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73-593: The Byera River is a river of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines . This article related to a river in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ( / ˌ ɡ r ɛ n ə ˈ d iː n z / GREH -nə- DEENZ ) is an island country in the eastern Caribbean . It

146-562: A confusion of the reality: despite the name, the Island Carib language was Arawakan , not Cariban . Irving Rouse suggests that small numbers of Caribs may have conquered the Igneri without displacing them, and could have gradually adopted their language while retaining the Carib identity, but there is no evidence to prove this. Though they were Arawaks, the Igneri language appears to be as distinct from

219-682: A dialect known as Ciboney or Western Taíno. The Western Taíno of the Bahamas were known as the Lucayans , they were wiped out by Spanish slave raids by 1520. Western Taíno living in Cuba were known as the Ciboney . They had no chiefdoms or organized political structure beyond individual villages, but by the time of Spanish conquest many were under the control of the Cuban Taíno in eastern Cuba. According to oral history,

292-759: A population density of over 300 inhabitants/km (700 per sq mi), with an estimated population of 110,872. Kingstown is the capital and main port. Saint Vincent has a British colonial history, and is now part of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States , CARICOM , the Commonwealth of Nations , the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas , and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). In April 2021,

365-533: A representative of the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, then (James Mitchell, who was subsequently knighted) signed the Double Taxation Relief (CARICOM) Treaties. There were seven other signatories to the agreement on that day. The countries which were represented were Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. An eighth country signed

438-506: A tenuous continuum of nations, linked by some shared vocabulary, ethnic links, agricultural practices, reinforced by bride abduction, and continuous exogamy. After the violence of the Spanish conquest , and subsequent events of African slavery and rebellion, nations and cultures with diverse amounts of Arawak ethnicity, culture, and/or traditions transmuted and arose. Some of these nations had mixed or even predominantly African roots, which include

511-412: A wide variety of germplasm, including maize , peanuts , tomato , squash , and beans plus a vast array of tree fruits. Tubers in most frequent use were yuca ( Manihot esculenta ) a crop with perhaps 10,000 years of development in the Americas; boniato (the " sweet potato " — Ipomoea batatas), and malanga ( Xanthosoma sp.) As with all Arawak (Schultes, Raffault. 1990) and similar cultures there

584-564: Is La Soufrière volcano at 1,234 m (4,049 ft). Other major mountains on St Vincent are (from north to south) Richmond Peak, Mount Brisbane , Colonarie Mountain, Grand Bonhomme , Petit Bonhomme and Mount St Andrew. The country is home to two terrestrial ecoregions : Windward Islands moist forests and the Lesser Antillean dry forests . It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.95/10, ranking it 61st globally out of 172 countries. Most of Saint Vincent and

657-567: Is Ralph Gonsalves , elected in 2001 as head of the Unity Labour Party . The legislative branch of government is the unicameral House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , seating 15 elected members representing single-member constituencies and six appointed members known as Senators. The parliamentary term of office is five years, although the Prime Minister may call elections at any time. The judicial branch of government

730-702: Is divided into district courts, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in London being the court of last resort. The two political parties with parliamentary representation are the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Unity Labour Party (ULP). The parliamentary opposition is made up of the largest minority stakeholder in the general elections, headed by

803-736: Is in the Dominican Republic . According to las Casas, their language was unintelligible for the Taínos, but may have been similar to the Ciguayo language.(Wilson, 1990) "There were three distinct languages in this island, unintelligible to each other; one was the people we called of lower Macorix, and the other were the neighbors from upper Macorix" ( Tres lenguas habia en esta Isla distintas, que la una á la otra no se entendia; la una era de la gente que llamábamos del Macoríx de abajo, y la otra de los vecinos del Macoríx de arriba ). Recent studies show that

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876-697: Is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles , which lie in the West Indies , at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea , where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean. Its 369 km (142 sq mi) territory consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and, south of that, two-thirds of the northern part of the Grenadines , a chain of 32 smaller islands. Some of

