About THE CaRIBBEAN REGION
OUR WORLD
According to geographers, the Caribbean which is also known as the West Indies it is a distinct region of the Americas that includes the Caribbean Sea and its islands, some of which are surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some of which border both the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean; the nearby coastal areas on the mainland are often also included in the region. The word "Caribbean" comes from the word 'Carib" which is an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. has multiple uses. According to Wikipedia, the Caribbean can also be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to Africa, slavery, European colonization and the plantation system. The diversity of the Caribbean region encompasses not only by ethnicity, religion, languages spoken there but also the food, the culture, its history, ecosystem and lifestyle which makes it unique and fascinating. It is contended that the region has more than 700 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. Island arcs delineate the northern and eastern edges of the Caribbean Sea. Sectioned into two specific regional categories, the Greater Antilles in the north and the Lesser Antilles, which includes the Leeward Antilles, in the east and south. There are twelve official languages spoken there among others.
- English
- Spanish
- French
- Dutch
- Haitian Creoles
- French Creoles
- English Creoles
- Dutch Creoles
- Spanish Creoles
- Papiamento
- Caribbean Hindustani
The region sits in the line of several major shipping routes with the Panama Canal, connecting the western Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major Amerindian indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Tainos in the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and the Leeward Islands, the Island Caribs and Galibi in the Windward Islands, and the Ciboney in western Cuba. The Taínos are subdivided into Classic Taínos, who occupied Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Western Taínos, who occupied Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamian archipelago, and the Eastern Taínos, who occupied the Leeward Islands. Trinidad was inhabited by both Carib speaking and Arawak-speaking groups.
History
Soon after Christopher Columbus came to the Caribbean, both Portuguese and Spanish explorers began claiming territories in Central and South America. These early colonies brought gold to Europe, sugar, rum and other commodities most specifically England, the Netherlands, and France. Thus, the birth of what we know today as the triangular trade. These nations hoped to establish profitable colonies in the Caribbean. Colonial rivalries made the Caribbean a cockpit for European wars for centuries. Giving way to what the world knows as pirates. Christianity is the predominant language in the Caribbean region over 87%, but you find also, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Rastafari, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Traditional African religions, Santería, Cuban Vodú, Dominican Vudú, Haitian Vodou, among many others.
The countries
The geography and climate in the Caribbean region vary from one place to the next. Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin. For example, Aruba, Curacao among others possessing only minor volcanic features. Others such as Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica that possess rugged towering mountain-ranges.
The waters of the Caribbean Sea host large, migratory schools of fish, turtles, and coral reef formations. The climate is tropical, varying from tropical rainforest in some areas to tropical monsoon and tropical savanna in others. There are also some locations that are arid, and the peaks of mountains tend to have cooler temperate climates.
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Almost 2 centuries of Indians in the Caribbean
Indians in the Caribbean?
India is the second largest country in the world with a population of 1.37 billion people, accounting for 17.7% of the world’s population. But there are also an estimated 25 million Indians living outside of mainland India. There are major communities of Indians in the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, other parts of Africa such as Mauritius and Tanzania. There is also a large Indian population living in the Caribbean.
The three Caribbean islands with the largest Indian populations are Trinidad with an estimated population of 670,376 followed by Guyana (315,000) and Jamaica (101,000).
Why did Indians settle in the Caribbean?
When slavery was abolished in the Caribbean in 1834 – 1838 economics dictated that the enslaved Africans had to be replaced with another source in order to guarantee the production of sugar from sugar cane. Indentured labor was the next best solution. It was cheap and legal. Indians were called ‘indentured’ because they had to work to pay off their ‘debt’ of free transportation to ‘the promise land’, the Caribbean.
Many Indians agreed to leave their home, country and family to become indentured laborers. This was a welcome escape from their condition of widespread poverty and famine. Many Indians travelled alone while others brought along their families. They then settled in the colonies of the Caribbean mostly Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname and Jamaica. In countries such as Guyana and Trinidad, Indians make up around 40% of the respective country’s population.
Most of the Indian indentured laborers came from the lower castes of the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions of northern India. Some also came from Bengal and other areas in southern India. The majority of Indian immigrants were Hindus (approximately 85%). The remainder were mostly Muslims (14%). And a very small minority were Christians (1%).
Indian influences in Caribbean culture
The arrival of the Indian indentured laborers into the Caribbean saw the introduction of new dimensions to the social and cultural fabric of the Caribbean. Their influence added new exotic flavors to Caribbean cuisine, new and strange melodies to Caribbean music, different religious beliefs, new vocabulary, dance, fashion, art and festivals.
