The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno (Island Arawaks), who lived in the Greater Antilles and northern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. All these groups spoke related Arawakan languages.
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👉 Arawak peoples in the context of Museum of Antigua and Barbuda
The Museum of Antigua and Barbuda is a museum in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. It is housed in the colonial Court House, constructed in 1747 on the site of the first city market, and is the oldest building still in use in the city. The museum displays both Arawak and colonial artifacts recovered on archaeological digs on the islands. It also features a life-sized replica of an Arawak house, models of sugar plantations, along with a history of the island, and Viv Richards' cricket bat.
Its collection of sugar cane railway locomotives which once worked on the extensive Antiguan rail system and displayed outside the museum includes :
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Arawak peoples
- 👉 Arawak peoples in the context of Museum of Antigua and Barbuda
- Arawak peoples in the context of History of Barbados
Arawak peoples in the context of History of Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, situated about 100 miles (160 km) east of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Roughly triangular in shape, the island measures some 21 miles (34 km) from northwest to southeast and about 14 miles (23 km) from east to west at its widest point. The capital and largest town is Bridgetown, which is also the main seaport.
Barbados was inhabited by indigenous peoples – Arawaks and Caribs – prior to the European colonisation of the Americas in the 16th century. The island was briefly claimed by the Spanish Empire who saw trees with a beard like feature (hence the name Barbados), and then by Portugal from 1532 to 1620. The island was an English and later a British colony from 1625 until 1966. Sugar cane cultivation in Barbados began in the 1640s, which saw the increasing importation of black slaves from West Africa. Several black slave codes were implemented in the late-17th century which resulted in several slave rebellion attempts, however none was successful. The Consolidated Slave Law was passed following the largest slave rebellion in Barbadian history, this was then followed by the total abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834. Britain continued to rule the island until independence was granted in 1966 and the state became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
View the full Wikipedia page for History of Barbados