The Making of a Garifuna

The indigenous people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines became a diverse but united nation. This was what happened to the Kalinago community, after 1635. In the same manner there were members of the Kalinago community, who did not trusted the European. They did not want the Kalinago nation, to have anything to do with any outsiders. The same thing happened to the survivors of the two Spanish slaves ships laden with slaves that came from the West African course, which became wreck, off the course of St. Vincent. There were some sects within the Kalinago Community, who were suspicions of all outsiders; and they were right to be suspicions. When the ship wreck survivors, arrived on the biggest and more fertile of the island: St. Vincent, they were helped, but they were not fully embraced by the Kalinago community right away.

The true nature of the Kalinago, was that of which the European described the Arawaks to be. The Kalinago were naturally friendly people, who were quick to embrace and help others; especially, people who were in distressed. They helped the European, who did not understood the best farming techniques to be employed in the part of the world to yield the best results. They also did not understood the climate and Geography of the islands. They also did not understood the reef layout of the Caribbean seas and the weather of the new part of the world, where they ended up by accident.

The Ship wreck survivors, of the 1635 ship wreck, were in a completely strange part of the world. They ended up on extremely small but partially barren islands, surrounded by the sea. A place whose geography, climate, people and the way of life they knew nothing about. They did not have any food, water or tools. As a result, they became completely dependent on the Kalinago people. The survivors of the ship wreck, depended on the Kalinago people for food, water and transportation from the smaller, less fertile islands, which today is known as the Grenadines, to the biggest of the island which was called St. Vincent by the British. On St. Vincent there were a ready supply of food growing naturally, there were also small plots of Kalinago cultivation deep in the forest, as well as the larger fields owned by the Europeans.

The total reliant on the Kalinago people and the Kalinagos willingness to help the ship wreck survivors, cause the survivors to develop an unbreakable gratitude towards and for the Kalinago people. As a result of the level of Gratitude the survivors showed the Kalinago people; helped the Kalinago people to disown the difference between their new friends and their Colonial oppressors, who came to them wearing the mask of friendship, but ended up enslaving the peaceful, helpful and friendly Kalinago people. The Kalinago people came to understand that their news friends possessed a totally different spirit (a good spirit) to that of their European enslavers, who greatly betrayed their trust. It was this understanding that forged an unbreakable friendship between the two groups.

Later, the custom of the Kalinago people, once again benefited the Ship wreck survivors. In the Kalinago Culture, it was shameful for men in the community to go unwed. Since the survivors and the Kalinagos now share the same space, and almost everything else, which included a common enemy, they were considered a part of the Kalinago community and as a result, the ship wreck survivors were allowed to married into the Kalinago nations. The children that were born to these mixed union were known as the Garifuna.