949-667: The Ciboney , but no regional or island-wide political structure had developed on the island at the time of Spanish colonization of the Americas . The Eastern Taíno inhabited the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles , from the Virgin Islands to Montserrat . They had less sophisticated societies than the Classic Taíno. The Western Taíno lived in The Bahamas , central Cuba , westernmost Hispaniola , and Jamaica . They spoke

1022-606: The Igneri were the original Arawak inhabitants of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles before being conquered by the Caribs who are thought to have arrived from South America. Contemporary sources like to suggest that the Caribs took Igneri women as their wives while killing the men, resulting in the two sexes speaking different languages. This is not proven, and there appears to be

1095-578: The La Soufrière volcano erupted several times with "explosive events" continuing for two weeks. By 12 April, 16,000 residents had evacuated the area. Assistance and emergency financial support was being provided by several nearby islands, the United Kingdom , and agencies such as the United Nations . The first significant offer of long-term funding, of US$ 20 million, was announced on 13 April 2021 by

1168-404: The La Soufrière volcano erupted, sending ash several miles into the atmosphere. Approximately 16,000 people were evacuated in the days leading up to the eruption. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines lies to the west of Barbados , south of Saint Lucia and north of Grenada in the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles , an island arc of the Caribbean Sea . The islands of Saint Vincent and

1241-792: The Leader of the Opposition . The current opposition leader is Godwin Friday . Saint Vincent has no formal armed forces, although the Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force includes a Special Service Unit as well as a militia that has a supporting role on the island. In 2017, Saint Vincent signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons . Administratively, Saint Vincent and

1314-609: The Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Noteworthy Kalinago descendants live on within the Garifuna people, known as the Black Caribs who descend from St. Vincent in the Lesser Antilles . A separate ethnic identity from far western Cuba. They were an archaic hunter-gatherer people who spoke a language distinct from Taíno , and appear to have predated the agricultural, Taíno-speaking Ciboney . A separate ethnic people that inhabited

1387-607: The Peninsula of Samaná and part of the northern coast toward Nagua in what today is the Dominican Republic, and, by most contemporary accounts, differed in language and customs from the classical or high Taíno who lived on the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola then known. According to Eustaquio Fernandez de Navarrete, they were "warriors and spirited people," ("gente animosa y guerrera"). The Cronista de Indias, Pedro Martir accused them of cannibalism: "when they descend from

1460-562: The Taíno language as it was from the mainland Arawak language of South America. By the contact period, the Kalinago, also known as Island Caribs, inhabited the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles . "Caribbean" derives from the name "Carib", by which the Kalinago were formerly known. They self-identified with the Kalina or mainland Carib people of South America. Contemporary accounts asserted that

1533-753: The US , and cooperates with regional political and economic organisations such as the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and CARICOM . The island nation's sixth embassy overseas was opened on 8 August 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan, after Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves' official visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan) ; the other five are located in London (a High Commission as Commonwealth countries have high commissions rather than embassies in each other's countries), Washington D.C., Havana, Caracas and Brussels. On 6 July 1994 at Sherbourne Conference Centre, St Michael, Barbados, as

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1606-528: The West Indies Federation and was driven by a desire to gain independence from the British government. However, the attempt collapsed in 1962. Saint Vincent was granted "associate statehood" status by Britain on 27 October 1969. This gave Saint Vincent complete control over its internal affairs but fell short of full independence in law. In April 1979, La Soufrière erupted once more. Although no one

1679-505: The World Bank . Christopher Columbus , the first European to reach the island, named it after St. Vincent of Saragossa ( San Vicente de Zaragoza ) whose feast day was on the day Columbus first saw it (22 January 1498). The name of the Grenadines refers to the Spanish city of Granada , but to differentiate it from the island of the same name , the diminutive was used. Before the arrival of

