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Indigenous perspectives

The following is from the actual website. See


if you can identify any biases.

The Official Site of the CHAGUARAMAS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies

The Chaguaramas Development Authority is currently engaged in detailed research of it's Amerindian Occupation period.

Amerindians have existed in Trinidad for as long as 6,000 years before the arrival of Columbus, and
numbered at least 40,000 at the time of the Spanish settlement in 1592

The earliest history of Chaguaramas, substantiated by names such as macqueripe and chacachacare
is of the saladoid Amerindians occupation between 100 400 a.d. Chaguaramas itself is an
Amerindian word describing the once palm- fringed shoreline.
Before European explorers landed on the Caribbean
islands, peaceful tribes of Amerindians called the Arawaks
inhabited the entire Caribbean archipelago. Generous and
open where these people that they embraced the
Spaniards and bestowed every comfort for the Spanish
explorers. Ironically since the arrival of the Spanish these
people were mistreated and many died from diseases,
within a few decades it was belief that there were no
Arawaks left.

There was another another Amerindian tribe, a fierce tribe


known as Caribs. This tribe pounced on the Arawaks and
were known to be cannibals (eaters of human flesh). The
Caribs had devoured their way up the Caribbean islands.

All of Trinidad was populated by several tribes, Trinidad


being a transit point in the Caribbean network of
Amerindian trade and exchange.

Trinidad's Amerindians formed part of


large regional island-to-island and
Amerindian tribes were referred to by various names: Yaio, island-to-mainland trading networks; the
Nepuyo, Chaima, Warao, Kalipuna, Carinepogoto, Garini, Warao of Venezuela, who still exist,
Aruaca. were frequent vistors until only recent
times.
Back to History Main Amerindian words and place names survive into the
Page present: the Caroni and Oropouche rivers; the Tamana and
Aripo mountains; places such as Arima, Paria, Arouca,
Caura, Tunapuna, Tacarigua, Couva, Mucurapo,
Chaguanas, Carapichaima, Guaico, Mayaro,
Guayaguayare, Chaguaramas; flora such as cassava,
maize, cacao, tobacco, and fauna such as manicou and
agouti.

The Amerindians developed the canoe, the bow and arrow, and the ajoupa.

Amerindian cuisine is enjoyed by many Trinidadians: Cassava bread and Farine; Warap; barbecued
wild game; corn pastelles; coffee; cocoa; chardon beni.

The Amerindians also gave Trinidad and Tobago its first major rebellion in the name of freedom: the
Arena uprising of 1699, led by Chief Hyarima.

In 1783 Trinidad's Amerindians were displaced from their lands to make way for the influx of French
planters and their African slaves.

In 1759 the Mission of Arima was formed, consolidated and enlarged in 1785, and the Amerindians
were to have had control of 2,000 acres of land.
A number of tribes were pressed into Arima, mostly Nepuyo, and generically referred to as either
"Caribe" or "Indio" -- Arima was the last Mission Town.

Parang, utilizing both Spanish and Amerindian musical instruments, emerged from the evangelization
of the Amerindians.

The Caribs in Arima , converted to Catholicism, were led by a Titular Queen.

The histories of major towns such as Arima and Siparia, two large former Amerindian Mission Towns,
have given us Trinidad's two oldest festivals: The Santa Rosa Festival of Arima, and La Divina Pastora
in Siparia.

The Santa Rosa Carib Community is the last remaining organized group of people identifying with an
Amerindian identity and way of life.

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Notes from Mrs.Thomas
Throughout the region, the First Peoples or the Indigenes
are found in Guyana, Belize, Dominica (3000 Caribs), and
Suriname (70000 people). To a lesser extent they are also
found in Trinidad, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In
Dominica they have been granted a 37000 acre area
owned as communal land.

In Guyana, they number approximately 40000 out of an


800 000 populace. There are over 65 reserved areas where
different tribes are scattered in the interior.

Belize has Mayan, and a Garifuna population as their most


prominent tribes. Among the Mayans are Kekchi, the
Mopan and the Yucatec. There is a range of adherence to
indigenous cultural traditions, from strong ties and
identification with indigenous practices, to total rejection
and a preference for the other ethnic traditions.

MYTHS

There are myths surrounding the Indigenes, and many


were fabricated by the Europeans for their own gains.

They are extinct to usher in enslavement of the


Africans, and to take their lands. Modern
governments uphold this to keep a hold on mineral
and timber rich lands. If there are no more indigenes,
there is no one to give the land to.
Their survivors are not of pure blood, they are all
hybrid, so true indigenes do not exist
They were cannibals, therefore exterminating them
was appropriate
The Tainos (Arawaks) were simple, submissive and
passive
They were stereotyped as lazy, backward, dirty and
subnormal as well as savage

MARGINALIZATION

Indigenes of the Caribbean live on the fringes of society


economically, socially, politically.

