Belmopan – Explorers of bygone eras have engaged in many interesting discoveries that helped connect various communities and nations from all over the globe. Learning about the distinct features of different indigenous groups, for instance, is another way of discovering great wonders that explorers once conquered in the past. In particular, the indigenous group of the Garifuna is a distinct community living in the Caribbean Coast of Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
A closer look into the Garifuna history reveals that they are descendants of two ethnic groups, namely, the Carib Indians and Black Africans who lived on the island of Saint Vincent.
From Arawak Indians to the Garifuna
Saint Vincent was originally home to the Arawak Indians (also known as Yurumei). However, their island was invaded by the Kalipuna (Carib) Indians, who were people from mainland South America. Through a series of battles, many Arawak men were killed, and the Kalipuna warriors took the Arawak women as their wives. With this, the Carib Indians started out as a mixture of these people.
Then, records showed that around 1635, Spanish ships carrying Black Africans to the West Indies were shipwrecked near Saint Vincent. The Black African survivors escaped and swam their way to shore, where they later settled and lived together with the Carib Indians. Subsequently, the groups intermixed and gave rise to what we now know as the Garifuna ethnic group. Because of their origin, the Garifuna were called Black Caribs, who were a part of the majority population in the region along with the other French settlers on the island.
Invasion and Survival
As the Garifuna people continued living within their traditional practices, the men hunted and fished while the women farmed. They even traded with nearby islands until 1763, when the British invaded their land. The invaders tried taking over the land to use for sugarcane farming. The people did not easily let go of their land, and so a struggle came into the center of the island, with the French settlers helping the Black Caribs. Even with their strong will, they lost battle after battle. Then, after a major defeat in 1785, the Garifuna and French peoples surrendered, finally giving the British the right over the entire island.
During this period, many British officials hunted down the indigenous peoples, burned their houses, and killed hundreds of them. Those who survived were taken prisoners and were sent to the Island of Baliceaux, where more than half of the people died due to various diseases. Moreover, the rest of the ethnic population were exiled to the island of Roatán, an island off the coast of Honduras. From there, the Garifuna migrated to the mainland of Honduras and later settled all along the Caribbean coast of British Honduras (now known as Belize), Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Present Day Garifuna
In spite of the struggles and the long history of fighting over lands, the Garifuna communities are now flourishing in various communities all across the region. They can be found in Barranco, Punta Gorda, Seine Bight, Georgetown, Hopkins, Dangriga, Belmopan, Belize City, San Pedro, and Libertad.
In each of these locations, they share much of their traditions, culture, beliefs, and continuous communal distinctions. They even celebrate the establishment of the first Garifuna settlement in British Honduras (November 19, 1802) as a national holiday. Tourists and other locals can see the Garinagu (plural for Garifuna) celebrating all over Belize with merriment, dances, drumming, and even pageantry.
Image from Belize, http://www.travelbelize.org/
