Misconceptions of the Caribbean never seem to change and more erroneous information seems to be added on as time passes. Peoples knowledge about the Caribbean is derived from false assumptions without accuracy and facts. That often leads to stereotyping. When people hear the word “Caribbean” they automatically think of it as a place for vacationing and relaxation. The Caribbean isn’t just about reggae music, Bob Marley or the exotic food. There is much more to the Caribbean than just the surface beauty of the islands and the tourist attractions. Many do not know that the Caribbean has complex ideologies and history attached to it. These very same ideologies are often overlooked by those visiting the islands. Just like any western civilization …show more content…
Even today the Spanish influence on these islands is visible, in terms of the language spoken and the names of cities such as Port of Spain and Spanish Town.
As the Europeans exposed the Caribbean to colonialism, the slaves were used to work in gold mines (CITE WHO SAID THIS). Also, the exportation of sugar created a considerable amount of economic and social development. Slaves were brought by the slave trade to the Caribbean islands such as Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, and Cuba to work on plantations. The sugar cane plant was the main crop that was produced on plantations. There was an abundance of plantations and mills that was used for refining the sugar cane properties. Africans slaves were used like beast of burdens to perform the manual labor on the plantations.
Even though most of the descendants of African slaves make up the majority population on Caribbean islands it still has White, Indian, Chinese, and Native Americans who were born and raised there. The Caribbean is a cultural melting pot of mixed races. African culture is blended with European culture. Numerous islands to this day still have ties with Europe and still exhibit their traditions. An example of the British legacy still being followed is the British education system in Jamaica (Iron of the
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With diversity comes prejudicing. Throughout the decades “white” or “light” were looked as dominant and preferable. It wasn't enough to be just “Trinidadian” or “Jamaican” it was a necessity to be defined as Indian Trinidadian or Chinese Jamaican and because of this Rastafarians were scorned, ridiculed, and isolated because of their looks and beliefs. However, Rastafarians were unbothered by this because they still continued to developed their own language and ritual practices based on Ethiopia which is in Africa. It wasn't until the popularity of Bob Marley that it became acceptable. In todays society and around the world the looks of Rastafarians are now
Slave labor is the final factor that drove the sugar trade and made it so successful. Slaves were the manual laborers on the plantations, doing the actual harvesting and boiling because the owner wasn’t there to do so (Document 8). Without the slaves working the farm, everything was pretty much useless. There is also a direct correlation between the number of slaves and the tons of sugar produced. This is shown in Document 9, where the island of Jamaica starts out with 45,000 slaves, and produces 4,782 tons of sugar. When the number of slaves increases by less than half to 74,500, the amount of sugar produced is more than tripled at 15, 972 tons. This clearly exhibits how slaves were essential to sugar
Fluorescent turquoise waters, a vibrant city culture, as well as an unending supply of mimosas and sunburns within a resort, benefits the common wealthy couple looking for a swell time. When people imagine the Caribbean, they probably visualize the soft sands of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Many people see the Caribbean as relaxing paradise. What people don’t understand, are the years of history hidden behind the mask of many resorts. In the book entitled “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day”, Author Carrie Gibson differentiates how people view the Caribbean nowadays, by altering their visualization with four-hundred pages of rich history and culture, that argues the ideology about the Caribbean
The Caribbean is comprised of a group of island. Jamaica is one of the greatest Antilles. It has a tropical climate. Each country has its own culture, Jamaicans is not an exemption, and they have an assorted and distinctive one. “Their culture is a complex mixture of African, Arabic, European, East Indian, and Chinese roots combining together to create a rich, dynamic heritage” (Gall, 2009).
Those who are uneducated in what exactly the Rastafarian lifestyle contains may think that Rastafarians are people who have dreads, people who only wear pan-Africanism colors, and people who inhale narcotics while listening to reggae music. True Rastafarians are those who follow the doctrine of Haile Selassie I, even though Haile Selassie I never regarded himself as a god, nor did he adhere to the Rastafari lifestyle. Marcus Garvey is the one people are holding responsible with the adaption of Rastas regarding Selassie as a god. I was also surprise that Skopal only mentioned Ethiopia but once or twice when, Ethiopia is the foundation of the Rastafari ideology. Rastafari’s believe that Hallie Selassie I was the second coming of my Christian savior
Once the Portuguese and British brought sugar to the Americas, they came to the realization that the land was fertile. This opened up a vast array of possibilities that could not progress without the aid of increased labor. Out of this need for increased labor, slavery arises and proceeds to spread. Slaves worked on sugar-producing estates or plantations in horrible conditions. The extensive use of African slave labor gave these plantation colonies an extremely different ethnic makeup in comparison to that of Spanish America.
