Survival and Adaptation

The narrative of complete Indigenous extinction in the Caribbean is both pervasive and false. While it's true that European diseases, warfare, and enslavement devastated Indigenous populations, survival took many forms. In Dominica, the Kalinago Territory remains home to approximately 3,000 Kalinago people. In other islands, Indigenous heritage persists through bloodlines mixed with African and European ancestry, in place names that dot the landscape, in agricultural techniques still practiced, and in words that pepper Creole languages.

Dr. Lennox Honychurch, a historian from Dominica, explains: "Indigenous survival in the Caribbean is not just about pure bloodlines—it's about cultural continuity. Many people in Guadeloupe and Martinique carry Indigenous ancestry without knowing it. More importantly, Indigenous knowledge systems influenced how enslaved Africans and their descendants adapted to these environments."