One thing that was always intriguing to me is why the natives of Florida didn't go out and settle islands in the Caribbean, but there's a lot of evidence that pre-colonial South Florida was deeply connected culturally and materially with Caribbean polities and people whereas North Florida was more similar to its Mississippian neighbors in the Southeast. It would be quite interesting if there was evidence of Muskogean languages being spoken in Cuba, but I doubt something like that would ever preserve in the historical record.
I had the same thinking myself. But I think the Muskogean language family, and the Seminole, were later migrants that moved from the Mississippi Basin. Anyway, the Timucua and Calusa, for example, had huge marine-based food systems involving weirs, so you'd think they would develop ocean-going traditions.
@@atlasaltera Yep yep, the Muskogeans are *very* recent inhabitants of Florida. They only moved in after the Calusa and other indigenous floridians were almost entirely wiped out by colonization (as far as I'm aware, the last known Calusa were packed off with the Spanish and sent to Cuba after the US took over Florida).
Simple: the Gulf Stream flows north up the Florida coast and away from the Caribbean/Bahamas. Without sails the canoes of native Floridians couldn’t reasonably fight the strong current. Even if some fisherman was swept out to sea during a storm he couldn’t hope to return to his home village from the Bahamas because the Gulf Stream would take him north, where people probably spoke a different language and with no writing the story of new islands dies with the ancient native Florida fisherman.
Love this video, the Taino and Carib people don’t get enough love. The Taino language has given English many words, like barbecue and canoe and many others.
@@floridaman318 there is pyramids and a lot of carving rocks an pottery in caribbeans...no one is interested in...dominica, karukera, madinina are full of medicinal plants and agriculture transformation technics as cocoa, urucum, kassava and many more...it's their legacy way before african and indian slavery...
I'm half Jamaican and half Guyanese and I will say, it's not often that I see info on the pre-Columbian stuff regarding either country so this is dope!
My grandmother is from Puerto Rico and she had Taino blood, mixed with African, French and Spanish. When my father was in the second grade he lived in Ponce, Puerto Rico back in the late 1960s. He said that when he was there the last pureblood Taino Indian died. He told me that the guy was crazy, homeless, and extremely strong. He would spend all day everyday throwing extremely heavy rocks into the air and catching them with his bare hands. I thought it was interesting and sad.
@@Littlemilkjug533 also, keep in mind people from other parts of Spanish America moved to PR. Just cause somebody in the '60s in the middle of nowhere was Indian looking doesn't mean he's automatically a Taino. Could have been from Chile, Mexico, Brazil, etc. Same way you find Puerto Ricans all across the US since we are citizens.
I'm Puerto Rican and there are some people today who claim to be pure blooded Tainos and it's all BS (just like whatever story from the '60s), it's basically some misguided crap (no DNA proof, or historic proof of surviving indigenous populations on the island) taken on by a very small part of the pro independence movement, all pure Tainos died out like 400 to 500yrs ago, and of course Puerto Ricans come in all different colors and races, but when you say imagine or describe a Puerto Rican to the typical American, they think of the overwhelming majority population of the island which is tri-racial being a mix of European (mostly from the Iberian peninsula), African and Taino.
A point about the ocean currents: in the Pacific, it was a common practice to sail against both the wind and currents on voyages of discovery in order to make a return voyage easier in the event that no land is found. Granted this was made easier by the Polynesians and Micronesians possessing sail technology, but this principle of needing to avoid being stranded at sea if no new land is found seems almost universal. As a side note, this assumption that any voyage by ancient people needed to follow ocean currents is what led Thor Heyerdahl to propose that settlement of the Pacific originated in South America and travelled west, while the modern archaeological and linguistic evidence available instead points to a Southeast Asian and ultimately Taiwanese origin.
Very interesting observation. It seems that we just tend to follow the laws of nature blindly, not thinking the other way around when it comes to human endeavour.
Whoohoo. Great topic. One less archaeological settlement/migration tidbit that is worth people looking into is the fascinating origins/formation of the people we know as the Island Caribs, which is still debated. Anyway, happy to see this out. And thanks for the shout out!
It is Mainstream Academia resistance to letting go of their "19th Century Theory based Paradigm and Linear Timeline", used as their foundation of fact. Yet it is being forced to accept new ideas as DNA is proving what they have long denied, ie: Ancients were mastered Seafarers. It will get better quickly now. .