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
The prosperity of the sugar industry within Barbados lasted until the early 1700s. The island of Jamaica and some of the Leeward Islands gained prosperity within the sugar industry. The diminishing sugar industry within Barbados was most directly related to their soil, which began to wear out. Barbados also faced problems with insects and drought.
From the time the Caribbean and the European civilizations have been documented there has always been a tendency to distort their history because of the contemporary image of a relaxed island lifestyle and a paradise for tourism. The history of each Caribbean nation is unimaginable due to the display of greed by the European nations; they recognized the Caribbean as an essential conquest because it was a terrific source of economic expansion. Determined purely by financial gain, they began to perform vicious task such as genocide, force immigration, and slavery. The modern system in the Caribbean economy that is highly dependent on wealthy foreign powers stemmed from its early development. Today this system is still in use throughout the whole Caribbean.
Despite the often negative image projected in the press and other writings, the Rastafarian movement has grown at a rapid rate. In 1977, an estimated 75,000 native Jamaicans were followers of Rastafari (Davis and Simon, Reggae Bloodlines, 63). By 1988, Barrett conservatively calculated the membership of the worldwide movement to be 300,000 (2). Forsythe observed that Rastafarianism "represents a growing force wherever sizable West Indian communities are found--in Britain, Canada, the USA and in the Caribbean" (63).
Slavery and the Caribbean Europeans came into contact with the Caribbean after Columbus's momentous journeys in 1492, 1496 and 1498. The desire for expansion and trade led to the settlement of the colonies. The indigenous peoples, according to our sources mostly peaceful Tainos and warlike Caribs, proved to be unsuitable for slave labour in the newly formed plantations, and they were quickly and brutally decimated. The descendants of this once thriving community can now only be found in Guiana and Trinidad. The slave trade which had already begun on the West Coast of Africa provided the needed labour, and a period from 1496 (Columbus's second voyage) to 1838 saw Africans flogged and tortured in an effort to assimilate them into the plantation economy.
Rastafarianism has not faded away, and in fact has spread its brethren among many areas of the world. “The Rastafarian movement is no longer a mere revolutionary movement; it has become a part of the establishment, a part of officialdom” (Barret 245). Rastafarianism may have started on the fringes of Jamaican society, but it now a representation of what it considered hell. In terms of an outsider, Jamaica is no longer Babylon, it is now Rastafaria, a step on the way to utopian Zion. Rastafarianism is now an integration of all of Jamaican society rather that just one social strata. Its changes have moved along with the changes of Jamaica as a nation. The people of Jamaica are interchangeable with Rastafarianism. It is ironic which a group so hating of their own environment would become such a force as to represent it to the world. Rastafarianism is truly by the people, for the people.
The Caribbean has never been truly integrated having failed under the West India Commission. We have always operated as prongs from the British Colonial System. However efforts have been made to integrate through Policing...
This led to my interest in the subject, as I remember going on tours of the island and a family member would mention that he believed the tour guides were trying to cover up their Bajan “accents” in order to cater to the Western tourists (which make up a great majority of the tourist population in Barbados). This, in my opinion, exemplifies the lengths to which the tourism industry goes to in order to preserve itself, and is just one of the many ways in which the tourism industry (and its catering to the Western world) affects these countries. Works Cited Bennett, David, and Sophie Gebhardt. " Global Tourism and Caribbean Culture.
In the context of what is Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean our islands developed initially on the struggle of our ancestors who were brought to these islands as slaves and indentured labourers. Because of colonisation the society has evolved into a melting pot of people from different countries. Over the years we have come to appreciate the value of that melting pot of people and culture whose expressions have found prominence on the national stage. One notes the different festivals that are celebrated yearly by religious and other groups in the society. In the Caribbean and specifically in Trinidad and Tobago people are free to engage in maintaining their cultural identity through there different practices. Multiculturalism is alive.
Living in the Caribbeans can be extremely nice at times, lots of people go there to vacation and sightsee because it is known for its beauty but when the weather is bad it is BAD. Also mosquitoes are largely apart of the caribbean's so if you plan on living there I suggest you back out now. The region is a jungle type.