From Jamaica to Guyana, Trinidad to Suriname, Caribbean food will never be the same because of Indian influence. You can find dishes such as curry chicken (or chicken curry as they say in Guyana), roti, sada, paratha (or buss-up-shot as the Trinidadians call it), sahina, dhalpuri, pholourie, doubles, amchar, chutney, bhaigan choka, curried mutton (goat), channa and aloo (chickpea and potatoes), and many others.
There’s also a variety of Indian sweets to enjoy – laddu, gulab jamun, kurma, jalebi, barfi, and sawine.
All Indian dishes are prepared with a blend of flavourful local herbs and spices and succulent Caribbean ingredients to create a unique Indo-Caribbean flavour not found elsewhere in India or the rest of the World.
Indians brought Hinduism to the shores of the Caribbean. Hinduism accounts for 20% to 30% of the populations of Caribbean countries, such as Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname but less than 1% of most other Caribbean islands.
The polytheistic, ritualistic, traditional religious norms of Hinduism stood in contrast to the simpler religious observances of the mostly Christian Caribbean.
Deities with many hands, blue skin, a monkey’s face, an elephant’s trunk, and mounting fierce beasts could be seen in Hindu temples. The notion of sacred cows, holy snakes, elephants, monkeys and rats were totally unknown to the Caribbean world. Names of deities like Hanuman, Lakshmi, Kali, Vishnu and Shiva were foreign to the Christians of the Caribbean.
But Indians both blended in and simultaneously preserved their traditional Hindu beliefs to create a multi-cultural Caribbean society.
There are many influences on language in the Caribbean like channa (chickpea), aloo (potato), bhaigan (eggplant), beta and beti (boy and girl), tawa (cast iron griddle) and bilna (rolling pin) have made it into the vernacular of Caribbean islands such as Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad.
in the regular vernacular you find the sacred sanscrit word ganja. But Indians didn’t only bring the word ganja to the Caribbean. They were extremely influential in the smoking of the sacred herb that many call marijuana. The indentured labourers at plantations in Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad would smoke marijuana. The African workers picked up the habit and ran with it, making it their own. And today ganja and Caribbean go hand in hand.
source: (exceptionalcaribbean.com)
arabs in the caribbean
The Arabs
Arabs in the Caribbean are most often from Syria and Lebanon.
The Arab community in the Caribbean is definitely in the minority; less than 1 percent. However, they wield a tremendous amount of economic power. Arabs have made many Caribbean countries their home – Haiti Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Dominica, Curacao, Aruba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are all homes to Arabs.
The Caribbean is home to many groups of immigrants – Europeans, Africans, Indians and Chinese. The Arabs, specifically immigrants from Syria and Lebanon, are considered the last group to arrive to the Caribbean.Syrians and Lebanese arrived in the Caribbean at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Cuba was one of the first Caribbean countries to see these Arab immigrants. Many settled in Havana. However, they were unhappy in this environment and eventually move to Jamaica.Syrians and Lebanese arrived in Jamaica in 1891. In Jamaica, the earliest Lebanese and Syrian immigrants worked in the banana industry – an industry that began to decline at the beginning of the 20th century.
Syrians and Lebanese people accepted the Caribbean as their new home, especially as it produced their wealth and looked after their welfare for many generations. Whereas many other immigrants saw the Caribbean as a ‘stepping stone’ to emigrate and live somewhere else, Arabs have truly made the Caribbean their home. This is important, because there has not been fear or shortage of investments in the countries that they have made their homes.
Why did the Arabs settle in the Caribbean?
Like most waves of immigration, Syrian and Lebanese immigrants came to the Caribbean in order to escape economic hardships, civil unrest and religious persecution. They were mainly Christians.
Lebanese and Syrians mostly worked in the retail sector, both buying and selling. They were also door to door salesmen. Some also operated wool and silk factories, as textile traders also came to the Caribbean.
With the Arabs coming to the Caribbean and succeeding, this was an incentive for others to follow. Thus developed more and more small communities of Arabs across the Caribbean region. Haiti, Dominica, Curacao, Aruba among the Caribbean states that became homes to Syrian and Lebanese immigrants.
In Trinidad, Syrians and Lebanese were the last ethnic group to arrive. Like other Caribbean countries, at the time ruled by the British Empire, Trinidad was considered a wealthy British colony and an ideal place to move to in the early 1900s . The promise of prosperity brought the Lebanese and Syrian to its shores.
