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Cannibal Encounters Timeline: Honors: 101 Class of: Nicholas Herz Amanda Frownfelter Andrew Parks Grace Peters Madeline Gray

[1492-1623]: European literary elite became familiar with Hispanic tales of horror about fierce man-eating opponents of European imperialism.

[1493]: Christopher Columbus sets out on the second voyage with the initial goal of obtaining the gold from the “cannibal” islands.

[1503]: The decision that the enslavement of the cannibals could proceed as long as the goal was to convert them to Christianity in the name of God. The act was reaffirmed by Ferdinand in 1511 and Charles I in 1525.

[1511]: King Ferdinand’s cedula, in truth a declaration of war, charged that Island Caribs inspired Indians to revolt against their Spanish masters.

[1512-1517]: Records indicate intense slave raids and colonization projects in the Lesser Antilles. Including the famous armada of Ponce de Leon in 1515

[1520]: A Spanish writer asserted that the term cannibal derived from canis, the Latin word for dog. Starting with Peter Martire d’Anghiera, European writers often compared Caribs to wolves preying upon the gentle lambs of the Arawak nation.

[1520s]: Carib raids on eastern Puerto Rico, apparently started as early as 1511, increased in momentum.

[1520]s: Gonzalo Fernandes de Oviedo stopped twice at Dominica in route to Hispaniola. Oviedo was enraged by the abominable sins of the Carib savages.

[1525]: Antonio Pigafetta’s account of the Magellan voyage described its encounter with “cannibals.” (The author insisted that Brazilian man-eating was a tribal-ritual rather than a craving for human flesh.)

[1530]s: Dominica became the official stopping place for Spanish vessels going to the Greater Antilles and main lands.

[1544]: Sebastian Munster’s Cosmographia and other sources pandered to the public thirst by endlessly recounting tales of the Caribs lifted from Martire, Oviedo, and in the case of Brazilian cannibals, accounts attributed to Americus Vespucci. The Cosmographia most effectively diffused the grotesque stories and illustrations of presumed Carib practices.

[1547]: Charles I made an exception regarding the “male” Carib warriors from the New Laws of 1542.

[1550]s: French “social scientists” were seeking explanations for the increasingly obvious diversity of human customs.

[1550]s: Hispaniola Phile, Richard Eden presented translations of parts of Martire, Oviedo, Gomara, and Munster. Most specifically the passages on the most bizarre Americans, the supposed Patagonian giants, and cannibals.

[1569]: The Spanish crown granted the colonists demands in which “Carib” females be subjected to enslavement.

[1570]: Spanish occupied Trinidad. Which they then supplied the Arawak enemies of all Caribs making war the normal relationship between the two.

[1577]: “The Decades of Martire” was translated by Richard Wiles and more completely by Michael Lok in 1612. This literature was especially important for the portrayal of the image of Caribs as inhuman monsters.

[1580s-1590s]: English interest of the Caribs was further whetted by the heroic exploits of Drake and Hawkins in the Caribbean and the Ralegh-sponsored expeditions to “Roanoke” and Guiana.

[1590s]: Caribs of St. Vincent and the Dutch established ties due to their mutual hostility towards the Spaniards and Arawaks in Trinidad.

[1605]: English pessimism increases after colonial setbacks in Guiana and St. Lucia and the contemporary situation in Jamestown in 1612.

[1613]: A combined foray of Dutch pirates and Carib bowmen seriously threatened Spanish settlers. This was rather important in demonstrating that contact with northern European groups could prove fruitful for the Spanish.

[1615]: An influential exponent of Acosta’s typologies, Pierre Davity, became available to English readers where the Caribs once again occupied the lowest rank in human societies.

[1619-1620]: A group of stranded Frenchmen spent some ten peaceable months among Martiniquan Caribs. This experience permitted the anonymous author of a manuscript to be remarkably free of ingrained prejudices against such strange peoples. [1620s]: The Dutch settled at St. Martins and Tobago. Tobago was as much a threat to Carib communications as Trinidad was, thus causing the Caribs to expel the Dutch.

