 1492. The Eastern Caribbean islands were dominated by two main cultural groups by the European contact period: the Arawaks and the Kalinago
The Kalinago, also known as the 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 ...
. Individual villages of other distinct cultural groups were also present on the more southerly, larger islands. The large island of Trinidad in particular was shared by both Kalinago and Arawak groups.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the Arawaks arrived first, settling the islands as they travelled north from the Orinoco River
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
in Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. The Kalinago people, who proved to be more dominant in warfare, had begun a campaign of conquering and displacement of the Arawaks at the point of European arrival. Also starting at the southern end of the archipelago, they had worked their way north, reaching as far as the island of Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
by the 16th century.
The islands north of the Saint Kitts 'borderline' had Arawak names while the islands south of it had Kalinago names. The island of Barbados was uninhabited at the point of European arrival, but evidence suggests that Barbados followed the same pattern of displacement as witnessed on neighbouring islands, but that it was abandoned for unknown reasons. The only indigenous name on record for Barbados is one documented as the name used by Arawak peoples on Trinidad in reference to that island.
Leeward Islands
french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent
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, image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis.
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, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean
, coor ...
Windward Islands
french: Îles du Vent
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, image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.
, image_alt =
, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...
Continental
Greater Antilles
See also
*Guianas
The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories:
* French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France
* ...
References
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Indigenous Names Of Eastern Caribbean Islands Caribbean Island Names Caribbean Island Names Caribbean culture Indigenous Names Indigenous Names Indigenous Names