Carib Indians
A native people that used to
occupy the
Lesser Antilles in the
West Indies. About 100 years before
Columbus' first visit to the
New World (1492] they appear to have
invaded the Arawak areas and
decimated local populations. The Spanish transcribed the original
name of the Caribs,
Galibi, to
Caníbal whence our English word
cannibal. The Caribs were a
blood thirsty lot, given to
cannibalism and stealing Arawak women. In keeping with their
ferocity abroad, they inflicted wounds on their own bodies and practiced
fasting for various reasons.
Only men spoke the Carib language, the
women, retaining the Arawak they used before their
abduction. When they were not staging
raids or
exploring the
Caribbean in their
canoes, they appear to have kept busy with
fishing,
basketmaking and some
farming.
With the
European
colonization of the area in 17th century, they just about disappeared. A few of pure Carib indians survive on a reservation on the island of
Dominica where the government has protected them from outside
contamination. Their language group belong to a separate family with tribes speaking Carib in northern
Honduras,
Belize, central
Brazil, and nothern
South America.