[1623-25]: English and French settle at St. Christopher (modern St. Kitts), and soon other islands, causing much more difficult relationships with the Caribs. The era of good feelings rapidly comes to a close.

[1620s]: Europeans settled in the Lesser Antilles. The Europeans made the impulsive decision to colonize these islands because of extremely high tobacco prices. However, their colonization pushed the aborigines out. The aborigines (Caribs) were a people of the Caribbean that inhabited the Lesser Antilles.

[1624]: English traders and raiders returned in force to the Caribbean after the declaration of war overthrew what was to Englishman the ignominious Stuart pro-Spanish policy that had led among other outrages to the execution of Sir Walter Ralegh.

[1624]: Thomas Warner’s colonial expedition arrived at St. Christopher.

[1625-1628]: French and English “recruited” Island Caribs to be personal servants and food provisioners for their projected colony most likely due to the increasing economic misery in England and France.

[1625]: Caribs attacked the embryonic (early stage) English settlement.

[1628]: English began to occupy Nevis, Montserrat, and Antigua due to population pressures on St. Christopher.

[1635]: Cardinal Richelieu actively promotes missionary efforts in the Lesser Antilles.

[1635]: The French outgrew St. Christopher and began to settle Martinique. The French were another group of people that immigrated to the New World. However, they established better relationships with the Native People than other groups of immigrants. For example, the French and Natives would often intermarry.

[1636-41]: Colonists eliminating Caribs from Guadeloupe.

Late [1630’s]: European populations in the islands pressured for expansion. Windward Islands such as, Tobago, Grenada, and St. Lucia, Barbuda, Marie Galante, St. Martins, and several smaller “leeward” islands were the focus of Dutch, English, and French initiatives. [1640]: An English effort, backed by Duke of Warwick, to settle Tobago failed because of Indian raids, and when the colonists escaped to Trinidad, Carib pressure forced them to leave.

[1640]: Caribs drove English from St. Lucia. During the 1400’s: Poincy obtained St. Christopher and its dependencies Charles Houel, governor of Guadeloupe since 1643, purchased that island as well as Marie Galante, while Du Parquet acquired Martinique, St. Lucia, Grenada, and the Grenadines.

[1642]: A second Warwick-sponsored effort to Tobago was also unsuccessful.

[1647]: Population of Caribs at island of Dominica was at roughly 5,000 due to Europeans expelling them from their homes (St. Christopher, Guadeloupe, etc.)

[1648]: The bankrupt Company of the Islands of America started selling its islands to its governors. Du Parquet bought St. Lucia from the Company of Islands

[1653]: Du Parquet allowed the establishment of a Jesuit mission at the Carob stronghold of St. Vincent.

[1653]: Carib forces wiped out the tiny French settlement of Marie Galante out of retaliation for abusing Carib women

[1654]: Full-scale war between Caribs and French broke out (French-Island Carib conflict)

[1655]: Oliver Cromwell dramatically refocuses English goals in the Caribbean to the Non-Carib island of Jamaica.

[1656]: French abandon St. Lucia

[1657]: Caribs seriously threaten French settlements at Grenada.

[1659]: French and English islands convoked by Poincy concluded a treaty of alliance against all Island Caribs.

[1660]: The islands settled down to peace. “Indian” Warner and his Caribs traveled to Antigua to make peace.

[1660]: Jesuit missionaries return to St. Vincent. During the 1660s: Relations with Caribs began to become published more than previous times. [Post 1660s]: French sought to maintain good relations with Caribs by sending annual gifts and sending missionaries.

[1663]: Charles II appointed Lord Willoughby as governor-general of all the islands.

[1663-65]: Aggressive English initiatives ruptured Euro-Carib peace.

[1664]: Some aborigines of St. Vincent responded violently to an ambitious English colonial enterprise at St. Lucia, an island then occupied by a small number of Caribs and French.

[1664]: Some one thousand Barbadians under a Colonel Caron, accompanied by 600 Caribs led by “Indian” Warner, evicted the French without a blow. This was due to Willoughby’s ambitious plan for the island, St. Lucia. Willoughby’s coup inaugurated a new era of English-French and Euro-Carib relations.