1752-550: The Arawak legend explains the origin of the Caribs as offspring of a putrid serpent. The social classes of the neo-Taíno, generalized from Bartolomé de las Casas , appeared to have been loosely feudal with the following Taíno classes: naboría (common people), nitaíno' (sub-chiefs, or nobles), bohique, ( shamans priests/ healers ), and the cacique (chieftains, or princes). However, the neo-Taíno seem to have been more relaxed in this respect. The Spanish found that most Cuban peoples for

1825-460: The Atlantic slave trade. Gonsalves won a second term in 2005, a third in 2010, and a fourth in 2015. In 2009, a referendum was held on a proposal to adopt a new constitution that would make the country a republic , replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state with a non-executive President, a proposal supported by Prime Minister Gonsalves. A two-thirds majority was required, but the referendum

1898-515: The Bahamas grew root crops that originated in South America. It is possible that a few Lucayas reached Florida shortly before the first European contacts in the area, but the northwestern Bahamas had remained uninhabited until approximately 1200, and the long established presence of the existing tribes in Florida would have likely prevented any pioneering settlements by people who had only just reached

1971-614: The British laid the foundations of Fort Charlotte and also continued the importation of slaves to work on the island's plantations. The Garifuna , an Afro-Indigenous creole people on the island, were opposed to the British presence and entered into open conflict against the British, starting the First Carib War , which lasted from 1772 to 1773. During the Anglo-French War (1778–1783) , the French recaptured St Vincent in 1779. However,

2044-567: The British regained control under the Treaty of Versailles (1783) . The uneasy peace between the British and the Garifuna led to the Second Carib War , which lasted from 1795 to 1797. The Garifuna were led by paramount chief Joseph Chatoyer and supported by the French, notably Victor Hugues who was based on the island of Martinique . They were eventually defeated in 1797 by British forces under

2117-620: The Caribbean Some scholars consider it important to distinguish the Taíno from the neo-Taíno nations of Cuba , Puerto Rico , and Hispaniola , and the Lucayan of the Bahamas and Jamaica . Linguistically or culturally these differences extended from various cognates or types of canoe: canoa, piragua, cayuco to distinct languages. Languages diverged even over short distances. Previously these groups often had distinctly non-Taíno deities such as

2190-511: The Caribbean. Their culture was divided into three main groups, the Western Taíno, the Classic Taíno, and the Eastern Taíno, with other variations within the islands. The Classic Taíno lived in eastern Cuba , Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico . They spoke a dialect called Classic Taíno. Compared to their neighbors, the Classic Taíno had substantially developed agricultural societies. Puerto Rico

2263-422: The Caribbean. They were not, however, the first colonizers. On many islands they encountered a foraging people who arrived some 6,000 or 7,000 years ago...The ceramicists, who are related to today's Arawak-speaking peoples, supplanted the earlier foraging inhabitants—presumably through disease or violence—as they settled new islands." The Taíno, an Arawak people, were the major population group throughout most of

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2336-473: The Criminal Code states: Any person, who in public or private, commits an act of gross indecency with another person of the same sex, or procures or attempts to procure another person of the same sex to commit an act of gross indecency with him or her, is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for five years. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines maintains close ties to Canada , the United Kingdom and

2409-408: The Grenadines are inhabited— Bequia , Mustique , Union Island , Canouan , Petit Saint Vincent , Palm Island , Mayreau , Young Island —while others are not: Tobago Cays , Baliceaux , Battowia , Quatre , Petite Mustique , Savan and Petit Nevis . To the north of Saint Vincent lies Saint Lucia , to the east is Barbados , and Grenada lies to the south. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has

2482-399: The Grenadines include the main island of Saint Vincent 344 km (133 sq mi) and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines 45 km (17 sq mi), which are a chain of smaller islands stretching south from Saint Vincent to Grenada. There are 32 islands and cays that make up St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). Nine are inhabited, including the mainland St Vincent and

