Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover the West Indies islands. Colonists arrived a century later

The written testimony left by some Spanish historians, and European travelers of that age, is proof of the existence of an Indian vigorous civilization before Columbus’ arrival, at the end of the XV century. In fact, most of what we know about their life and customs come from those testimonies, and archaeological excavations.

However, these observations should be taken cautiously. With the only exception of Dominican monk, Bartolome de las Casas (l474-1566), who defended the Indian cause, the rest of Europeans, described them as savages, and that to christianize them, was very hard work. On the other side, there were others that idealized in excess their way of life, presenting them in utopian terms, contrasting with the decadent life in Europe. In her book about the conquest of America, Beatriz Pastor, tries to demonstrate that Europeans had two radical points of view about the Indians: wild cannibals or romantic primitives. In other means, they saw only what they wanted to see.

The Arawaks and the Caribbeans
Indians, basically, belonged to two different ethnic groups: Arawaks and Caribbeans, both coming from South America. It is believed that when the first of them established here, it was around the year of our Lord, or before. These indians, who lived in little agricultural communities, also fished, reached a high development degree. Each tribe was ruled by a cacique, and had its own laws and government system, based on patriarchal race. Their ceremony fields show that these tribes practiced complex games. They were experts building boats, allowing them to make long sea journeys.

The Caribbeans, even greater warriors, started traveling north a thousand years after the Arawaks. As they passed through the islands, they killed the Arawak men, and took their women for themselves. Among the European conquerors, a legend began, saying they used to eat their prisoners. These stories originated the word “cannibal”.

The European conquest and colonization caused the almost complete extermination of this civilization. In fact, during the XVI and XVII centuries, English and French soldiers, started genocide wars against natives. Now, only some Caribbean descendants live in a Dominica’s reserve.
The presence of Indians in the islands had two great consequences. The first was the flourishing of utopian European literature. Based on the writings of travelers, some European authors wrote books about a fantasy island, which they located in the Antilles or Southern seas, where life was a paradise. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) is the most representative example. The second consequence came when the natives rejected being turned into slaves. This fact, took Europeans to look for slaves in Africa.

Colonial Rivalry
The XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries were decisive in the history of the Little Antilles, because they were marked by endless wars and rivalries between European nations, the transformation of the islands in European colonies, the establishment of a sugar based economy, slavery, white man supremacy and slave revolts.

The Spaniards who took control of the West Indies, was quickly confronted by their rivals (England, France, Denmark and the Netherlands). Spanish hegemony was centered in the Great Antilles- Cuba, La Española and Puerto Rico-, where the biggest treasures were found.

The fact that in the Little Antilles, were discovered the first natural ports for invading fleets, explains that this region was, mostly, the scene of rivalries and wars between Europeans. It was a period of precarious political stability; because governments changed hands permanently, so the Indian population could wake up any morning, discovering they had new masters. Eric Williams, politician and historian of the West Indies, said it was a situation of “always in the middle”, referring to the continuous changes driving the islands to an uncertain future. A good example is St. Croix, which changed hands seven times in less than a hundred years, including a short period under the Malta knights.

The European powers saw their new tropical possessions, as the great opportunity to enrich the state systems that arose after the Catholic and Protestant reforms. Likewise, they wanted to weaken the Spanish influence in the New World, because for a great part of the XVI century, the Spaniards were sea lords. Their ships reached the Caribbean, to go back again filled with treasures. To end this monopoly, Sir Francis Drake, became the first corsair serving as monarch, in this case Elizabeth II of England.

Pirates and Buccaneers
The European chancelleries and war ministries continued using corsairs and buccaneers of all nationalities, many of them justice fugitives, and around the XVII century, they lived off of capturing and sacking Spanish ships.
Sir Henry Morgan (1635-1688) began his career as corsair at the service of England. Author of “Buccaneers and Pirates of America” (1674), wrote: “From the beginning of the American conquest, English, French, Portuguese, Swedes, Danes and men of all nationalities sailing, regularly, to the West Indies, have committed all kinds of robbery and piracy”.

The European governments finally dispensed corsairs and buccaneers, because they were becoming a threat for their own ships. In 1722, Governor Woodes Rogers ordered to attack the pirate fortress in New Providence, Bahamas, marking the end of an era.