[1664]: French fleet brings the new lieutenant-general for America, Alexander Prouville de Tracy.

[Late 1665 Early 1666]: French and English island authorities put forward propositions to lessen tensions in a document. Negotiations fell through when French thought their influence at Dominica could only be acquired in accordance with the principal chiefs, not the English.

[August 11, 1665]: War between the English and the French breaks out

[1665]: “Indian” Warner returns to Dominica to unite the Caribs against the French He revealed Tracy’s plan to garrison the island, which led to capture of “Indian” Warner.

[1666]: Louis XIV reluctantly agreed to join his unloved ally, the Dutch, in a war against England.

[1666]: Charles II accidental death.

[1666]: English captured Baba at St. Vincent.

[1666]: Translation of “Rochefort” by John Davies provided English audiences with a more complex and predominantly favorable picture of these maligned people.

[1667]: Arrival of Sir John Harmand and his powerful squadron allowed the English to recover all of their islands except St. Christopher. The Treaty of Breda restored England’s half of St. Christopher.

[1667]: In the Antilles, and governor-general received authority over each of the particular island governors and was the supreme military commander.

[1668]: Willoughby moved against intransigeant Island Caribs. He vowed to protect his islanders “from the attacks of the Indians who yet are the French stalking horse.

[1670]: Treaty of Madrid: Charles II made peace with Spain

[1671]: Council on Plantations recommended a separate government for the Leeward Islands of St. Christopher, Nevis, Antigua, and Montserrat. This was due to constant complaints from Leeward planters and interested London merchants about Barbados’s purported hostility towards these islands.

[1672-78]: Dutch War. Louis XIV admonished island officials to foster cooperation with his new allies, the English.

[1673]: Death of William Lord Willoughby

[1674]: Failure of West India Company (W.I.C) and establishment of direct royal rule. After this debacle, an intendant-general administered financial and police affairs. This dual-system of authority worked better in France.

[1675-76]: Idealistic Stuart-sentiments were severely tested by Amerindian hospitality toward English rule in New England (King Philip's War), Virginia (Bacon’s Rebellion), and in the Leewards.

[February 8th, 1675]: William Stapleton wrote a letter announcing almost casually that he sent a revenge party against Dominica, an island not under his jurisdiction.

[1675]: Antiguan group destroys Warner’s men.

[1686]: Treaty of Neutrality came into effect. Short-lived

[1688]: Both, St. Vincent and Dominica aborigines retained formal control of their islands, and prevented European occupation of strategic St. Lucia.

[1660s-1688]: Paris and London became power players in the Antillean affairs.

[1670s]: Various committees (Council on Plantations [1670-72], Council on Trade and Plantations [1672-75], and the Lords of Trade [1675]) met at regular intervals to handle colonial correspondence and to advise the Privy Council on important issues. These instruments were only infrequently used to assert royal control.

[1683]: Intendant Michel Begon gave an estimate of only 600 Caribs in Dominica. [1689]: Phillip Warner died a respected and prosperous gentleman [1688]: William and Mary ascend to the English throne.

[1689-1815]: The Second Hundred Years War between France and Britain.

[1689]: French planters easily routed the English at St. Christopher. In part because they used slaves to fire enemy plantations and terrorize the inhabitants.

[1689]: Caribs were reported to have attacked the Canadian frontier, killing six and taking three prisoner.

[1692]: Du Maitz de Goimpy rushed presents to St. Vincent to counter a Barbadian proposal of a “treaty.”

[1693]: Codrington took one thousand men from the Leewards to attack Martinique. The Codrington Offensive (1690-93) failed mainly due to lack of naval support and threaten to rupture French-Carib ties. [1690]s: Father Labat toured Dominica estimating that 2,000 aborigines lived there but with a preponderance of women and children. In 1713, a French memoir marked that only 400-500 Caribs. By 1730, another source claimed only 400 individuals remain, but by 1749, that number had decreased to 40 or 50 individuals. St. Vincent paralleled this decline.

