Cuba was the destination for over one hundred thousand Chinese workers, so Havana can claim the first Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. Once slavery became illegal, the colonial powers brought indentured laborers to the Caribbean from their Asian colonies. Not only was colonialism the vehicle that brought many Africans to the Caribbean through the slave trade, but it brought many people from Asia to the Caribbean as well. In the Caribbean, the lower economic class contains the highest percentage of people of African heritage. In some countries, such as Haiti, the minority mulatto segment of the population makes up the power base and holds political and economic advantage over the rest of the country while the working poor at the bottom of the pyramid make up most of the population. In the Caribbean, the middle class includes mulattos, or people with both African and European heritage, many of which include managers, businesspeople, and professionals. Those of European descent are at the top of the pyramid and control a higher percentage of the wealth and power even though they are a minority of the population. The current social hierarchy of the Caribbean can be illustrated by the pyramid-shaped graphic that was used to illustrate social hierarchy in Mexico ( Figure 5.10 “Socioeconomic Classes in Mexico and Most of Latin America”). BarthelemyĬolonialism drastically altered the ethnic makeup of the Caribbean Amerindians were virtually eliminated after the arrival of Africans, Europeans, and Asians. Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten (south half) Kitts and NevisĬuracao, Bonaire, Aruba, St. Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Montserrat, Anguilla, St. Table 5.1 Historical Caribbean Colonizers Colonizerīahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua, Dominica, St. Portugal originally colonized Barbados before abandoning it to the British.
Barthelemy from 1784 to 1878 before trading it back to the French, who had been the original colonizer. The US Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1918. The United States became a colonial power when they gained Cuba and Puerto Rico as a result of the Spanish-American War. Other countries that held possession of various islands at different times were Portugal, Sweden, and Denmark. The four main colonial powers in the Caribbean were the Spanish, English, Dutch, and French. The cultural traits of each of the European colonizers were injected into the fabric of the islands they colonized thus, the languages, religions, and economic activities of the colonized islands reflected those of the European colonizers rather than those of the native people who had inhabited the islands originally. Many of the Caribbean islands changed hands several times before finally being secured as established colonies (see Table 5.1 “Historical Caribbean Colonizers”). The Caribbean Basin became an active region for European ships to enter and vie for possession of each island. This included smaller countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium. Most of the European colonial countries were located on the west coast of Europe, which had a seafaring heritage. The Spanish were not the only Europeans to take advantage of colonial expansion in the Caribbean: the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans followed. The mainland includes the interior of Mexico and Central America. The rimland includes the Caribbean islands and the Caribbean coastal areas of Central America. Middle America can be divided into two geographic areas according to occupational activities and colonial dynamics. The Bahamas are technically in the Atlantic Ocean, not in the Caribbean Sea, but they are usually associated with the Caribbean region and are often affiliated with the Lesser Antilles. The Lesser Antilles are in the eastern and southern region. The Greater Antilles includes the four large islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. The Caribbean Basin is often divided into the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles (the bigger islands and the smaller islands, respectively). The regions of Middle America and South America, including the Caribbean, follow similar colonial patterns of invasion, dominance, and development by outside European powers. Identify the main music genres that have emerged from the Caribbean.Explain how tourism has become the main means of economic development for most of the Caribbean.Explain why the United States has an economic embargo against the socialist country of Cuba.Outline the various ways in which colonialism has impacted the islands.Describe how the physical environment has affected human activity in the region.
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