I appreciate that this content handles this history simply as history, instead of the often colorful and politically motivated romancing of the natives that's become very common these past years. They were humans like us, they deserve to be seen as more than objects of tragic pity.
i have officially watched every video on this channel at least once (many of them, especially the Mesoamerican ones, multiple times)! This is one of my favorite history channels on youtube
Strange - the island of Dominica - NOT THE Dominican Republic - BUT DOMINICA still has Kalinago/Carib people today - but was not highlighted in this video. This is the island immediately south of Guadeloupe.
@@DaBrute Technically, not the same as in saint Vincent: The Kalinagos of Dominica escaped the Europeans by living in the northern part of the island, and they have their own territory there (it is very small however).They are the last original population of this people. The Caribs of Saint Vincent and Trinidad were deported there by the Europeans, and they mixed a lot with other populations.
As always, thank you for taking the time to highlight peoples and cultures so many of us were never exposed to in our school experiences. Every time I see new work from you pop up I know I'm going to learn something new!
The Saledoids later expanded west becoming the major culture in the higher antilles, forming the Taino culture and achieving a great deal of sofistication. To learn more on the issue I recomend "Tainos and Caribs: The Aboriginal Cultures of the Antilles" by Sebastián Robiu Lamarche
Salediuds* Do the Arawako call themselves that? Like calling a welsh an afgan. Caribe people are from Venezuela. We came first and colonized. Hence the name Caribe Sea
@@EduardoGarcia-if2kv It´s hard to know exactly what they called themselves, but no, the Caribs weren´t the first people to colonize the Caribbean, neither the Arawaks. There were several waves of migration, each group bringing new technologies and assimilating previews groups.
*Another video about the discover of the Caribbean islands* Viewers: "boooo" *Discovery by native/first nations* Views: "yaaaay!" Seriously love these topics from the non old world point of view
@@AncientAmericas btw if you ever do an episode on the wapato trade routes on the west coast and in bc Canada let me know. I can provide pictures and videos of what the plant looks like and how it flowers and even how it tastes from some i have at home
Thanks a lot for the upload ancient america!! Watching from Belize central america I'm from formerly known as British Honduras and we're considered a Caribbean country as well!!✌🏽🙏🌎🇧🇿
I literally cannot put into words how much i love this youtube channel. I have watched every video multiple times and it is not enough i need it injected into my veins. Seeing you upload makes me so excited. I wish i wasn't a poor college student who could support you on patreon. I recommend thus channel to everyone and its what kickstarted my current school project on meso america. Thank you:)
Glad to see a video on this topic! The Caribbean has a pre-Columbian history and culture just like everywhere else in the America's! Its sad how it is just now that we are really starting to dive deep and trying to understand our roots but hey its something!
hey i was just researching the calusa of florida and their contact with the caribbean what a coincidence! like always you go over things i didn't even realize existed and expand what i know on these topics, great work
I live in the Caribbean, specifically, la Hispaniola. Would you believe me if i tell you, how little history teachers/programs talk about the natives if this island?, sure, they mention how it was divided and the leaders of each part, but aside of that, its basically straight up to Colon/Columbus bumping into this place. No talk about how they end up here, what they did aside of generically saying 'fish and hunt', there are a few myths mentioned, like the lady with long hair and reverse feets, etc. Which, sure, you can attributes to colonization, but its also a shame that the people in my country rarely care about the native's story Edit: Also, Fray Antonio Montesinos and Ramon Pane were truly Based as heck
The video correctly mentioned changes in sea level, which were up to 420 feet during the last Ice Age. Consequently, some of the best sites for study certainly are hidden under the sea now, as they are elsewhere. Certainly this is where the greater populations would have settled. But we can only consider what we have. There are some who speculate with some evidence that the central Mexican culture even traveled as far as Georgia and South Carolina for gold and other important materials.
Parrots generally. It was normal for indigenous Nation of the Caribbean, to always have Macaws perched "on the lookout" for any upcoming eventuality e.g. rain, storms, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes etc., by the alarming chirps they'd make for such. You might know that Macaws with circles around their eyes are those that could talk, hence the belief these birds were sort of "superhuman". Note, pre-Columbus peoples generally never kept birds in cages.. because it was felt they're a symbol of "freedom" etc.
It's always great when channels I'm subbed to collaborate. It really only happens with history channels, but there needs to be more of em. Keep up the great work.
