Canoes

Dugouts

Canoes played a vital role in the colonisation of the pre-ColumbianCaribbean, as they were the only means of reaching the Caribbean Islands from mainland South America. Around 3500 BC, ancient Amerindian groups colonised the first Caribbean Islands using single-hulled canoes. Only a few pre-Columbian Caribbean canoes have been found. Several families of trees could have been used to construct Caribbean canoes, including woods of the mahogany family (Meliaceae) such as the Cuban mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), that can grow up to 30 to 35 metres (100 to 110 ft) tall and the red cedar (Cedrela odorata), that can grow up to 60 metres (200 ft) tall, as well as the ceiba genus (Malvaceae), such as Ceiba pentandra, that can reach 60 to 70 metres (200 to 230 ft) in height. It is likely that these canoes were built in a variety of sizes, ranging from fishing canoes holding just one or a few people to larger ones able to carry as many as a few dozen, and could have been used to reach the Caribbean Islands from the mainland. Reports by historical chroniclers claim to have witnessed a canoe "containing 40 to 50 Caribs [...] when it came out to trade with a visiting English ship".