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Carib Expansion into the Lesser Antilles

Type Event Region North America Time 1485–1490

From the mid-to-late 15th century, Carib-speaking islanders migrated from South America, accelerating around 1485 into the northern and central Lesse…

Timeline

  1. 1485–1487Venezuela–Trinidad Strait · TrinidadCarib groups paddled dugout canoes northeast from the Paria Peninsula and Orinoco delta region of South America, first occupying Trinidad and the southernmost islands of the Lesser Antilles and establishing new fishing, hunting, and farming settlements.
  2. 1487–1490Waters around Dominica and Martinique · Lesser AntillesThe Caribs continued northward, engaging in frequent raids and territorial disputes with the Taíno and Igneri peoples occupying the northern Lesser Antilles; on some islands the Taíno population was driven out or assimilated, forming what later generations called the Taíno–Carib island-chain confrontation frontier.

Sources