In Guyana, there is a notable bias in national identity.


Guyanese identify themselves as either Afro-Guyanese or
Indo-Guyanese, but Amerindians are never thought of as
Amer-Guyanese. They are just Amerindians, not Guyanese
because they did not play a key role in the struggles for
the Independence of Guyana. They are not seen as true
Guyanese. They just came with the continent.

Economically, they live for the most part impoverished,


diseased and underdeveloped in terms of amenities. They
place value on family life and communal living as opposed
to the accumulation of personal wealth. They marry early
and have large families. Many suffer from alcoholism.

They seldom attain secondary schooling as travel and


living expenses are out of their means. Schools are simply
too far away. There is a high dropout rate as ostracism is
rampant.

LAND and other RIGHTS


This is a highly political issue in Dominica, Guyana and
Belize, forcing the Caribs, Mayans and other groups to
become activists and confrontational. One key issue is
how to balance a state-within-a-state, where the dilemma
of balancing tribal law with national law exists. Suppose
tribal law reacts to an issue that infringes on national law.
For example, the rites of passage for a young Carib boy
might seem like child abuse to non-Caribs.

GUYANA Government has ignored the rights of


Amerindians to their lands. Mining and timber companies
have encroached on Wai Wai, Wapishana and Makushi
tribespeople. Their unheeded pleas have led to the
formation of the Touchaus Amerindian Council of Region
9, in defence of their homeland. The government reacted
hostilely by slapping them with a charge of treason.

Belize has the largest number of Mayans and they seek


to preserve their culture and heritage but if the natural
environment they live in and depend on is destroyed, their
efforts are of no avail. This is the dilemma facing the
Amerindians of Belize and the Caribbean ancestral land
is being exploited for lumber such as in Belize/Guyana and
mineral resources such as bauxite in Surinam/Guyana.
They held a very nurturing and reverent view of land with
bad stewardship punishable by gods. For them
development must not be at the expense of the
environment, and assist in research in Guyana for finding
sustainable approaches to environmental preservation.
They simply want to be consulted prior to the
mining/logging in an area.

In 2007 the Surinamese indigenes (Maroons) were granted


recognition and rights to be free. It is called the Saramaka
Peoples Judgment under which they must be consulted
before licences/rights are granted to non-tribal peoples.
Although there is an Amerindian Act which sets the
guidelines for land titles, this is inadequate because there
are long delays to recognize claims so miners and loggers
enter ancestral lands to extract the resources. You can
visit

http://www.fpcn-
global.org/downloads/reports/AmerindianAct.LegalNote.20
060518pdf

International criticisms have forced Guyana to submit a


report on the inequalities suffered by Amerindian peoples,
to the CERD the UN Committee on the Eradication of
Racial Discrimination.

Activism long years of marginalization and disregard


have forced the Amerindians to become activists. They
have organized into pressure groups such as

APA Amerindian Peoples Association, which speaks


for most tribal groups in Guyana. They keep close
links with
Rainforest Foundation of the USA which assists in
developing self sufficiency in Amerindians
ALSC Amerindian Legal Services Centre estd 1999,
to bring land cases to local and international courts.

The Summit of the Americas of 2005, held in Argentina,


saw representatives from indigenous populations from all
over the world. There, they made representations for
restoration and reparation. More research has gone into
their histories and as a result paradigm shifts in the
treatment of Indigenes are slowly making progress.

The Santa Rosa Caribs, in Arima T&T, continue to celebrate


the Sacred Smoke Cermony .
Today the vestiges of Amerindian culture attesting to their
resilience include:

Food such as cassava bread, peeper pot, cassareep,


farine, roucou or annatto, barbecue
Ornaments such as feathers, seeds, stone beads and
shells
Pottery clay pots and griddles
Hammocks from cotton threads and the use of cotton
Basketry example the matapi or juice extractor that
squeezed the grated cassava to get the toxins out
and collect the juice for cassareep. In both Dominica
and Guyana there are excellent pottery and basket
makers.
Piragas in Guyana they still hollow out tree trunks
for boats
Ajoupas- crude huts for hunters and gardeners
Digging sticks, axes, graters
Fish pots, herbal and frog poisons, bow and arrows

The Amerindian population in Guyana is no longer part of


the landscape as the forests are, they are vocal and active
with empowerment. They have sent a clear message to
the political parties which contest the National elections
that their numbers are large enough to sway votes in any
direction so they expect the social justice that has been
denied to them.

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