|
Leeward Islands history - learn what once happend
When European explorers first traveled to the New World, there were primarily two races of American Indians living in the Caribbean: the Tanos (often called Arawaks), who originally settled in the Windwards and Leewards and eventually inhabited the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas; and the Caribs who came from Venezuela in South America and lived throughout the Lesser Antilles. History tells us that before both of those groups, the Ciboneys came to the Caribbean islands nearly four or five thousand years ago. The Tanos (which translates to "peace") began populating the region around a few hundred years B.C. European explorers noted separate Arawak tribes occupied several islands: the Borinquens were in Puerto Rico and the Lucayans inhabited the Bahamas, while other Tanos were on the islands of Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Cuba. Eventually, the Carib tribesmen began systematically forcing the Tanos off the islands. However, it was the Spaniard explorers who ultimately exterminated the Tano. During their quest for gold, the Spaniards eradicated the tribe in fewer than fifty years. The conquistadors sent the Tano to South Africa to work in the gold mines and pearl beds, but many Tanos committed suicide to escape this enslavement. The gold plundering continued until 1521 when larger reserves were discovered in Mexico. Columbus first sighted the Leeward Islands in 1493, but settlement began only after the British arrived in the 17th cent. Sir Thomas Warner, sent to St. Kitts in 1623, was made governor-general of the yet uncolonized neighboring islands (Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, and Barbuda), and in the same year the Frenchman Pierre Blain d'Esnambuc also established a colony on St. Kitts. By 1632, when the English had settled the neighboring islands, the sharp, three-way colonial conflict of England, France, and Spain had begun. The Spanish were forced from the struggle, but for nearly two centuries the islands were pawns in the Anglo-French worldwide wars. They changed hands with each fresh attack by British or French forces and were reshuffled in ownership whenever a new treaty was signed. Their final disposition did not come until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
|
|
Leeward Islands Vacations site
Our company is running one of the largest pc and mobile travel website networks, covering top hotel, vacation package, airline ticket, beach, cruise, all inclusive and honeymoon destinations worldwide.
We will also run a travel blog portal which centralises the blogs posted by our visitors on all of our websites and which represents one of the world's best travel information resources, totally build by people such as yourself.
In the link section, you can check more links to our travel website network as well as to other third party specialized websites as lastminute.com or orbitz.com which we suggest you to visit if are you planning a trip to Leeward Islands .
|