Arabs influences in Caribbean culture
In most Caribbean countries, Arabs usually make up one percent or less of the population. But this minority runs owns and operates the majority of large businesses and franchises in the Caribbean. People of Syrian and Lebanese descent are at the top of the food chain in many Caribbean islands.
Take for example, Gilbert Bigio, the wealthiest Haitian, and Haiti’s only billionaire. His family moved to Haiti from Syria in 1896. Then there is Antoine Izméry, is a famous Haitian of Palestinian descent, who was among the wealthiest people in Haiti. In Jamaica, Don Wehby was the CEO of GraceKennedy; Joseph John Issa is Jamaican businessman and philanthropist, founder of the Cool Group that consists of more than fifty companies. Lisa Hanna, holder of the Miss World title in 1993 and a politician, is another Jamaican of Lebanese descent.
The Matouks, Sabgas, Hadids, Abouds, Hadads, are all prominent business owners in Trinidad and Tobago. The Matouk family is responsible for processing and distribution of many local products under the family name Matouk’s. Jimmy Aboud, known as the ‘Textile King’, is a well-known fabric merchant since the 1940s, continues to run a successful operation today. HADCO Ltd., run by three brothers, is another large group of companies owned by persons of Syrian/Lebanese descent.
Even tiny island of the commonwealth of Dominica, with a population of 70,000, has influential people of Arabic descent, for example the Nassief family of Lebanese descent. Philip Nassief, visionary entrepreneur and his sons, Gregor is an award-winning hotelier and Yvor was the Minister of Tourism for Dominica between 2005 and 2007.
The Syrians and Lebanese have made long lasting success in their ventures across the Caribbean.
In addition to their astute business influence, the Syrians and Lebanese in the Caribbean have also contributed to the Caribbean cuisine. One of the most popular street food items in Trinidad and Tobago is the gyro, a wrapped pita bread filled with meat and veggies, that was brought to the Caribbean by the Arabs. There are also numerous gyro outlets in Trinidad and many Arabic fast-food outlets in the Caribbean, especially since Assad’s Syrian Civil War (2010-present). In addition to gyros, the Syrian and Lebanese community has introduced the Caribbean to dishes such as Fattoush, Kibbies, Kebabs, Tabbouleh and Falafel. There are also restaurants in Trinidad that are specifically Lebanese cuisine that has introduced locals to many more flavors, and cookbooks too!
Source: Arabs in the Caribbean – Small in Number but Big in Power | Exceptional Caribbean
chinese in the caribbean
The Chinese
The Caribbean is no stranger to Chinese people. There are vast amounts of Chinese people all over the region. Caribbean countries, such as, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Guyana and Suriname all have significant numbers Chinese residents with smaller Chinese communities in countries such as Barbados, Belize, Curacao and Aruba.
Why did Chinese settle in the Caribbean?
The Chinese were first brought to the Caribbean in in the mid-19th century. Slavery was abolished in the British Caribbean on 1st August 1834. This ushered in first wave of Chinese immigrants as indentured laborers to replace pre-enslaved African laborers on sugar plantations. Most of the immigrants were from China’s southern provinces, Fujian and Guangdong. Like Indians that came to the Caribbean from Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar provinces, the Chinese were from poor families on the verge of starvation.
The first wave of Chinese immigration brought Chinese laborers predominantly to Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Cuba. Approximately 18,000 Chinese entered the Caribbean during this period. Chinese indentured immigrants were given contracts for three, and later five-year periods, with no repatriation to China. By contrast, Indian indentured laborers had a choice of passage back to India after their 10-year indentureship or 5 acres (2.5 hectares of land). Naturally, most decided to stay.
Chinese influences in Caribbean culture
Although the Chinese were brought to the Caribbean in an effort to save the sugar plantations, this did not go as planned. After their indentureship, the Chinese took whatever jobs were available to them. In Trinidad, they became handicraftsmen, barbers, tailors, bakers, carpenters, goldsmiths and woodcutters. Small peasant farming and market gardening were also very popular, and they cultivated crops which they supplied to the local markets.
Many Chinese indentured laborers also moved to other colonies such as Guyana, Suriname, after serving their time and many others to their prized destination, mainly Canada.
When the Chinese arrived in the mid-19th century, both the Indians and the Africans were already present in the Caribbean.
With last names like Wu, Wah, Wawa, Fung, Fong-Ging, Fungcap, the first known Chinese families arrived in Haiti in the late 1890s, fleeing crumbling dynasties.
