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.
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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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