Lesser Antilles

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The earliest Archaic Age habitation is evidenced at archaeological sites like St. John and Banwari Trace in Trinidad, dating between 7700 and 6100 B.P. Artifacts from this period include stone and bone tools used for hunting and fishing. A total of 29 Archaic Age sites have been identified in Trinidad and Tobago, associated with the Ortoiroid people. During the Late Archaic Age, crops such as maize, sweet potatoes, achira, and chili peppers had been imported and cultivated from the continent. Notably, all known Archaic Age sites are in the northern islands, with no evidence in the Windward Islands south of Guadeloupe. Archaeological findings, including Huecoid and Saladoid pottery, provide radiocarbon dates for Early Ceramic Age sites, pointing to an initial sphere of interaction between coastal South America and the northern Lesser Antilles that started around 400–200 BC. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive with Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage. He called the first island he discovered on this trip the Deseada. Over the next centuries, the Spanish, French, Dutch, Danish and English fought over several of the islands. In 1917 the United States bought the Danish West Indies. In 1986 Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles, officially becoming a country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 2010 the rest of the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved to form smaller entities. On July 18, 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano on the southern part of Montserrat became active. The eruptions destroyed the capital of Plymouth. Between 1995 and 2000, two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee, mainly to the UK, leaving less than 1,200 people on the island in 1997 (rising to almost 5,000 by 2016).

Reader's Guide

The Lesser Antilles are divided into three groups: the Windward Islands in the south, the Leeward Islands in the north, and the Leeward Antilles in the west. The Windward Islands are so called because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds blow east to west. The islands' dominant Indigenous peoples were the Kalinago. The boundary set between them and other groups is known as the 'poison arrow curtain,' named after the Kalinago's favoured weapon for fending off Europeans that came to conquer the islands in the 16th century. The archipelago is politically divided into eight sovereign states—all of which were formerly part of the United Kingdom—and 17 non-sovereign, partly self-governing dependencies of France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, or Venezuela. Geologically, the Lesser Antilles more or less coincide with the outer cliff of the Caribbean plate. Many of the islands were formed as a result of the subduction of oceanic crust of the South American plate under the Caribbean plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. The Lesser Antilles experience a tropical maritime climate, with average coastal readings ranging between 26°C and 30°C.

Did You Know?

• The boundary between the Kalinago and other Indigenous groups was known as the 'poison arrow curtain,' named after the Kalinago's favoured weapon for fending off Europeans in the 16th century.
• The earliest Archaic Age habitation in the region is evidenced at sites in Trinidad dating between 7700 and 6100 B.P.
• On July 18, 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat became active, destroying the capital Plymouth and forcing two-thirds of the population to flee by 2000.
• In 1493, on his second voyage, Christopher Columbus called the first island he discovered the Deseada.
• The Lesser Antilles experience a tropical maritime climate with average coastal temperatures between 26°C and 30°C year-round.