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The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu Remembering How Anthony Bourdain Advocated for Latinos Published June 8, 2018, retrieved June 15, 2018 in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African people and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language.
The Garifuna are the descendants of Indigenous Arawak, Kalinago (Island Carib), and Afro-Caribbean people. The founding population of the Central American diaspora, estimated at 2,500 to 5,000 persons, were transplanted to Roatán from Saint Vincent, which was known to the Garinagu as Yurumein, in the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. Small Garifuna communities still live in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Garifuna diaspora abroad includes communities in Honduras, the United States, and Belize.
The Garifuna were historically known by the exonyms Caribs, Black Caribs, and Island Caribs. European explorers began to use the term Black Caribs in the 17th century. In the 18th century, English accounts used the terms Black Caribs and Yellow or Red Caribs to differentiate, with some ambiguity, two groups with a similar culture by their skin color. The British colonial use of the term Black Carib, particularly in William Young's Account of the Black Charaibs (1795), has been described in modern historiography as framing the majority of the Indigenous St. Vincent population as "mere interlopers from Africa" who lacked claims to land possession in St. Vincent.
In 1635 the Carib were overwhelmed by French forces led by the adventurer Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and his nephew Jacques Dyel du Parquet. Cardinal Richelieu of France gave the island to the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe, in which he was a shareholder. Later the company was reorganized as the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique. The French colonists imposed French Law on the inhabitants, and Jesuit missionaries arrived to convert them to the Catholic Church. "Institutional History of Martinique" , Martinique Official site, French Government (translation by Maryanne Dassonville). Retrieved 26 April 2007
Because the Kalinago resisted working as laborers to build and maintain the sugar and Theobroma cacao plantations which the French began to develop in the Caribbean, in 1636, Louis XIII proclaimed La Traité des Noirs. This authorized the capture and purchase of Slavery from sub-Saharan Africa and their transportation as labor to Martinique and other parts of the French West Indies.
In 1650, the company liquidated, selling Martinique to Jacques Dyel du Parquet, who became governor. He held this position until his death in 1658. His widow Mme. du Parquet took over control of the island from France. As more French colonists arrived, they were attracted to the fertile area known as Cabesterre (leeward side). The French had pushed the remaining Carib people to this northeastern coast and the Caravalle Peninsula, but the colonists wanted the additional land. The Jesuits and the Dominican Order agreed that whichever order arrived there first, would get all future parishes in that part of the island. The Jesuits came by sea and the Dominicans by land, with the Dominicans ultimately prevailing.
When the Carib revolted against French rule in 1660, Governor Charles Houël du Petit Pré retaliated with war against them. Many were killed; those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island. On Martinique, the French colonists signed a peace treaty with the few remaining Carib. Some Carib had fled to Dominica and Saint Vincent, where the French agreed to leave them at peace.
According to Young's report, the Africans aboard the shipwrecked vessels, largely from the Ibibio people ethnic group of modern-day Nigeria, survived the wreck and reached the island, living independently. Contrary to some historical accounts, these Africans were never enslaved and were not captured by the Caribs. Instead, they formed independent communities that gradually integrated with Indigenous peoples of the island. Over time, these Afro-Indigenous communities developed into the Garifuna people, a distinct cultural group with a unique language, traditions, and identity. Garifuna Research Hostal Garífuna Amandala News Garifuna reach: Historia de los garífunas. Posted by Itarala.
In addition to the African refugees, the Caribs captured enslaved people from neighboring islands (although they also had white people and their fellow Caribs as enslaved people), while they were fighting against the British and the French. Many of the captured enslaved people were integrated into their communities (this also occurred in islands such as Dominica). After the African rebellion against the Caribs, and their escape to the mountains, over time, according to Itarala, Africans would come down from the mountains to have sexual intercourse with Amerindian women - perhaps because most Africans were men - or to search for other kinds of food. The sexual activity did not necessarily lead to marriage. On the other hand, if the Maroons abducted Arauaco-Caribbean women or married them, is another of the contradictions between the French documents and the oral history of the Garinagu. Andrade Coelho states that "...whatever the case, the Caribs never consented to give their daughters in marriage to blacks".R. G. de Andrade Coelho, page. 37. Conversely, Sebastian R. Cayetano argues that "Africans were married with women Caribs of the islands, giving birth to the Garifuna".Ibidem, p. 66 According to Charles Gullick some Caribs mixed peacefully with the Maroons and some not, creating two factions, that of the Black Caribs and that of the Yellow Caribs, who fought on more than one occasion in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.Charles Gullick, "Ethnic interaction and carib language", page. 4. According to Itarala, many intermarried between Indigenous and African people, which was that which caused the origin of the Black Caribs.
In 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, Britain gained control over Saint Vincent following its defeat of France in the Seven Years' War, fought in Europe, Asia and North America. It also took over all French territory in North America east of the Mississippi River. Through the rest of the century, the Carib-African natives mounted a series of Carib Wars, which were encouraged and supported by the French.
Later, in 1795, the Caribs again rebelled against British control of the island, causing the Second Carib War. Despite the odds being against them, the Caribs successfully gained control of most of the island except for the immediate area around Kingstown, which was saved from direct assault on several occasions by the timely arrival of British reinforcements. British efforts to penetrate and control the interior and windward areas of the island were repeatedly frustrated by incompetence, disease, and effective Carib defences, which were eventually supplemented by the arrival of some French troops. A major military expedition by General Ralph Abercromby was eventually successful in defeating the Carib opposition in 1796.
