THINGS TO REMEMBER

CARIBBEAN STUDIES

THINGS TO REMEMBER

CARIBBEAN STUDIES

PREMIER CURRICULUM SERIESBased on the Sunshine State Standards for Secondary Education,

established by the State of Florida, Department of Education

Copyright 2009Revision Date:12/2009

Copyright 2009Revision Date:12/2009

Caribbean Studies Things to Remember

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Lesson 1 The Caribbean is regarded as part of the continent of North America. The poorest country in the Caribbean is Haiti. More than 30 million people live in the Caribbean. Deforestation is the biggest problem in the Caribbean. Caribbean soil is most often infertile. The Caribbean is South of the Tropic of Cancer. In 1997, the volcano Montserrat erupted killing many people. Some mountains in the Caribbean are more than 10,000 feet high. The Cayman Trench is a deep cut in the ocean floor in the Caribbean Sea. While the Caribbean is over 2,000 miles long, it is less than 200 miles wide.

Lesson 2 The Ciboney were the earliest known people of the Caribbean. The Arawak and Tainos were not two separate peoples. A Cacique was the name for a chief. Zemis were religious statues. Yucca plants yielded starch and sugar. The Carib was a force of warriors. War was the most important thing to the Carib. Most natives of the Caribbean were eliminated by disease. The Tainos came from South America. Caribs often established villages in the same location as the ruined Taino communities.

Lesson 3 Europeans sought to visit the Indies or Far East as early as the 1500’s pursuing spices. Columbus received support for his voyage from Spain. “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” was a title of Columbus. The first New World settlement of the Europeans was Navidad. The Spanish looked for Gold in the New World. The Tordesillas was a treaty. Encomiendas were divided land grants. Las Casas protected the Indians. The Spanish sought slaves in Africa because the native slaves died out. The Catholic Church was very influential in Spain.

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Lesson 4 The House of Trade was established by the Spanish government to regulate trade in the

colonies. The Council of the Indies was the ruling body for the colonies of Spain. Peninsulares were men who had the highest social status and most government jobs. Creoles were born in the colonies. Pirates attacked Spanish towns in the Caribbean. Drake was a famous English pirate. Barbados was the most important English colony in the Caribbean in the1600’s. Indentured servants only worked in the colonies for a time. Martinique was settled by France. The buccaneers terrorized Spanish shipping and towns.

Lesson 5 Columbus first brought sugar cane to the New World. Mills are used to extract the juice from the sugar cane. The slave trade filled a need for labor. Caribbean slaves mostly came from Africa. The “Middle Passage” was the name for a sea route from Africa to the New World. The Caribbeans had a high death rate due to disease, malnutrition, and overwork. Mulattos have both white and black parents. Skin color determined social status in the colonial Caribbean. The most abundant crop in the Caribbean is sugar. Spanish colonies were first involved in ranching.

Lesson 6 Maroons were originally slaves. Abolitionists worked to end slavery. Toussaint was leader of the “Haitian Rebellion” in Saint Dominique. A particularly savage slave revolt in Jamaica helped end slavery in the British Colonies. The Amistad case involved a slave revolt. Sharecropping involved the use of freed slaves. After slavery ended in Cuba, many immigrants went from their home in China to the

Caribbean island. The Monroe Doctrine invited European countries not to establish new colonies in the

Western Hemisphere. The Maine was a U.S. battleship. Marti was the Cuban poet who pushed for independence.

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Lesson 7 Puerto Ricans are American citizens. American President Theodore Roosevelt, believed in “big stick” diplomacy. Guantanamo is an American military base on the island of Cuba. The Theodore Roosevelt Corollary established the US as “policeman” of the Western

Hemisphere. Taft believed in “dollar diplomacy." Haiti sought loans and help from Germany. The Virgin Islands are owned by the United States. Trujillo was dictator of the Dominican Republic. The Bahamas were the origin of many rum smugglers. The United States occupied the Caribbean island of Haiti from 1915 until 1934.

Lesson 8 Franklin Roosevelt was U.S. president when the “good neighbor” policy began. Machado was the Cuban dictator who admired Mussolini. Trujillo was the ruler of the Dominican Republic who discriminated against and killed

neighboring Haitians. Oil was found in this British colony of Trinidad. Butler believed he was the “Moses” of his people in Trinidad. U-boats sank many ships in the Caribbean during WWII . Puerto Rico achieved commonwealth status after WW II. The United States favored the “decolonization” policy in the Caribbean. The West Indies Federation was a short-lived grouping of British colonies. The Organization of American States consisted of 21 nations pledging to work together.

Lesson 9 Cuba was the first Caribbean country to move to communism. Castro was the leader of the 26 of July Movement. The Bay of Pigs was the attempted invasion of Cuba by exiles. The boatlift from Cuba in the 1980s began in the city of Mariel in Cuba. Duvalier was the “President for Life” and dictator of Haiti. Manley was the Socialist turned moderate leader of Jamaica. American troops under President Reagan invaded the island of Grenada. Many American tourists visited the island of Puerto Rico, when Cuba was no longer a tourist

destination in the 1960’s. There is a United States National Park at St. John, Jamaica. Government officials of some Caribbean islands have helped the illegal drug trade.

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Lesson 10 The American focus in the Caribbean now is to stop the drug trade. Fiesta is not a popular music of the Caribbean, but Calypso is. Tourism provides the majority of jobs on many Caribbean islands. Aluminum ore (bauxite) is mined in Jamaica. Oil and natural gas reserves are found in Trinidad. Sugar is still the most important agricultural crop of the Caribbean. Low wages of the Caribbean attract manufacturers. CARICOM is an economic organization of the Caribbean. Debt is a major issue in Caribbean nations. The Bahamas is the only Caribbean nation with a shellfish and fishing industry.

Author: Joanne Pralle Copyright 2009

Revision Date:12/2009

Author: Joanne Pralle Copyright 2009

Revision Date:12/2009