2555-569: The Grenadines is divided into six parishes . Five parishes are on Saint Vincent, while the sixth is made up of the Grenadine islands. Kingstown is located in the Parish of Saint George and is the capital city and central administrative centre of the country. "Acts of gross indecency", which may be defined to include homosexual activity , are illegal in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Section 148 of

2628-558: The Grenadines islands: Young Island, Bequia , Mustique , Canouan , Union Island , Mayreau , Petit St Vincent and Palm Island. Prominent uninhabited islands of the Grenadines include Petit Nevis , used by whalers , and Petit Mustique , which was the centre of a prominent real-estate scam in the early 2000s. The capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is Kingstown , Saint Vincent. The main island of Saint Vincent measures 26 km (16 mi) long, 15 km (9.3 mi) in width and 344 km (133 sq mi) in area. From

2701-475: The Grenadines lies within the Main Development Region for Atlantic tropical cyclones . Recently, in 2023, the islands were directly impacted by Tropical Storm Bret . Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , with Charles III as King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines . He does not reside in the islands and is represented as head of state in

2774-403: The Grenadines, Britain made several attempts to unify the island with the other Windward Islands as a single entity, to simplify British control in the sub-region through a single unified administration. In the 1960s, the British again tried to unify all of its regional islands, including Saint Vincent, into a single politically unified entity under British control. The unification was to be called

2847-666: The Island Caribs had conquered the Windward Islands from their previous inhabitants, the Igneri . However, the Kalinago language was Arawakan, not Cariban . Irving Rouse suggests that small numbers of South American Caribs invaded the Windwards and conquered the Igneri without displacing them; they gradually adopted the local language while maintaining the Carib identity. The Kalinago outlasted their Taíno neighbors, and continue to live in

2920-452: The Macorix people coexisted with the Taínos on Hispaniola. The names San Francisco de Macorix and San Pedro de Macorix in the Dominican Republic are indirect references to the political divisions of the cacicazgo . The Spaniards wrongly assumed that the names given to the different territories were a reference "to what they called a Cacicazgo: a region dominated by a cacique. Cacique comes from

2993-499: The Spaniards, the Kalinago natives who inhabited the island of St. Vincent called it Youloumain, in honour of Youlouca, the spirit of the rainbows, who they believed inhabited the island. Before the arrival of Europeans and Africans in the 16th century, various Amerindian groups passed through or settled on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including the Ciboney , Arawak , and Kalinago people. The island now known as Saint Vincent

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3066-595: The Taíno word kassiquan, meaning 'to keep house,' or meaning: 'a lord, dominating a great territory.' The different names given by the five regions in reality was given by the Indigenous people based on the various Indigenous groups living on those areas. The Tequesta of the southeast coast of the Florida peninsula were once considered to be related to the Taíno, but most anthropologists now doubt this. The Tequesta had been present in

3139-484: The agreement on 19 August 2016, Guyana. This treaty covered taxes, residence, tax jurisdictions, capital gains, business profits, interest, dividends, royalties and other areas. On 30 June 2014, St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed a Model 1 agreement with the United States of America with respect to Foreign Account Tax Compliance (Act) or FATCA. According to the updated site as of 16 January 2017, on 13 May 2016

3212-843: The agreement went to "In Force" status. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a member of the United Nations , the Commonwealth of Nations , the Organization of American States , and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). In September 2017, at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly , the Prime Ministers of the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines called for UN action on alleged human rights abuses committed by Indonesia on Western New Guinea 's indigenous Papuans . Indigenous peoples of

3285-414: The area for at least 2,000 years at the time of first European contact, and are believed to have built the Miami Stone Circle . Carl O. Sauer called the Florida Straits "one of the most strongly marked cultural boundaries in the New World", noting that the Straits were also a boundary between agricultural systems, with Florida Indians growing seed crops that originated in Mexico , while the Lucayans of

