Trinidad and Tobago

The twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago are a sovereign state just 11km off the coast of Venezuela. The southernmost in the string of Caribbean islands. When Slavery ended, plantation owners were in severe need of labour. Slavery was replaced with Indentured Servitude with forced work for a particular employer for a fixed period of time. In return for passage 'to the new world', workers would sign contracts with very low wages. 3.5 million Indians were transported to various European Colonies. Indentureship of East Indians in Trinidad & Tobago lasted from 1845 to 1917 and a third of the population (as many as from the slave trade) descend from this group.  Petroleum was discovered in 1857, but became significant only after a sugarcane/cocoa collapse in the 1920s. The rise of an oil economy led to increasing industrialisation.

Indentured East Indian Labourers

Saint Vincent

The 'Black Caribs' were a mix of native Carib people and West African slaves who escaped from Spanish shipwrecks and other slave islands. The Caribs aggressively managed to hold off European settlement of Saint Vincent until 1719. Some of the refugees were enslaved by the Caribs themselves, some became part of the community, some set up their own community. The First Carib War (1769-1773) saw initial success by the Black Caribs supported by the French. The British launch a full-scale attempt to subjugate the island, but it eventually resulted in a stalemate. The Second Carib War (1795-1797) again pitted the British against a coalition of runaway slaves, Black Caribs, and French Revolutionary advisers (The French had briefly taken control during the American Revolutionary Wars). Again initial success was met with a major intervention. The defeated natives were deported to the island of Roatán (65 kilometres off the coast of modern-day Honduras). 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia was known as "Helen of the West Indies" because it swapped hands between French and British control so many times. The French first signed a treaty with the native people in 1660, and the British took decisive control in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars. In between that control switched so each country ruled seven times. The majority of the population are the descendants of slaves. Saint Lucia also has a small minority with ancestry from India. Although misnamed the West Indies because of Columbus' ignorance, connection with actual India did occur when Britain started to bring indentured labourers in 1859. With slavery abolished, an indenture was the alternative way of getting the work done (by someone else). Indenture had also been used during 'The War of the Three Kingdoms' (1639-1651) as something to do with captured prisoners from Ireland and Scotland. The Thirteen Colonies in British America also used indenture for about half the almost 500,000 Europeans arriving there before 1775. Indenture was 'slavery with an end date'.

Gros Islet and Rodney Bay

Jamaica

The 1820 Settlers were poor English people encouraged to settle in South Africa following Britain's unemployment problems after the Napoleonic Wars. The Dutch had colonised the area first, but lost their power in that continental squabble. Jamaica had first been colonised by the Spanish, but Spain attempted to invade England in the Catholic-Protestant wars in 1588, and lost most of their Naval strength. England became a naval power, and in 1655 took control of Jamaica. Not in the King's name. At that time Cromwell was in charge and Britain was a Commonwealth.  Under British colonial rule, Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter with plantations worked by slaves forcibly removed from West Africa. These slaves were emancipated, in 1838, at about the same time as those settlers were setting up in South Africa. Jamaica gained independence in 1962 as Britain gradually released its colonial grip following another European squabble - World War II. Jamaica and Sri Lanka's are the only flags in the world that don't feature any of the colours red, white or blue.

Haiti

Haiti is the only nation in the world established after a successful slave revolt. The western part of the island of 'La Española' had been ceded to the French in 1697. This was after a nine-year war between France and a European Alliance. The war mirrored conflict between French & English settlers in America and their respective 'Indian' allies. Sugar cane plantations, worked by slaves brought from Africa, were established by colonists. In the midst of the French Revolution, the Haitian slaves revolted and established the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean. 95% of the population are of African descent, while in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, that figure is around 10% with the majority of the population being of mixed descent. 

General Toussaint Louverture

Leader of the Haitian Revolution

Fought for Spain v France

Fought for France v Spain/Britain

Fought for Saint-Dominigue v France

Cuba

The majority (64%) of Cubans have a European background and around 9% a connection to Africa. During the Spanish colonial period, the majority in many countries became 'Mestizo' (ancestry from all over) and this became a fundamental part of the national identity in places like Mexico. A quarter of Cubans have this joint heritage. The indigenous people of the Caribbean and Florida were the Taino and Arawak. Cuba became a de facto American state in 1902 after the Spanish-American war. After later independence, the island state became a focal point in the ideological battle between Communism and Capitalism, almost leading to a nuclear war in 1962. The Cold War freeze extended to Apartheid South Africa. The Cubans were big supporters of the fight to end racial segregation. Apartheid ended 5 years after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Nelson Mandela was released in 1990.

Guyana

In South Africa, we are very aware of the 'Scramble for Africa' where nation states were arbitrarily parcelled off like Secret Santa Gifts in Berlin. The north coast of South America had a similar thing happen. Left to right, Venezuela has Spanish links, Guyana British, Suriname Dutch, French Guiana French, and then Brazil Portuguese. Guyana is the only South American nation where English is the official language. The population speak Guyanese Creole - you take an English base, and throw in some West African, Dutch, Indian and Arawakan (Indigenous South American) spices. As in Fiji, Malaysia and South Africa, the English brought with them flavours of India. 43% of Guyanese have Indian heritage.

The Hoatzin - the national bird of Guyana