Kalinago people

Island Carib

Kalhíphona
Carib family (by John Gabriel Stedman 1818)
Total population
(3,000 )
Regions with significant populations
Dominica, formerly throughout the Lesser Antilles
Languages
English, Dominican Creole French, formerly Island Carib language
Related ethnic groups
Garifuna, Black Carib, Taíno

The Island Caribs, also known as the Kalinago or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have descended from the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language known as Island Carib.

At the time of Spanish contact, the Caribs were one of the dominant groups in the Caribbean, which owes its name to them. They lived throughout the Windward Islands, Dominica, and possibly the southern Leeward Islands. Historically, it was thought their ancestors were mainland Caribs, known as the Igneri. The Igneri had conquered the islands from their previous inhabitants, However, linguistic and archaeological evidence disputes the notion of a mass emigration and conquest; the Island Carib language appears not to have been Cariban, but Arawakan like that of their neighbors, the Taíno. Irving Rouse and others suggest that a smaller group of mainland Caribs conquered the islands without displacing their inhabitants, eventually adopting the local language but retaining their traditions of a South American origin.

In the early colonial period, the Caribs had a reputation as warriors who raided neighboring islands. It was claimed that they practiced cannibalism – the word "cannibal" derives from a corruption of their name. According to the Spanish conquistadores, the Carib Indians were cannibals who regularly ate roasted human flesh. Archaeological evidence indicates that they limited the consumption of humans to ceremonial occasions. There is evidence as to the taking of human trophies and the ritual cannibalism of war captives among both Carib and other Amerindian groups such as the Arawak and Tupinamba. Today, the Caribs and their descendants continue to live in the Antilles. The Garifuna or " Black Caribs," a group of mixed Carib and African ancestry, also live principally in Central America.