3358-401: The cacicazgo of Baracoa as Classical or High Taíno. Cuban cacicazgos including Bayaquitiri, Macaca, Bayamo, Camagüey, Jagua, Habana y Haniguanica are considered neo-Taíno. These principalities are considered to have various affinities to contemporary Taíno and neo-Taíno cultures from Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, but are generally believed to have been somewhat different. The common name given to

3431-579: The cacicazgos. Granberry and Vescelius (2004) and other contemporary authors only consider the cazicazgo of Baracoa as classical or high Taíno. Cuban cacicazgos including Bayaquitiri, Macaca, Bayamo, Camagüey, Jagua, Habana y Haniguanica are treated here as "neo-Taíno". Hispaniolan principalities at about 1500 included Maguá (Cacique Guarionex); Xaraguá (Behecchio); Maguana ( Caonabo ); Higüey also called Iguayagua (Higüayo); Cigüayo (Mayobanex), and unnamed region under Cacique Guanacagarí (Wilson, 1990). These principalities are considered to have various affinities to

3504-410: The centre-left Saint Vincent Labour Party (SVLP) was the country's first Prime Minister (he had been Premier since 1974), ruling until his defeat in the 1984 Vincentian general election by James Fitz-Allen Mitchell of the centre-right New Democratic Party (NDP). During Cato's time in office, there was a brief rebellion on Union Island in December 1979 led by Lennox 'Bumba' Charles . Inspired by

3577-590: The command Sir Ralph Abercromby ; a peace treaty agreement was made which resulted in almost 5,000 Garifuna being deported to Roatán , an island off the coast of Honduras , and to Belize and Baliceaux in the Grenadines. In 1806, the construction of Fort Charlotte was completed. The La Soufrière volcano erupted in 1812, resulting in considerable destruction. The British abolished slavery in Saint Vincent (as well as in all other British West Indies colonies) in 1834, and an apprenticeship period followed which ended in 1838. After its end, labour shortages on

3650-671: The contemporary Taíno and neo-Taíno cultures from what is now known as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and Haiti , but are generally believed somewhat different. The adroit farming and fishing skills of the neo-Taíno nations should not be underestimated; the names of fauna and flora that survive today are testimony of their continued use. Neo-Taíno fishing technologies were most inventive, including harpoons and fishnets and traps. Neo-Taíno common names of fish are still used today (DeSola, 1932 ; Erdman, 1983; Florida Fish and Wild Life Commission (Division of Marine Fisheries) 2002; Puerto Rico, Commonwealth, 1998). Agriculture included

3723-411: The country by the Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , currently Susan Dougan (since 1 August 2019). The office of Governor-General has mostly ceremonial functions including the opening of the islands' House of Assembly and the appointment of various government officials. Control of the government rests with the elected Prime Minister and their cabinet. The current Prime Minister

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3796-401: The goddess Jagua. Strangely enough the god Teju Jagua is a major demon of Indigenous Paraguayan mythology. Still these groups plus the high Taíno are considered Island Arawak, part of a widely diffused assimilating culture, a circumstance witnessed even today by names of places in the New World; for example localities or rivers called Guamá are found in Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil . Guamá

3869-412: The island, settling in the town of Barrouallie on the leeward side of St Vincent in 1719. The French imported Black slaves to work on plantations producing sugar, coffee, indigo, tobacco, cotton and cocoa. The British captured the island and drove out the French from Barrouallie during the Seven Years' War , a claim confirmed by the Treaty of Paris (1763) . On taking control of the island in 1763,

3942-429: The most northern to the most southern points, the Grenadine islands belonging to Saint Vincent span 60.4 km (37.5 mi), with a combined area of 45 km (17 sq mi). The island of Saint Vincent is volcanic and heavily forested and includes little level ground. The windward side of the island is very rocky and steep, while the leeward side has more sandy beaches and bays. Saint Vincent's highest peak

