Unit 4 - 3 vwo

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 3

Unit 4 - 3 vwo - The Caribbean

Which of these is NOT in the Caribbean

1. Aruba
2. Puerto Rico
3. Barbados
4. Sint Maarten

Caribbean countries

Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Aruba - Bahamas, The - Barbados - British Virgin Islands - Cayman Islands - Cuba - Dominica -Dominican Republic - Grenada - Guadeloupe - Haiti - Jamaica - Martinique - Montserrat - Netherlands Antilles (curacao, bonaire, Aruba, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Saba)   - Puerto Rico - Saint Barthelemy - Saint Kitts & Nevis - Saint Lucia - Saint Martin (French part) - Saint Vincent - Trinidad & Tobago - Turks & Caicos Islands - US Virgin Islands

Who colonised the Caribbean?

The four main colonial powers in the Caribbean were the Spanish, English, Dutch, and French. Other countries that held possession of various islands at different times were Portugal, Sweden, and Denmark.

Which is NOT an official language in the Caribbean?

1. French
2. English
3. Spanish
4. Portuguese

How many (and which) are official languages in The Caribbean?

Slavery in the Caribbean

Columbus claimed many of the Caribbean islands for Spain. For much of the 16th century, Spain had things pretty much its own way in the region. From the early 17th century, however, people from other European powers, including France and England, settled in the region too. 

The English settled in 1624 Barbados, Montserrat and Antigua in 1627 and Nevis in 1628. Around the same time, France established colonies in Martinique and Guadeloupe. In this way, the Caribbean came under the control of a number of competing European countries, joining Spain, which had established its first colonies in the region more than a hundred years before.

The spread of sugar ‘plantations’ in the Caribbean created a great need for workers. The planters increasingly turned to buying enslaved men, women and children who were brought from Africa. 

Some 5 million enslaved Africans were taken to the Caribbean, almost half of whom were brought to the British Caribbean (2.3 million).

 

As planters became more reliant on enslaved workers, the populations of the Caribbean colonies changed, so that people born in Africa, or their descendants, came to form the majority. 

Their harsh and inhumane treatment was justified by the idea that they were part of an inferior ‘race’. Indeed, complicated ways of categorising race emerged in the Caribbean colonies that placed ‘white’ people at the top, ‘black’ people at the bottom and different ‘mixed’ groups in between. Invented by white people, this was a way of trying to excuse the brutality of slavery.

The system of slavery began to be dismantled in the early 19th century. The enslaved people were given their freedom – or ‘emancipated’ – in the British Caribbean in the 1830s. 

A system called ‘Apprenticeship’ was put in place from 1834 to 1838 across most of the Caribbean; this was intended to provide a transition to freedom for the former enslaved people and the planters who relied on their labour. Even after Apprenticeship was ended, things remained very unequal.

In what year were the slaves freed in the Caribbean?

1. 1834
2. 1840
3. 1935
4. 1961

What is a steel pan?

1. A pan for cooking caribbean dishes
2. A barbecue
3. A caribbean steel drum
4. A television dish (tv schotel)

A brief history of the steel pan

Amid the electronica of 20th Century music one new instrument stands out for its simplicity. The steel pan, possibly the only instrument made out of industrial waste, has become an icon of Trinidadian & Caribbean culture.

Hammered into the shiny metal surface is a series of dents. Each one creates a different note, subtly different from the ones around it, according to their position and size.

The steel pan emerged in the 1930s. Metal objects including car parts, paint pots, dustbins, oil drums and biscuit tins, were originally used as percussion instruments, but at some point they began to be tuned.

The history of Trinidadian street music goes back centuries.

 

When French planters arrived in Trinidad in the late 1700s they brought with them a carnival tradition - and their slaves formed their own festival, fuelled by drum music.

After emancipation in 1834 the celebrations became noisier and more colourful, though after disturbances in 1881 the British government tried to ban the performers' sticks and drums. 

Why? Out of fear that they were being used to communicate secret messages. More melodic instruments were introduced to the parades and celebrations by the colonialists, to replace the drumming. Luckily, the steel pan gradually made its return.

Steel pans made from industrial waste

Why did the British Government ban the playing of the Steel pans?

1. They wanted to clean up the oil barrels.
2. As they were used for secret messages.
3. They needed the steel.
4. They wanted to hear other music.

Your turn

Now, in class: do exercises 1 and 2 of Unit 4, Lesson 1 and exercise 2, 5 and 9 of lesson 2. This is also homework.