NOTE – KALINAGOS: ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION

Caribbean History

Arima North Secondary School Teacher: Ms. M. Seaton

Term I Form: 4:3

TOPIC: KALINAGOS: ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION

ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF THE KALINAGOS

FARMING
 Domestication of Plants
 Domestication of Animals

Domestication of Plants

The Kalinago were subsistence farmers.

The Kalinago grew cassava, yam, sweet potato, plantain, maize, arrowroot and other
root crops. Arrowroot was an important crop to the Kalinago because of its starch
content.
They also grew tobacco and cotton. Cotton was spun into small strips of cloth. They
also made strings for fishing and making hammocks.
The Kalinago planted crops wherever they pleased since most of the islands they
occupied were free from other tribes.
Usually, they made their farming plots some way from the village.
The men burned the trees and bushes and cleared the land, while the women
planted the crops and tended to them.
Their agricultural practices similar to those of the Taino. They carried out slash and
burn agriculture.

Domestication of Animals
The only domestic animal known to the Taino and the Kalinagos was a small
barkless dog which was fattened on maize meal and then eaten as a great delicacy.

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DIVISION OF LABOUR
The men burned the trees and bushes and cleared the land, while the women
planted the crops and tended to them.

HUNTING
The Kalinago hunted with bows and arrows, not just to get food but also as sport. For
this they used arrows made from slender reeds with tips made of sharp wooden
heads. These were different from the arrows used for war.
There were no large wild animals to hunt but the indigenous Amerindians trapped
many small animals including snakes, bats, lizards, iguanas, conies, rabbits and
agouti.
Birds were snared or trapped in finely nets strung between trees. As well as parrots,
doves and wild ducks there were other birds which were now extinct or very rare.

FISHING
Fishing was even more important than hunting and farming to the Kalinagos.
The canoes made by the Kalinago were of two kinds, and were not very different
from those of the Tainos which were carved from the whole tree trunks.
The smaller craft, the couliana, was about twenty (20) feet long and pointed at both
ends. This type was used for fishing close to the shore and could only hold a few
people.
The bigger boat was called canoua. These were about fifty (50) feet long and could
carry thirty to forty people. These vessels were dug out of logs and stretched by fire
and soaked with water to make the wood expand. It was in the larger canoes that
the Kalinago went to attack other islands and made long fishing trips.
The canoes were rowed with flat paddles shaped like spades. A long pole was used
to guide the craft carefully over reefs.
The bark of the mahoe tree was used to tie the large stone anchor. Rafts were also
made from the trunks of light forest trees.
The Kalinago relied more on seafood than the Tainos.
As well as hooks and nets they used long arrows and a type of poisoned bark which
stunned the fish when it was thrown into the water.
Manatee and pedro seals, now extinct were also hunted.
Fishes were caught in many ways. Using bows and arrows, the Kalinagos shot fish
which came close to the surface, but they also used fishing lines with hooks made of
shells. Lobsters were caught in the reefs with harpoons. Conch and other shellfish
were easily caught and eaten, while the shells were used to make tools.

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The Kalinagos used a type of poisoned bark which stunned the fish when it was
thrown into the water. Then the fish could be easily caught by hand.

GATHERERS
There were plenty wild fruits to add to the diet. The Amerindians ate guava and
occasionally avocados and pineapples.

CRAFTSMEN

POTTERS:- Pottery was made from the local red, brown and grey clays. The potter’s
wheel was unknown. Pots were not glazed but were decorated with markings
different for each village. They were often made in fanciful shapes of frogs, birds or
heads with wide eyes and large ears to serve as handles.

The Kalinagos were better potters than the Tainos and gave their pots a rim at the
top to add strength and make pouring easier.

They also made pots from several layers of clays and then cut patterns through the
layers to give their designs different colours.

The most elaborate pots were used as funeral urns for holding ancestors’ bones or
placing food in the grave.

Tools were made from wood, stone, bone and shell.

To make baskets, fish traps and lobster pots wood was soaked and split into supple
strips.

TRADING
The Kalinago used their sea-going skills to build up regular trade routed, with the
Tainos living outside the places where they wanted to make their own settlements.
The gold that was used for ornaments by both the Tainos and Kalinago men and
women did not come from the islands but were brought into the Caribbean from the
Orinoco area by Kalinago traders.
Another item they may have traded was pottery, as they were better potters than the
Tainos. Kalinago pots were made from several layers of coils of clay with patterns
cut in it to make a coloured design.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Norman, Alma. The people who came Book 1 Trinidad and Tobago ; Kingston ;
London : Longman Caribbean, 1986, 1968.

Claypole, W. and Robottom, J. Caribbean History Foundation Book 1 Harlow, Essex:

Longman, 2009.

Lennox Honychurch; Karl Watson (contrib.); James Rose (contrib.); Veta Dawson
(contrib.); Caribbean Examinations Council. CXC Study Guide Caribbean History for
CSEC OUP Oxford; August 2018

Honychurch, Lennox. Caribbean People Book 1 [Kingston]: Nelson Caribbean,

cop.1979.