[1690-1720]: Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. Opened an era of profound intellectual transformation. Given the absence of primitivist ideas there prior to the Restoration, it is somewhat surprising that tributes to the noble savage emerged as an increasingly important if fanciful aspect of literature from the 1660s.

[1697]: Treaty of Ryswick: merely a truce.

[1699]: Ralph Grey reported that an English wood-cutting ship saw French settlers with African slaves

[1699]: Two armed sloops under a Barbadian councillor named Tobias Frere appeared at Dominica. Frere breached the treaty of 1660 unknowingly.

[1700s]: The work of missionaries in conjunction with the frequent trade contacts made pidgin French something of a lingua franca among the aborigines.

[1700]: Governor-general d’Amblimont intervened in the growing discord between the Black Caribs and the Caribs at St. Vincent.

[Late 1700s]: English historian of the Caribbean, Bryan Edwards presented a more balanced and nuanced analysis of the savage life. In summary, very few selection of 18th century work display a negative depictions of Island Carib culture.

[1701]: Jesuits got permission to abandon their missionary efforts at St. Vincent

[1702-13]: War of Spanish Succession

[1706]: Sir Bevill Granville, Governor of Barbados, tried to help Black Caribs “shake off their dependence on the French.”

[1707]: Conclusion of war: English maintained good relations with the Caribs.

[1713]: Treaty of Utrecht. French archives were silent about this.

[1714]: The central government ordered the removal of all French interlopers from Dominica and St. Lucia.

[1719]: French island officials concluded a treaty with the hard pressed “Yellow” Caribs.

[1719]: The regent granted Marshall d’Estrees the island of St. Lucia.

[1722]: Nathaniel Uring set sail and landed safely at St. Lucia.

[1723]: Slow trickle of French settlers to St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Dominica gradually grew. Over 300 lived there by the late 1720s, so many that a governor-general was commissioned there.

[1730]: Local French potentate, Le Grand, cajoled the Caribs by threats, war, and liberal handouts into accepting a large and permanent French presence.

[1730-1764]: French presence grew rapidly at Dominica, and taking parallel actions at St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

[1744-48]: Austrian Succession War- French and British fought. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored the status quo ante.

[1763]: “Yellow” Caribs in Dominica and St. Vincent numbered only about 200. They received no mention in the Treaty of Paris (1763).

[1763]: Treaty of Paris gave British control of the Neutral Islands: Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago.

[1794]: French Convention’s abolition of slavery.

[1805]: “Yellow” Caribs received pardons, but were removed from their fertile, southern lands to infertile, northern lands of St. Vincent. During the “Heroic Age” both nations forcibly removed Caribs from many choice islands.

However, even during the period of struggle, French missionaries with Island Caribs that helped mend many wounds. The evolution of French relations with the Caribs provided a context that allowed the cultivation of comparatively sympathetic images of these “cannibals” to compete with the ignoble savages canon derived from Columbus, Martire, and the Spanish chroniclers. In the period of conquest and colonization, which can only be characterized as brutal, missionaries anxious to support settlements in these islands and to secure monetary help from the pious at home created a more humane picture of these aborigines. These authors provided French readers the materials used to question imbedded stereotypes.

Honorable Mentions:

1.) C.S.S. Higham.    2.) Vincent Harlow. 3.) Edmund Spenser.    4.) William Shakespeare. 5.) Pierre de Ronsard.    6.) François Joseph Paul de Grasse. 7.) George Brydges Rodney.    8.) Samuel Johnson. 9.) William Robertson.   10.) James Boswell. 11.) Daniel Defoe.   12.) Joseph-François Lafitau. 13.) Jean Bodin.   14.) Alain Mallet. 15.) Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet.   16.) Claude Adrien Helvétius. 17.) Guillaume Thomas Raynal.   18.) Jean de La Fontaine. 19.) Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux.   20.) Jean de la Bruyère. 21.) Samuel Purchas.   22.) Michel de Montaigne. 23.) John Locke.   24.) Samuel Clarke. 25.) John Ogilby.   26.) George I.    27.) Louis XIII.    28.) Louis XV. 29.) Michel Bégon.   30.) Nathaniel Johnson.