Kalinago

The Kalinago are an Indigenous people of the eastern Caribbean, historically called Island Caribs in European sources. Their communities maintain distinct cultural traditions and a continuing presence, especially in Dominica.

Island Caribs: A historical name used in European sources for Indigenous peoples of the Lesser Antilles. This colonial label was applied to Kalinago communities and often obscured their own identity.
Kalinago Territory: A legally recognized Indigenous territory on Dominica’s northeast coast. Its institutions and land base anchor contemporary Kalinago collective life.
Kalinago language: An Indigenous language of the eastern Caribbean, historically documented by European missionaries. Language evidence helps distinguish Kalinago self-understanding from labels imposed in colonial accounts.
Treaty of 1660: An agreement between English and French authorities that designated Dominica and Saint Vincent as neutral Indigenous territories. The treaty recognized a boundary around islands where Kalinago communities resisted European settlement.
Taíno: An Indigenous people of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas at the time of European arrival. Kalinago history is often compared with Taíno histories of Indigenous Caribbean societies.
Joseph Chatoyer: An Indigenous leader who fought British forces in Saint Vincent during the late eighteenth century. His resistance is associated with the wider history of Island Carib communities.
Carib language: An Indigenous language of the Caribbean region, also known through historical records as Island Carib. Historical linguistic sources use this name for language associated with Kalinago communities.
Carib Wars: Conflicts between Indigenous Island Carib communities and European colonial powers in the Lesser Antilles. These wars mark sustained Kalinago resistance to expanding colonial control.
Arawakan languages: A large language family distributed across parts of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Kalinago language history is connected to the wider Arawakan linguistic world.
Garifuna: An Afro-Indigenous people descended in part from Island Carib and Arawak communities in Saint Vincent. Garifuna identity preserves a related Island Carib heritage shaped by a distinct history.

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