On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on a small island he named San Salvador. Columbus believed he had reached the Indies—small islands off the coast of Asia, including what are now Indonesia and Malaysia. Columbus died believing he had reached the East by sailing west, but instead, he had discovered a “new world.”
The Islands of the Caribbean
San Salvador was one of the islands in the Caribbean Sea, a body of water between North America and South America. The islands of the Caribbean are part of the West Indies. The West Indies received their name because Columbus believed the native people of the Caribbean Islands were from the islands near India.
The Carib and the Arawak
The Caribbean Sea is named for the Carib, nomadic sea-faring warriors who lived in the region when Columbus arrived. The Carib fought with and displaced many of the Arawak people. Over time, men spoke the Carib language while many women continued to speak an Arawak dialect. The Carib were believed to have eaten the flesh of the people they defeated. The word cannibal derives from an Arawak term for the Carib.
European Exploration and Disease
Once word of a “new world” reached Europe, the British, French, and Dutch joined the Spaniards in the Caribbean. The newcomers brought with them diseases like measles and smallpox. The Europeans had been exposed to these diseases, so their bodies developed protection similar to a vaccine. When you receive a vaccine, a small portion of a virus is injected into your body. Your immune system then learns the disease and prepares for future infections. The native people of the Caribbean had no immunity to the European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox decimated their population.
Resources
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Mr. Donn has an excellent website that includes a section on the Caribbean.