4015-566: The most part, living peacefully in tidy towns and villages grouped into numerous principalities called Cacicazgos with an almost feudal social structure (see Bartolomé de las Casas ). They were ruled by leaders called Caciques . Cuba was divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno (here neo-Taíno), and Classical (High) Taíno. Some of western Cuba was Guanahatabey and some Siboney (see below). Taíno-like cultures controlled most of Cuba, dividing it into cacicazgos or principalities. Granberry, Vescelius (2004), and other contemporary authors only consider

4088-430: The mountains to wage war on their neighbors, they kill and eat some of them" ("trae[n] origen de los caníbales, pues cuando de las montañas bajan a lo llano para hacer guerra á sus vecinos, si matan á algunos se los comen"). Fray Ramón Pané, often dubbed as the first anthropologist of the Caribbean, distinguished the Ciguayo language from the rest of those spoken on Hispaniola. Bartolomé de las Casas, who studied them and

4161-408: The neighboring islands. Analysis of ocean currents and weather patterns indicates that people traveling by canoe from the Bahamas to Florida were likely to land in northern Florida rather than closer to the Bahamas. A single 'Antillean axe head' found near Gainesville, Florida may support some limited contacts. Due to the same ocean currents, direct travel in canoes from southern Florida to the Bahamas

4234-428: The part living peacefully in tidy towns and villages grouped into numerous principalities called cacicazgos or principalities with an almost feudal social structure. They were ruled by leaders or princes, called Caciques. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey , Ciboney , and Classical Taíno . Then some of Western Cuba was Guanahatabey. and some Ciboney. Taíno-like cultures controlled most of Cuba dividing it into

4307-414: The place of copper and is surmised to have been a site of pre-Columbian mining. DNA studies changed some of the traditional beliefs about pre-Columbian Indigenous history. According to National Geographic , "studies confirm that a wave of pottery-making farmers—known as Ceramic Age people—set out in canoes from the northeastern coast of South America starting some 2,500 years ago and island-hopped across

4380-450: The plantations resulted, and were initially addressed by the immigration of indentured servants; starting from 1845, many Portuguese Catholic settlers arrived from Madeira , with around 2,100 arrivals from Portugal recorded from 1845 to 1850. Between 1861 and 1888, a new wave of immigration occurred, with shiploads of Indian labourers arrived. In 1902, the La Soufrière volcano erupted again, killing 1,500–2,000 people; much farmland

4453-596: The recent revolution on Grenada, Charles alleged neglect of the Union by the central government. However, the revolt was swiftly put down and Charles was arrested. There were also a series of strikes in the early 1980s. James Mitchell remained Prime Minister for 16 years until 2000, winning three consecutive elections . Mitchell was at the forefront of attempts to improve regional integration. In 1980 and 1987, hurricanes damaged many banana and coconut plantations. Hurricane seasons were also very active in 1998 and 1999, with Hurricane Lenny in 1999 causing extensive damage to

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4526-473: The rich traditions of the popular music of the Caribbean, but is believed to continue to exist in its purest form and associated spirituality among the Warao of Venezuela. The art of the neo-Taínos demonstrates that these nations had metallurgical skills, and it has been postulated by some e.g. Paul Sidney Martin , that the inhabitants of these islands mined and exported metals such as copper (Martin et al. 1947). The Cuban town of (San Ramón de) Guaninao means

4599-629: The rural inhabitants of Cuba is guajiros. Del Campo implies that quajiros are "native-born whites" and states that in Puerto Rico "the influence of the Indigenous population is more marked than that of the native populations in Cuba". The term Guajira / Guajiro , also refers to Indigenous Arawak nation of the Guajira Peninsula between Venezuela and Colombia. For a small compendium of myths of this Nation please see: de Cora, Maria Manuela 1972. Kuai-Mare. Mitos Aborígenes de Venezuela. Monte Avila Editores Caracas. The Arawak, Carib, other Mesoamerican coast, and Amazonian cultures can be considered as part of

