scholarly journals Diverse and Dynamic Dietary Patterns in Early Colonial Cuba: New Insights from Multiple Isotope Analyses

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-121
Author(s):  
Jason E. Laffoon ◽  
Roberto Valcárcel Rojas ◽  
Darlene A. Weston ◽  
Menno L. P. Hoogland ◽  
Gareth R. Davies ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dietary Patterns ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Archaeological Reconstruction ◽  
Isotope Analyses

The European conquest and colonization of the Caribbean precipitated massive changes in indigenous cultures and societies of the region. One of the earliest changes was the introduction of new plant and animal foods and culinary traditions. This study presents the first archaeological reconstruction of indigenous diets and foodways in the Caribbean spanning the historical divide of 1492. We use multiple isotope datasets to reconstruct these diets and investigate the potential relationships between dietary and mobility patterns at multiple scales. Dietary patterns are assessed by isotope analyses of different skeletal elements from the archaeological skeletal population of El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba. This approach integrates carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone and dentine collagen with carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of bone and enamel apatite. The isotope results document extreme intrapopulation dietary heterogeneity but few systematic differences in diet between demographic/social groups. Comparisons with published isotope data from other precolonial and colonial period populations in the Caribbean indicate distinct dietary and subsistence practices at El Chorro de Maíta. The majority of the local population consumed more animal protein resources than other indigenous populations in the Caribbean, and their overall dietary patterns are more similar to colonial period enslaved populations than to indigenous ones.

scholarly journals The Pilgrimage Concept in the Caribbean?

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-110
Author(s):  
Michele Hayward ◽  
Michael Cinquino ◽  
Frank Schieppati ◽  
Donald Smith
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Late Phase ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
Diverse Population ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Caribbean

Espenshade (2014) has argued that pre-Columbian major ballcourts/plazas on Puerto Rico, particularly with rock art, could be considered special religious places. He proposes that these precincts were being transformed from locations of communal social and ceremonial activities integrating diverse population segments to increasingly restricted-to-religious functions as shrines or pilgrimage centers serving a greatly reduced local population by the end of the pre-colonial period. The extent of incorporation of pre-colonial late phase plazas into a formal pilgrimage round for the Puerto Rico island will be examined employing archaeological data from both the Greater and Lesser Antilles. We conclude that while Espenshade’s particular argument for enclosures-as-pilgrimage sites may or may not be appropriate, simply raising the issue prompts a wider consideration of the region’s ritual structure involving rock art and non-rock art sites.

Indigenous Trade in Caribbean Central America, 1700s–1800s

2019 ◽  
pp. 237-265
Author(s):  
Alejandra Boza ◽  
Juan Carlos Solórzano Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Trading Networks

This chapter traces the dense web of indigenous trade that crisscrossed Mosquitia, Talamanca, and Darién during the latter part of the colonial period. Most studies have focused on European actors’ geopolitical and economic interests in these regions. Here we concentrate on indigenous populations and their trading networks. Exchange brought together Indians from villages under Spanish control, Indians that remained independent, and a variety of European colonials It also helped cement alliances between some Indians and non-Spanish European powers, and affected Spanish colonizing strategies while increasing the Indians’ ability to retain their independence. Indians played a major role in connecting the Spanish mainland with the non-Spanish commercial hubs that emerged in the Caribbean islands.

scholarly journals Introduction: Corruption, Empire and Colonialism in the Modern Era: Towards a Global Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ronald Kroeze ◽  
Pol Dalmau ◽  
Frédéric Monier
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
The Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Modern Era

AbstractScandal, corruption, exploitation and abuse of power have been linked to the history of modern empire-building. Colonial territories often became promised lands where individuals sought to make quick fortunes, sometimes in collaboration with the local population but more often at the expense of them. On some occasions, these shady dealings resulted in scandals that reached back to the metropolis, questioning civilising discourses in parliaments and the press, and leading to reforms in colonial administrations. This book is a first attempt to discuss the topic of corruption, empire and colonialism in a systematic manner and from a global comparative perspective. It does so through a set of original studies that examines the multi-layered nature of corruption in four different empires (Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands and France) and their possessions in Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

South American Missions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Jones
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
South American ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Republican Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Bourbon Reforms ◽  
Franciscan Order

While it is certainly true that more academic studies have focused on the North American missions, in terms of their historical impact South American missions were just as important to the frontiers of Spain and Portugal’s American empires. The massive size alone of the frontier region, stretching from the upper reaches of the Amazon basin to the headwaters of the Paraná as well as stretching across the lower Southern Cone, meant numerous missionary enterprises emerged in an attempt to evangelize the peoples who inhabited these regions. While small handfuls of Dominicans, Mercedarians, and Augustinians would engage in such efforts, most missions were established by the Jesuits or Franciscans. Certainly, for the Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus as they are properly known, American missions represented an extension of the Counter-Reformation for which they were created. Starting in the mid-16th century, this relatively new organization, founded in 1534, began in earnest to “reduce” the Indigenous peoples into their missions. These activities, however, abruptly ended when the Jesuits were expelled from both the Portuguese and Spanish empires in 1759 and 1767 respectfully. The much older Franciscan order had extensive experience in popular missions in Europe and was one of the first orders of regular clergy in the Americas. Franciscans, like the Jesuits, engaged in evangelizing activities throughout both North and South America from the colonial period to the present. The expulsion of the Jesuits, however, pushed them further to the forefront of missionizing efforts in the late colonial period. This acceleration of Franciscan missionary activity was aided by the establishment of the Apostolic Institute in 1682. The Institute created a pipeline of missionaries from Spain to come directly to frontier areas with funding from the crown. While this aided missionary efforts throughout South America, particularly in areas abandoned by the Jesuits, it embroiled the missionaries in the politics of the Bourbon reforms and their obsession with limited clerical power. Ultimately, while missionizing efforts continued into the Republican period, their association with the Spanish and Portuguese crowns led to widespread suppression and secularization following independence. The historiographical divide in the field tends to lie between usually older, Eurocentric histories by scholar-clerics which focus on the missionaries themselves, and newer studies carried out by more secular professional historians that examine how Indigenous populations were affected by the inherent imperialism of the missions, though exceptions abound.

