Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Richès Karayib newsletter.
The Kalinagos, also called Caribs by Europeans, are one of the last indigenous peoples of the West Indies to have preserved their cultural identity. Direct descendants of the first inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, they carry a thousand-year-old heritage that profoundly marked the history of the region before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493.
Today, they live mainly on the island of Dominica, where they represent the living memory of pre-Columbian societies in the Lesser Antilles. Their history, marked by fierce resistance to European colonization, sheds light on the profound transformations experienced by these tropical islands over the last five centuries.
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We are very fortunate to have the Kalinago people in Dominica, the true natives of the West Indies!
The other day I was thinking about our first flag design by the late Alwin Bully. In the centred triple coloured cross, the three bands of our first flag (1978-1981) were initially yellow, white, and black.
For my it was obvious the similitudes of our first flag with the Garifuna (Karifuna) people flag of Belize, designed around 1920s and consisted of three stripes: yellow, white and black. The Karifunas or African-Kalinagos, specially in St. Vincent, where racially mixed persons with Carib and African blood. Garifunas from Belize today are descendants of the Kalinagos and Karifunas (more) expelled from St. Vincent by the British as ethnic cleansing in 1797 to Roatan Island (Honduras).
I have always read many heraldic and poetic explanations about our flag colours but… Do you think it was designed that way, like the Garifuna flag, to express the sacred union of the Kaliango…
Sure, I think so too. The ethnic cleansing by the Brutish was so thorough that they succeeded in totally wiping out the Arawaks. And, taught us in their school books that they were eaten by the Caribs.
you mean the random stuff they just invented in the past 20 or so years
and call it their culture?
the kalinago culture was comprehensively erased from history by the french and british YEARSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ago with nothing left
the stuff they are doing now they copied from south american tribes and call it theirs
looks fake and tacky and only fools tourists . the kalinago themselves will tell you that
even the name kalinago is made up and carried over from south american tribes
history is easy to research . if you think im lying do a little bit research and find out
Indeed so much history was savagely erased by the french and british, like they tried with Ancient Egypt. It would help if you give a hint of a book or publication where one can read more on that. In his book ‘They Came Before Columbus’, for instance, Van Sertima presents evidence of the African presence living in harmony with others who Europeans renamed tribe and Caribs. Even renaming as a savage act.