Guy Fong-Ging, whose father King Fong-Ging adopted Haiti as his permanent home, says: “Fong Sam, Fong Wong, they came in groups. They were all mostly from the same family.”
Some like Soud Fungcap arrived in Haiti in the Twentieth Century. Fungcap was on his way to Brazil, fleeing a revolution in China, when he accidentally landed in Haiti in 1915 and made his home there. Like other newly arrived immigrants from China, Soud kept in touch with the folks back home in Canton, China, and his son joined him in Haiti in 1928.
The Chinese didn’t integrate fully into Haitian society—at first, according to Soud Fungcap’s son Essud Fungcap. Some who were in Haiti in the early 1910s had to contend with anti-foreign sentiments that were being flamed by influential Haitian and non-Haitian business magnates alike. Historian Carlo A. Desinor, in his study of Haitian newspapers, pointed to editorials in the early 20th Century discouraging foreign takeover—including Chinese—of Haitian commerce. Sometimes they had to make cultural and religious concessions to fit in with Haitian society. Soud’s son for example, changed his name to Pierre and converted from Buddhism to Catholicism in the 1940s. In the Caribbean countries where they settled the Chinese were clearly outnumbered. According to history professor Dr. Brinsley Samaroo, between 1838 to 1917 half a million Indians came and settled across the Caribbean: 259,000 to Guyana, 147,000 to Trinidad, 38,000 to Jamaica and smaller amounts distributed across the rest of the Caribbean.
Although thousands of Chinese came, their numbers were minute compared to the numbers of Indians and Africans. Chinese culture, language, and food were vastly different from the prevailing cultures of existing Caribbean settlers. However, over time, and because of their hard work and commitment to their culture, the Chinese began to exert influence in the Caribbean.
As the number of Chinese increased over the years, Chinese cuisine became popular in the Caribbean. The Chinese established restaurants and fast-food outlets, selling Chinese dishes to the people of the Caribbean. Dishes like Chow Mein, Fried Rice and Chinese Style Fried Chicken became popular buys for islanders. Now, Chinese cuisine in the Caribbean has added a Caribbean flair and flavor that cannot be found elsewhere. Today, in the Caribbean, Chinese restaurants and groceries are available everywhere.
Their business acumen combined with their ability to successfully climb the societal ranks after indentureship, paved the way for them to flourish. Chinese immigrants soon began opening factories, restaurants, parlors, dry cleaners, tailor shops, groceries, own land and much more.
The Chinese in Trinidad and Jamaica increasingly moved up the ranks and were able to set up their own shops and small businesses. Many jostled with, and overtook, their African competitors for control of the emerging retail trade. Thus, by the end of the 19th century in these two colonies the Chinese had carved a niche for themselves as a “middlemen minority” group in the area of shopkeeping and small businesses.
With the success of the Chinese in the colonies, at the beginning of the 20th century, the second wave of Chinese immigrants arrived. The second wave of Chinese immigrants were mostly Chinese men, like my grandfather, in search of a better life.
The Chinese came and set up shops, groceries, ice cream parlors, and bakeries. It was easy to say that the Chinese were thriving in the British West Indies at this time. By the 1930s, in both Jamaica and Trinidad, the Chinese were owners of large factories and restaurants.
The Chinese continued to succeed and make lasting impressions on the Caribbean society. There are many Chinese-owned businesses and restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana. There is even a China Town in Port-of-Spain Trinidad.
The Chinese presence in Trinidad has also influenced the country’s gambling culture. The National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) game known as Play Whe, was introduced in Trinidad and Tobago by Chinese immigrants in the mid-nineteenth (19th) century [4]. The Chinese called the game “Chinapoo.” It was a numbers game played by people who were influenced by intuition, superstition, dreams and caprice. The “Chinapoo” or “China-man jumbie” or “Whe Whe” was the basis of the original Play Whe marks.
Play Whe was developed from the Chinese ancient belief system that uses numerology, astrology, and the associations of ideas with numbers, events or even folklore to interpret and to anticipate the “grand plan”. It has been adapted to the culture of Trinidad and Tobago, as it features words from local dialect ‘corbeau’, ‘morocoy’ and ‘jammet’.
Source: The Chinese Have Influenced the Caribbean in a Powerful Way (exceptionalcaribbean.com)
THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHINESE-HAITIANS | Fondas Kréyol (fondaskreyol.org)