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The
Caribbean Area: History
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"It's a lazy life that
we live here,/ Tho' we carry a fair share of work." Una Marson
"In Jamaica"
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Some Anglophone Nations: Barbados /
Trinidad and Tobago / Jamaica
/ Antigua
Definition of Terms and History
Images
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Some
Anglophone Nations: Barbados / Trinidad
and Tobago / Jamaica / Antigua |
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Barbados map (external link)
- Known as "Little
England," Barbados is the most British of the West Indies
islands.
- population: 95
% African, and 5 % white.
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history: occupied by the
British since 1627 and remained a colony for over 300 years.
Internal autonomy attained in 1961, and full independence in
1966. (more history.)
Authors: Austin Clarke
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Limbo dance 《中美》p. 199
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Bridge Town, the capital of Barbado, established in 1629.
It still retains a lot of European (Renaissance) architecture.
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Trinidad and
Tobago
Ice Cream vendor. The words "Snow Cones" here show the
British influence. 《國家與人民》
p. 204
Economical problems: In the early 1970's, black-power
supporters protested against widespread unemployment and what they
considered social and economic inequality in Trinidad and Tobago.
Violent demonstrations broke out, and the government twice declared a
state of emergency. Racial tensions eased in the
mid-1970's, but unemployment continued to be a major problem in the
country.
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- history: Discovered
by Columbus in 1498, and then settled by the Spaniards. British
rule was established in 1802. Joined the West Indies Federation
in 1958, but left to become independent in 1962.
Independence: Trinidad--1956, it was lead
by Eric Williams (1956-1981) in 1950s. He became Prime Minister
in 1955. His People's National Movement (PNM) was in power for
thirty years (1966-1986).
- In 1980, the
national government allowed a local governing council to be established
on Tobago island.
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population & language: 43%
African, 36% Indian, some whites and Chinese.
Virtually all speak English. Small percentages also speak Hindi, French
patois, and several
other dialects.
cultures: Trinidad has two major folk
traditions: Creole and East Indian. Creole is a mixture of African
elements with Spanish, French, and English colonial culture.
Trinidad's East Indian culture came to the island with indentured
servants brought to fill a labor shortage created by the emancipation
of the African slaves in 1833. Most remained on the land, and they
still dominate the agricultural sector, but many have become prominent
in business and the professions. East Indians have retained much of
their own way of life, including Hindu and Muslim religious festivals
and practices. (source)
Authors: Sam
Selvon (India-Trinidad-U.K.-Canada); Neil Bissoondath
(India-Trinidad-Canada)
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Jamaica
- population: majority
African, some East Indians, Europeans, and Chinese.
- history: Discovered
by Columbus in 1494, Jamaica was a Spanish settlement
until it was captured by the British in 1655.
- the Moroon--To
the safety of the impenetrable hills (e.g. Blue Mountains), bands of
former slaves fled, after they were freed
and armed by the Spanish to fight the English when they seized the
island in 1655. The Maroons, as they became known, founded a community
and underground state that would fight a guerrilla war against the
English settlers on and off for nearly eighty years.
- Jamaica prospered during
the 1700's. Sugar became the major crop, and
the island ranked as the most important slave market in the Western
Hemisphere.
- Full
internal self-government came in 1959, within the
West Indies Federation, and full independence with the British
Commonwealth in 1962.
- Since 1960's,
Jamaica has faced many problems, including inflation,
unemployment, and poverty. Many Jamaicans became dissatisfied,
and their discontent sometimes let to riots and violent crime. .
. . Michael Manley of the People's National Party was
elected prime minister of Jamaica in 1972. He
sought to solve the economic problems by adopting socialistic
policies. The next prime minister was Edward Seaga
of the Jamaican Labor Party.
World
Book V11: 23
Jamaica: A short History:
history offered by Island Life.com with pictures.
- People: 90%
of African descent.
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a
ghetto in Kingston 《國家與人民》p. 172
"In the ghetto, where discontent was ever-present, the ideas of such
black nationalists as the Jamaican born Marcus Garvey were gaining
momentum. Conventional social democracy had not improved the lot
of the sufferers in the ghetto. Garveyism, whose
potency had been sharpened by the American Black Power ideology of the
Sixties, was combining with Rastafarianism; it
seemed to offer a viable alternative to what was widely perceived
as the corrupt system of Babylon." (from The Story of Jamaican
Music)
Marcus
Garvey--the first prophet of black self determination in the
1920s, founded the Black Star shipping line, intended to transport
descendants of slaves back to Africa.
