1. Past and Present Central America and the Caribbean
Influences of the past
Past and Present Central America and the Caribbean

2. People of the Caribbean
In the Caribbean over the years, the need for workers has led to todays diverse population. Many people in the Caribbean are descendants of Africans who were brought to the islands as slaves.
Others today are mulattoes, people of both African and European descent.
In Central America, too, the past has influenced the present. Ancient native civilizations and colonial Spanish rule have had important effects on present-day life.

3. In the Caribbean…
At about the time the Aztecs controlled much of Mexico, 1300s & 1400s, 3 different groups lived in the Caribbean:
Arawaks
Caribs
Ciboneys

4. first settlers
The Ciboneys are thought to have been the first group in the islands.
They were followed by the Arawaks sometime between the years of 200 BC and 100 AD. The Arawaks settled mostly in the Greater Antilles.
Around 1300, the Caribs moved in the Caribbean from South America. They took over Arawak lands in the Lesser Antilles and adopted many of the Arawak culture traits. It is a mix of cultures that some people in the Caribbean today identify as their heritage.

5. Columbus discovers the Bahamas
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas. Within 10 years the Spanish built their settlement in the Caribbean on Hispaniola.
Soon, the search for gold and other riches attracted more people, who started colonies on Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.
Spanish colonist dug mines and set up plantations for commercial farming.
Commercial farming is growing of crops to be sold for profit.
They grew mainly sugarcane and sold sugar from it to traders in Europe. This “sweet gold” made many plantation farmers rich.

6. Slavery in the Caribbean
To get workers for the plantations, owners forced many of the Arawaks into slavery.
Slavery was not new to many cultures in the Americas, but the harsh working conditions of the plantations were.
When the Arawaks began dying, the owners looked for other workers.
First, they enslaved Arawaks and Caribs from the Lesser Antilles. Later, they bought Africans to work on the plantations as slaves.

7. Spanish Expansion
By the early 1600s, colonists from Denmark, England, France, and the Netherlands were starting settlements in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. They thought these islands were too small & too far away from the Spanish Caribbean empire in the Greater Antilles.
By the late 1600s, the Spanish government was beginning to fail, and the English and French took advantage of this and started taking over land in the Caribbean.
First, Spain lost Jamaica to England. Then, the French took Hispaniola.

8. Sugarcane brings big money/Slavery
The English and French realized that sugarcane could bring in more money than any other crop.
They also realized they needed more workers to run more successful commercial farms. So, the English and French turned to the African slave trade for these workers.
As the sugar production grew in the Caribbean, so did the African population.
Because of the slave trade, a large part of today’s Caribbean population can trace its heritage to Africa.

9. Supply vs. Demand
In the 1800s, sugar production grew so much that the supply was greater than the demand.
Sugar prices dropped and plantations closed. Plantation owners needed less workers. These conditions led some island in the Caribbean to abolish slavery.

10. What happened to the slaves?
With slavery abolished, there was a need for farmworkers, but farm owners did not want to hire former slaves because they did not want to pay wages to people who one had to work without pay.
Many owners hire indentured servants, people who agree to work for another person without pay for a certain amount of time in exchange for travel expenses.
Indentured servants came from China, India, Japan, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and West Africa.

11. Meanwhile, in central America…
Central America was home to many native groups for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived.
One of the most important groups was the Maya. The Mayan civilization built more than 100 cities in what are today the countries of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Some of the cities had populations of more than 100,000 people.

12. Mayan Descendants
Today, many descendants of the Maya live in Guatemala.
They wear traditional Mayan clothing, speak Mayan languages, and live in communities that follow the Mayan life.

13. Spanish missionaries
Spanish missionaries set up schools and converted many of the native people to the Roman Catholic religion.
As a result, most people of Central America today are Roman Catholic and speak Spanish.
Only in Belize is the official language English rather than Spanish. This is because Belize was once an English colony.

14. Subsistence Farming
Most people in Central America lived by subsistence farming. They grew only enough to feed their families. Today, most people in Central America still practice this type of farming.

15. Columbian Exchange
The blend of people and cultures in Central America is the result of a larger movement of people, animals, plants, and ideas between Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
This movement is known today as the Columbian exchange.
Many people believe it started in 1492 with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas and continued with the arrival of Europeans and Africans.

16. Columbian Exchange
The most important exchange that took place involved people.
The exchange of food is also a lasting legacy of the Columbia Exchange.
A legacy is anything handed down from an ancestor.
When the Spanish arrived, they brought a variety of food to Central America.
Among the foods from Europe were cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, melons, onions, and radishes.
The Spanish brought bananas, rice, and yams.

17. Columbian exchange
Bananas are Asians in origin and were first sent to the Americas from the Canary Islands.
Rice was also sent from Asia.
Yams were sent from Africa.
The most important contributions of the Americas to this worldwide exchange of food are potatoes and maize, a form of corn.

18. Columbian exchange
In addition to food, the Columbia exchange involved livestock, including cattle, pigs, and horses.
Most important for Central America was the arrival of pigs. Today, they are an important source of food for all of the people in the region.