Kalinago territory
"Carib Reserve" "Carib Territory" | |
|---|---|
District | |
 Location of the Kalinago Territory | |
| Coordinates: 15°29′24″N 61°15′12″W / 15.49000°N 61.25333°W | |
| Country | Dominica |
| Parish | Saint David |
| Established | 1903 |
| Government | |
| • Chief | Anette Sanford |
| Area | |
• Total | 15 km2 (9 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 2,112 |
| • Density | 140/km2 (230/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−04:00 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−03:00 (EDT) |
The Kalinago Territory, previously known as the Carib Reserve or Carib Territory (outdated/derogatory),[2][3][4][5] is a 3,700-acre (15 km2) district in the Caribbean island country of Dominica. It was established for the Indigenous Kalinago people who inhabited the region prior to European colonization and settlement.
The Kalinago Territory was officially formed by British colonial authorities in 1903, in a remote and mountainous area of Dominica's Atlantic coast. Its population remained largely isolated from the rest of the island throughout most of the 20th century, with only a ceremonial chief and no other formal self-governance. On September 19, 1930 the rights of the Indigenous Kalinago were infringed upon in an incident called the "1930's Kalinago Uprising." The skirmish occurred at a shop in St. Cyr, one of the eight hamlets, when colonial law enforcement attempted to seize the goods of the people dubbing it as "smuggling." The Kalinago people who traded craft and their own produce with neighbouring islands to support their livelihoods for generations, were suddenly denied their right to trade as Indigenous people during hard economic times due to a recent devastating hurricane. This decision from the colonial law enforcement was met with resistance and resulted in multiple Kalinagos being injured and two Kalinagos shot dead by the police. The people were met with great injustice, and the Chief at that time, Chief Jolly John was wrongfully imprisoned and stripped of his title. The post of chief was abolished for a number of years following the incident. The Chief was reinstated in 1952, and formalized local government was instituted the same year as part of an island-wide system. The "Carib Reserve Act", enacted the year of Dominica's independence in 1978, reaffirmed the Kalinago Territory's boundaries, its land management, and institutions of local government. In the last decades of the 20th century, modern utilities and infrastructure were finally introduced to the Kalinago Territory, which also established contacts with foreign governments and other indigenous peoples in the region.
The present population of the Kalinago Territory is estimated around 3,000 Kalinago people. Legal residents share communal ownership of all land within the Territory. The Kalinago Territory has limited local government in the institutions of the Kalinago Council, and its head the Kalinago Chief, which are the equivalent in power of village councils and council chairpersons elsewhere in Dominica. The administrative centre is in Salybia, the largest of eight hamlets in the Kalinago Territory.
A modern movement in the Kalinago Territory has supported the rediscovery and preservation of Kalinago culture. This has been fueled in part by Dominica's tourist industry. A model Kalinago village was established in the Territory in 2006. Cultural preservation groups stage performances at the model village and other locations, and practice traditional Kalinago crafts, such as making baskets and pottery, that are sold to tourists as souvenirs.
Category 5 Hurricane Maria (which would later strike Puerto Rico) made a direct hit onto Kalinago Territory in September 2017 causing severe damage to the territory, leaving residents in need. Electricity, Internet, and wired telephone service became unavailable in the territory and were expected to remain so for several months.
- ^ "Kalinago Territory Population and Housing 2011" (pdf). Central Statistics Office of Dominica. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
- ^ "BBCCaribbean.com | Kalinago please". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
Those vigorously promoting the use of Kalinago say the name Carib is laden with derogatory connotations, and its use does not foster a sense of ethnic pride "among the Kalinago people".
- ^ "From Carib to Kalinago". The Sun. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
In all fairness Carib served as a derogatory connotation given by white conquerors that even extended the insult to label the Kalinagos cannibals.
- ^ Office of the Kalinago Council (15 November 2010). "NAME CHANGE: It's now unofficially 'Kalinago'". Dominica News Online. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
The term "Carib" has its roots in colonial times, first utilized to refer to the indigenous people of Dominica as cannibals, and is laden with derogatory connotations. Accordingly its continued use does not foster a sense of ethnic pride among the Kalinago people, and hinders attempts to increase the awareness and appreciation of Kalinago people and their contributions by the Dominican community-at-large.
- ^ Stone, Erin (2017-12-11), "Chasing 'Caribs': Defining Zones of Legal Indigenous Enslavement in the Circum-Caribbean, 1493–1542", Slaving Zones, Brill, pp. 118–147, ISBN 978-90-04-35648-1, archived from the original on 2023-06-21, retrieved 2023-11-02 "The Spaniards would use the specter of cannibalism, and the label of “Carib,” to justify genocide of Indigenous peoples across the Caribbean and South America for decades to come."