Migration of Garifuna

This chapter examines the causes and consequences of migrations as well as population expansions and reductions of the Garifuna (also known as the Black Caribs), and the Carib and Arawak Native Americans from South America to the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. In the 1600s, African slaves were brought by the British to the Lesser Antilles and admixed with Indigenous Native Americans to establish the Garifuna populations. British colonial takeover of St. Vincent (called Yurumein by the Garifuna) from the French resulted in conflict over land ownership with the Black Caribs, a war, and the forcible relocation of the Garifuna from St. Vincent to Baliceaux Island, Bay Islands, and eventually to the coast of Central America-- Honduras. From two founding communities established near Trujillo, Honduras, the Garifuna populations expanded through fission to form 54 villages distributed along the coast of Central America from Belize to Nicaragua. The evolutionary consequences of these migrations included an exceptional fertility in the founding populations, high genetic variability in some communities due to admixture between Native American and African populations, and resistance to malaria due to genes brought by the parental populations. The Garifuna provide an evolutionary success story driven by their unique history of migrations and genetic ancestry.

Taxonomy, ecology and distribution of the mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Dutch Leeward Islands, with a key to the adults and fourth instar larvae

Assessing mosquito biodiversity is important for disease surveillance and ecosystem health assessments. Such studies are particularly needed in regions like the Caribbean, which have experienced a series of recent mosquito borne disease outbreaks but received little attention regarding its invertebrate biodiversity. Here, we report on results from a mosquito survey on the Dutch Leeward Islands (Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Saba), carried out in April and October 2018, which is the first integrative survey since those conducted by Van der Kuyp (1947) and Wagenaar Hummelinck (1949). Moreover, we present a novel key for adults and fourth instar larvae of the mosquitoes of the Dutch Leeward Islands. Overall, eleven species were recorded, eight on Sint Maarten, five on Saba and two on Sint Eustatius. Two new potential disease vectors, Culex nigripalpus and Aedes taeniorhynchus, were recorded on Sint Maarten. One previously recorded species, Cx. habilitator, was not retrieved from any of the islands, which is further discussed in the paper. Species indicative of natural forest which previously occurred on all three islands were absent from Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten but still present on Saba. In contrast, species indicative of human inhabitation, Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, were highly abundant on Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius and present in low numbers on Saba. Overall, the results of this study emphasize the importance of biodiversity surveys and indicate that frequent mosquito inventories may contribute to a better understanding of mosquito community composition and distribution of potential vector species.

“Choicest of the Cargoe”

This chapter discusses the African slave trade to Antigua, one of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean. It examines the large-scale contours of the trade to Antigua over time. It also pays particular attention to the role of the Codrington family in the sale and distribution of enslaved Africans to Antigua and other parts of the Atlantic world. As this chapter illustrates, enslaved persons brought to the Leeward Islands by the Codringtons were enmeshed in a larger, interisland trade that linked Antigua to other plantation colonies in the region. Moreover, the Atlantic slave trade to Antigua was much larger than previously thought.

A catalogue of the Coleoptera of the Dutch Antilles

This paper presents a first critical review of the beetle species (Insecta: Coleoptera) reported from the (former) Dutch Antilles as well as a history of beetle collecting and collectors on the islands. The introductory section provides a concise overview of the location, climate, geology and vegetation of the six islands. The catalogue is concluded with miscellaneous additions, corrections and annotations to the published records of the other islands of the northern Leeward Islands, and a comprehensive bibliography. (ZooBank registration: http://zoobank.org/ E2D76464-5AAE-4D75-9AC5-CA119E65D72A