After the war was concluded and the Caribs surrendered, the British authorities decided to deport the Caribs of St. Vincent. This was done to avoid the Caribs causing more slave revolts in St. Vincent. In 1797, the Caribs with African features were chosen to be deported as they were considered the cause of the revolt, and originally exported to Jamaica, and then they were transported to the island of Roatan in Honduras. Meanwhile, the Black Caribs with higher Amerindian traits were allowed to remain on the island. More than 5,000 Black Caribs were deported, but when the deportees landed on Roatan on April 12, 1797, only about 2,500 had survived the trip to the islands. After settling in the Honduras, they expanded along the Caribbean coast of Central America, coming to Belize and Guatemala to the north, and the south to Nicaragua. Over time, the Black Caribs would denominate in the mainland of Central America as "Garifuna".
The Garifuna language is an offshoot of the Arawak language, and it is spoken in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua by the Garifuna people. It is an Arawakan language with French, English, Dutch, African, and Spanish influences, reflecting their long interaction with various colonial peoples. Garifuna has a vocabulary featuring some terms used by women and others used primarily by men. This may derive from historical Carib practices: in the colonial era, the Carib of both sexes spoke Island Carib. Men additionally used a distinct pidgin based on the unrelated Carib language of the mainland.
Almost all Garinagu are bilingual or multilingual. They generally speak the official languages of the countries they reside in, such as Spanish or English, most commonly as a first language. Many also speak Garifuna, mostly as a cultural language, as a part of their families' heritage.
Through traditional dance and music, musicians have come together to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.
A complex set of practices exist in their traditional religion for individuals and groups to show respect for their ancestors and Bungiu (God) or Sunti Gabafu (All Powerful). A shaman known as a buyei is the head of all Garifuna traditional practices. The spiritual practices of the Garinagu have qualities similar to the voodoo (as the Europeans put it) rituals performed by other tribes of African descent. Mystical practices and participation such as in the Dugu ceremony and chugu are also widespread among Garifuna.
Garifuna people live in a matrilocal society, but the women are forced to rely on men for a steady income in order to support their families, because the few jobs that are available, housework and selling homemade goods, do not create enough of an income to survive on.Chernela, Janet M. Symbolic Inaction in Rituals of Gender and Procreation among the Garifuna (Black Caribs) of Honduras Ethos 19.1 (1991): 52–67. Although women have power within their homes, they rely heavily on the income of their husbands.
Although men can be away at work for large amounts of time they still believe that there is a strong connection between men and their newborn sons. Garifunas believe that a baby boy and his father have a special bond, and they are attached spiritually. It is important for a son's father to take care of him, which means that he must give up some of his duties in order to spend time with his child. During this time women gain more responsibility and authority within the household.
A 1997 study reported average Garifuna ancestry as approximately:
However, **some Garifuna populations show significantly higher Indigenous ancestry**, especially in communities closer to St. Vincent and parts of Central America:
Genetic testing of maternal lineages (mtDNA) shows that up to 46% of Garifuna carry Native American haplogroups such as A2 and C1, while paternal (Y-DNA) lineages are mostly of African origin. This supports a pattern of sex-biased admixture, where Indigenous women and African men were the primary ancestors of today's Garifuna population.
These findings highlight the complex admixture history of the Garifuna people, with Indigenous ancestry particularly elevated in areas with stronger historical ties to Native Caribbean populations.
Many of these Africans are believed to have arrived on the island of Saint Vincent through shipwrecks or as escapees from slavery on neighboring Caribbean islands. Others may have been brought by the Island Caribs themselves or born free on Saint Vincent. These individuals integrated with the local Indigenous populations, primarily the Island Caribs (Kalinago) and , forming a distinct Afro-Indigenous society.
Belizean anthropologist and Garifuna historian Sebastian R. Cayetano states that the African ancestors of the Garifuna were ethnically West African, "specifically of the Yoruba, Ibo Igbo, and Ashanti tribes, in what is now Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, to mention only a few."Garifuna History, Language, and Culture, p. 32.
French-Brazilian sociologist Roger Bastide noted that the northeastern region of Saint Vincent served as a refuge for free Africans who integrated into Carib society, particularly those of Yoruba, Fon, Fante-Ashanti, and Kongo origins.Roger Bastide. African Civilizations in the New World. London: Hurst, 1971, p. 77.
This African ancestry was primarily introduced through men, while maternal lineages were largely Indigenous, as confirmed by mitochondrial DNA studies showing high frequencies of Native American haplogroups such as A2 and C1.Jesús Muñoz Tábora (2025). 9789992633069, Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. . ISBN 9789992633069 Second Edition.
Historian Ruy Galvão de Andrade Coelho also observed that African individuals contributing to the formation of the Garifuna population came from Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Dahomey, the Congo region, and other areas of West Africa.Ruy Galvão de Andrade Coelho. Los negros caribes de Honduras, p. 36.
By the early 18th century, the population of Saint Vincent was already predominantly of African descent. Despite extensive cultural and familial blending between Africans and Indigenous Caribs, a distinct Indigenous group referred to by the British as "Red Caribs" continued to live alongside the Afro-Indigenous "Black Caribs" (Garifuna).
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