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Authors: Derek
Walcott (Jamaica-U.S.), Michelle Cliff (Jamaica-U.S.)
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An old man at a Jamaican
carnival.
(《中美》 151)
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Antigua
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Definition
of Terms and History |
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Definition
of Terms
West Indies: |
A. In a broader sense, (Time Encyclopedia 1277)
1. The chain of islands extending from Florida to the North coast of
South America, separating the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico from
the Atlantic Ocean. Also called Antilles (excluding
Bahamas).
2. Including three groups: a. the Bahamas to the North East of
Cuba
b. the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Dominican
Republic,
1-3 and Puerto
Rico
c. the Lesser Antilles (Trinidad and Tobago,
Barbados, &
other
windward and leeward islands).
B. In a narrower sense, (Encyclopedia
of Post-Colonial Literatures in English 199-)
1. Called "British West Indies" before the Caribbean nations gained
independence in 1960's.
2. Concept resulting from Christopher Columbus' mistake in thinking
that he had reached India.
3. Strictly speaking, 'West Indies' refers to the Anglophone
islands, but ...it has been used more widely and conveniently
to include as well the former British mainland territories, more or
less adjacent to the Caribbean, of Belize in Central
America, and Guyana in South America.
4. Sometimes even including Bahamas and Bermuda. |
West Indian Literature: |
1. Anglophone
Caribbean literature, sometimes called "Commonwealth Caribbean
Literature."
2. Literature of the Caribbean diaspora in U.K., U.S. and Canada. |
Caribbean Literature |
1. to define the literatures not linguistically
but geographically.
2. showing the awareness of the pan-Caribbean context of West Indian
literature.
Important Names: Trinidad-- CLR James,
Eric Williams, V.S. Naipaul, The Mighty Sparrow,
Neil
Bissoondath
Barbados--George Lamming, Austin Clark
Martinique--Aime Cesaire
St Lucia--Derek Walcott |
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History
Important
Historical Dates: (Time Encyclopedia
1277; Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in
English 200-201)
- 1492 --96
The arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492--
after which the Arawaks
and Caribs were almost eliminated as the Spanish, English,
French and Dutch came to settle and exploited the spices and
sugar.
- 1624 British
settlement of Barbados.
- 1655 British
capture of Jamaica from Spain.
- 16th-18th centuries --Colonial period:
also a period of wars
among colonial nations and pirates, and conflicts between the white
masters, black slaves and mulatto.
- 1797 British
capture Trinidad from Spain.
- 1808- 1838 -- Abolishment
of slavery (1834 in Anglophone islands, 1848 in Francophone
islands, and 1863 in Dutch islands).
- 1845 First
shipload of East Indian indentured laborers arrived in
Trinidad.
Indentured
Laborers--in the 19th century,
a larger number of Asiatics, mostly from India
but also including some Chinese, were imported to
form the labour force and consequently to add to the ethnic and
cultural mix of the Caribbean. In Trinidad, for
instance, a lot of East Indians lived in St. James,
which has streets named after Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.
The area where most Indians live is the (Atlantic) coast line along
Sangre Grande, Rio Claro, and Plaisance.
- 1919-1939 seen as Slums
of the Empire.
- riots & strikes in 1935-1938
and afterwards
- 1960's--Independence of the Caribbean
nations
- 1958-1962 West Indies
Federation
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Images |
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The yellow
Caribs, the native of the Caribbean
From
Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the
Arawak and Carib to the Present.
New York: Meridian, 1992. 156.
The Caribbean Area: The
carnival in Grenada
加勒比海 (台灣麥克大地之美系列, 1997)
Other image link: Drawings
of the Middle Passage by Feelings
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References |
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Benson,
Eugene, & W. Conolly, eds. Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial
Literatures in English. 2 Vols. New York: Routledge,
1994.
Time Encyclopedia
《國家與人民︰中美》。 郭震唐、聶良知編。 台北︰錦繡,1990.
《世界風物誌20: 拉丁美洲I》。 郭震唐總編。 台北︰地球,1977.
Boot, Adrian, & Christ. Salewicz. Bob Marley: Songs of
Freedom. Rita Marley, Executive Ed. London:
Bloomsbury, 1995.
The World Book Encyclopedia Chicago: World Book,
Inc., 1985. |
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