Our ancestors were here: honouring SVG’s Kalinago and Garifuna heritage

August 9 is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. For St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it is a day to honour the Kalinago and Garifuna at the foundation of who we are.

Today, August 9, the world observes the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, a day that should carry special meaning for the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

For Vincentians, this is not simply an international observance about distant peoples and cultures. It is an opportunity to recognise, respect and celebrate an important part of our own history: the Kalinago and Garifuna people whose presence, resistance, culture and legacy are deeply woven into the story of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Long before European colonial powers claimed these islands, Indigenous peoples lived throughout the Caribbean. In St. Vincent, the Kalinago established communities, cultivated the land, travelled the Caribbean by canoe and defended their independence against European expansion.

Chatoyer and the Garifuna resistance

St. Vincent later became especially significant in the development of the Garifuna people, descendants of Indigenous Caribbean peoples and Africans whose communities grew on the island and fiercely resisted British colonial domination. That resistance is one of the most important chapters in Vincentian and Caribbean history.

The Garifuna, historically referred to as the Black Caribs, fought to preserve their land, freedom and way of life. Their resistance was so determined that St. Vincent remained one of the most difficult Caribbean territories for Britain to conquer.

Among the greatest symbols of that struggle is Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer, recognised today as a National Hero of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Chatoyer was not merely fighting a military battle. He was defending sovereignty, ancestral land, culture, dignity and the right of his people to determine their own future.

Exile, and a connection never erased

Following the defeat of the Garifuna resistance, thousands were forcibly removed from St. Vincent by British colonial authorities in 1797 and transported to Roatán, off the coast of present-day Honduras. From there, Garifuna communities eventually spread throughout Central America, particularly Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Yet their connection to Yurumein, the Garifuna name for St. Vincent, was never erased. More than two centuries later, Garifuna people throughout the Americas still look toward St. Vincent and the Grenadines as an ancestral homeland. That should mean something to every Vincentian.

This is Vincentian history

Our Indigenous heritage should not be remembered only during National Heroes Day or when discussing colonial history. It should be taught, researched, preserved and celebrated as part of our national identity. The names of our communities, our agricultural traditions, our knowledge of the land and sea, our foods, language influences, craftsmanship and cultural practices all carry pieces of a history that existed before colonial rule.

The day therefore gives St. Vincent and the Grenadines an opportunity to ask an important question: how much do we really know about the Kalinago and Garifuna foundations of our country?

Our children should know who Chatoyer was. They should understand why the Garifuna resisted European occupation. They should know that St. Vincent was once the centre of one of the Caribbean’s strongest Indigenous resistance movements, and that Garifuna communities stretching from Central America to the United States maintain ancestral connections to our islands. And they should understand that the history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines did not begin with European colonisation. It began long before.

More than ceremonies

Honouring Indigenous peoples requires more than ceremonies and statements. It requires preserving archaeological sites, strengthening the teaching of Indigenous history in our schools, supporting cultural research, protecting traditional knowledge and building stronger relationships with Garifuna communities throughout the diaspora. It also requires rejecting the idea that European colonial history represents the beginning of Caribbean civilisation.

Our ancestors were here. They organised communities here. They cultivated this land. They navigated these waters. They resisted conquest here. And many died defending their right to remain free.

On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, St. Vincent and the Grenadines should proudly honour the Kalinago and Garifuna people and acknowledge their extraordinary contribution to the history, identity and cultural inheritance of our nation.

Note: This is a signed commentary. Historical references, including Chatoyer’s recognition as National Hero, the 1797 exile of the Garifuna to Roatán, the spread of Garifuna communities through Central America, and Yurumein as the Garifuna name for St. Vincent, are drawn from the documented record of the Carib wars and the Garifuna diaspora.