Indios, Sambos, Mestizos, and the Social Construction of Racial Identity in Colonial Central America

Ethnohistory ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-290
Author(s):  
Samantha R. Billing
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Racial Origin ◽  
Colonial Policy ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Slaves ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Racially Mixed

Abstract The Miskitu, a group indigenous to the Caribbean Coast of Central America, have long been recognized for their racial diversity. In the mid-seventeenth century, a ship of African slaves wrecked on the Mosquito Coast and subsequently intermarried with the Miskitu population. Since then, there have been two groups of Miskitu: the “pure” indios and the racially mixed sambos. This article argues against this neat divide. Race during the colonial period was not fixed and could be influenced by a number of factors that included not only one’s ancestry but also their behavior. When Spanish writers assigned a racial category to the Miskitu, the context of the encounter often shaped perceived racial origin. When Miskitu-Spanish relations were hostile, Spaniards more often chose the racial label sambo. During times of peace, indio was more common, and mestizo was sometimes used to refer to Miskitu rulers. By focusing on the complexity and malleability of colonial racial rhetoric, this article argues that Spanish officials strategically selected racial labels for the Miskitu depending on the colonial policy they were trying to promote.

Human Mobility and Dietary Patterns in Precolonial Puerto Rico

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason E. Laffoon
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Dietary Patterns ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Dietary Practices ◽  
Isotope Data ◽  
Geographic Origins ◽  
Ceramic Age ◽  
Isotope System

The study presented in chapter 9 focuses on inferring patterns of human mobility and diet in ancient Puerto Rico from multiple isotope evidence. Strontium isotope results from a recent long-term, inter-disciplinary research project investigating human paleomobility from a Circum-Caribbean perspective indicate that human migrations occurred at varying scales: intra-island, inter-island, and mainland-island over time. These data are combined with published bone carbon and nitrogen isotope data from various precolonial sites in the Antilles and newly generated enamel carbon isotope data to explore the possible relationships between geographic origins and dietary practices amongst indigenous populations of the Caribbean. The increased interpretative power of such an integrated, multiple isotope approach will be highlighted by focusing on a well-researched burial population from the multiple component, Ceramic Age site of Maisabel, Puerto Rico. The explicit combination of isotope results with archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence permits comparative analysis of local and migrant groups within this population, and a more nuanced exploration of individual geographic origins than would be possible based on a single isotope system alone. In combination, the inferred mobility and dietary patterns have important implications for various archaeological hypotheses, assumptions, and models concerning Caribbean prehistory at multiple spatial and social scales.

Ethnic Hegemony and Problems of Inclusion in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago: Retrospect and Prospect

Itinerario ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-92
Author(s):  
Kelvin Singh
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
First Century ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Subsequent Disappearance

Ethnic hegemony has been the pattern of governance in the Caribbean since the first century of colonialism, with a small but powerful elite of European ancestry directly controlling the destiny of these territories until the 1960s, when a new African-based political hegemony developed. The conquest and subsequent disappearance of the native inhabitants, followed by the steady development of plantation economies on the basis of slave and contract labour, which in turn influenced heavily the emergence of a race-based system of social stratification in these colonies, are too well known to warrant repetition here. The main concern of this paper is to examine, in the context of ethnic and class formations, the political and social dynamics of the post-colonial period with a view to prognosticating probable developments in the ensuing decades of the twenty-first century.

The Anglo-Indian Community The Integration of a Marginal Group

1959 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen D. Grimshaw
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Natural Increase ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Indian Community ◽  
Native Populations ◽  
Original Size ◽  
Anglo Indian ◽  
European Women

The Anglo-Indian community of India is one of several hybrid Eurasian populations which have found themselves in precarious social positions in some of the newly independent Asian nations. Eurasian populations originated in early periods of colonial domination when European women were scarce, and grew over the years through natural increase and occasional mixed contacts. Their original size relative to the indigenous populations and policies of both governing European and native populations have determined whether they: (1) have been submerged in the numerically dominant local population (e.g., White Russians in China); (2) have attempted to return to the European countries of their male progenitors (e.g., Indos of Indonesia); or (3) have been forced to attempt the maintenance of social and cultural solidarity as permanent minorities (e.g., Ceylonese “Burghers” and the Anglo-Indians). Events of the contemporary nationalist revolution in Asia have increased public awareness of the problems of these minority groups.

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