4672-419: The west coast of the island. In 2000, Arnhim Eustace became Prime Minister after taking over the leadership of the NDP following Mitchell's retirement; he was defeated a year later by Ralph Gonsalves of the Unity Labour Party (successor party to the SVLP). Gonsalves—a left-winger known in the country as "Comrade Ralph" —argued that European nations owe Caribbean nations reparations for their role in

4745-690: Was considerable use of natural pharmacopoeia (Robineau, 1991). Taíno studies are in a state of both vigorous revival and conflict (Haslip-Viera, 2001). In this conflict deeply embedded cultural mores, senses of nationality and ethnicity struggle with each other. The Syboneistas undertook studies and wrote of neo-Taínos as part and cover for independence struggles against Spain (Fajardo, 1829 - c.  1862 ; Gautier Benítez, 1873). Taíno and related art has been celebrated in several significant exhibitions (Alegria, and Arrom 1998; Bercht, et al. 1997; Bullen, Dacal et al.; Kerchache, 1994, most notably in Paris. Neo-Taíno music (areíto) survives as echoes in

4818-423: Was damaged, and the economy deteriorated. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines passed through various stages of colonial status under the British. A representative assembly was authorised in 1776, Crown Colony government was installed in 1877, a legislative council was created in 1925 with a limited franchise, and universal adult suffrage was granted in 1951. During the period of its control of Saint Vincent and

4891-429: Was defeated 29,019 votes (55.64 per cent) to 22,493 (43.13 per cent). Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council 2020–21. In November 2020, Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines since 2001, made history by securing the fifth consecutive victory of his Unity Labour Party (ULP) in general election. In 2021, on 9 April,

4964-488: Was divided into twenty chiefdoms which were organized into one united kingdom or confederation, Borinquen. Hispaniola was divided into roughly 45 chiefdoms, which were organized into five kingdoms under the leadership of the chief of each area's premier chiefdom. Beginning around 1450, Classic Taíno from Hispaniola began migrating to eastern Cuba; they are conventionally known as the Cuban Taíno . The Cuban Taíno gained power over some of Cuba's earlier Western Taíno inhabitants,

5037-420: Was killed, thousands were evacuated and extensive agricultural damage occurred. On 27 October 1979, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gained full independence; the date is now the country's Independence Day , a public holiday . The country opted to remain within the Commonwealth of Nations , retaining the then-Queen Elizabeth II as Monarch , represented locally by a Governor-General . Milton Cato of

5110-431: Was one of the few who read Ramón Pané's original work in Spanish, provided most of the documentation about this group. Linguists Granberry and Gary Vescelius believe that the Cigüayos emigrated from Central America. Wilson (1990) states that c.  1500 this was the kingdom Cacicazgo of Cacique Guacangarí. Another separate ethnic group that lived on the eastern side of the island of Hispaniola. Their region today

5183-418: Was originally named Youloumain by the native Island Caribs who called themselves Kalina. It is thought that Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1498, giving it the name St Vincent. The Kalinago people aggressively opposed European settlement on Saint Vincent. Various attempts by the English and Dutch to claim the island proved unsuccessful, and it was the French who were first able to colonise

5256-453: Was the name of famous Taíno who fought the Spanish. Thus, since the neo-Taíno had far more diverse cultural input and a greater societal and ethnic heterogeneity than the true high Taíno (Rouse, 1992). Boriquen (Puerto Rico) is presented in a separate section. A broader language group is Arawakan languages . The term Arawak (Aruaco) is said to be derived from an insulting term meaning "eaters of meal" given to them by mainland Caribs. In turn

5329-519: Was unlikely. Ciboney (also Siboney) is a term preferred in Cuban historic contexts for the neo-Taíno nations of Cuba. Our knowledge of the Cuban Indigenous cultures which are often, but less precisely, lumped into a category called Taíno (Caribbean Island Arawak) comes from early Spanish sources, oral traditions and considerable archeological evidence. The Spanish found that most Cuban peoples were, for

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