@@AncientAmericas no thank you. Your very informative on something i love. I went to Maya ruins in the yucatan when I was 13 and the American southwest ruins like Mesa Verde plus the modern culure the next summer in about 1985. Since then I've been to lots of ruins and sites from Canada to Chile. Its a personal passion. Peru is special..so the moche and tawanaka I found awesome. I went to Mexico again 2 years ago as it was one of the open countries. This time hitting some ruins outside Merida and then on to palenque which was a really cool ruin. Then on to some around MX. But it was finding out just how many and how many really dynamic other cultures were there that will make me go back. That is why I love the videos on the people's of Mexico. Any good stuff on the people of Colombia?
@@AncientAmericas oh no that's why I asked you. I traveled there last year. Why did I ask about Colombia? To me it sets up because of the geography to be a place populated early on after the first arrival that could support a large population and where culture and civilization should have thrived although mainly in the valley between the mountain ranges. its where I think people went into the Amazon too along the east side of the Andes first then deeper into the true jungle to the east.. but I think that area between and in the mountains was full of people when the Spanish showed up. Just my hypnosis though. To be honest, I often come back from somewhere with 10 new people to learn about. Peru and Mexico were like that but Colombia it wasn't like that(but I thought should be) You don't see ruins or books or modern day groups (as compared to some places) so it was just hard to find/figure it out. Colombia was the 10th of the 10 big countries of South America I have been too. I go back.to.ecuador next month.
I would love to hear about Urraca, one of the first Panamanian indigenous leaders that rebelled against Spain to the point where he was feared. Panama has him on their coin now and named countless places after him
Question from a layperson: isn't it true that ocean currents change based on the global climate? How confident are researchers that ocean currents were the same as they are now? Thanks and keep up the great content!!!
Yes currents change all the time over thousands of years. Climate period never remains static. This is why saying "climate change" is so redundant. It's like saying a dead corpse. If the climate isn't in flux, that's the moment we all die.
@@sierrrrrrrra no it hasn't though. Our influence on the climate is miniscule. It may be relatively warm right now, but overall we are in a massively warm period in climate history period and have been for a long time. Climate change is inevitable and unpredictable. Stop falling for the 21st century equivalent of voodoo and rain dancing. Nothing changes. 1000 years ago, some people thought they could summon rain by dancing, now we think we control the weather because cows fart too much. Who exactly is the clown here?
As a mariner, Ocean currents are predominately determined by the rotation of the earth. Large bodies of water moves accordingly. Landmass & underwater contours define how currents turn. Additionally, water temperature determines how water moves up or down in the column, effecting strength of current. I doubt that 5000 years ago the direction of the dominate currents were that much different. The strength of the currents... Those could be different.
Please do more videos like this showing the migrations and settlements of different areas!! So interesting and well done!!! Thank you for great content
Pre-Columbian Caribbean culture and trade interest me a ton, especially with me living in Florida and my family being from Roatán, off the Honduran coast. I was there recently and went to the museum at Anthony’s Key, where I took a picture of this interesting plaque: “Before beginning the conquest of Honduras, Spanish from the Greater Antilles made SLAVE RAIDS in the Bay Islands. An account of one of these infamous escapades survives today. A fleet sent by the GOVERNER OF CUBA attacked the islands, took several hundred Indians captive, and shipped them immediately back to Cuba. Once in port, the Spanish left these ships unguarded. The captives seized one vessel and made sail BACK TO THE BAY ISLANDS. Even though the Indians were pursued and eventually recaptured in the Bay Islands by the Spanish, this event demonstrates the knowledge and skill of these island navigators, even with such unfamiliar craft as those of the Europeans.” I have yet to confirm the validity of this story, but I wonder if you’ve heard anything similar. It would be really interesting because it would show people of the different cultures of the Caribbean and Central America were comfortable trading over vast distances with open sea between them, and I wonder if their use of a European craft might also hint at familiarity with sails.
I'm really glad you mentioned sea level rise. I think it is an underappreciated element when talking about coastal and island civilizations. It would seem that much of our unknown global history is offshore.
Fascinating education. This documentary offers a clear reason for voyages like that of the Gli Gli Corial of 1997.. 700-odd miles of navigating the Caribbean Sea from Waitukubuli island to the Pomeroon River, Guyana. "Retracing ancient ancestral roots".
This was my first time watching one of your videos and I'm hooked! Obviously the topic is interesting but your maps and visuals helped make it easy to follow and understand. Can't wait to dive in!
I find the inevitable change in timelines a wonderful thing. It brings me great joy knowing there will always be more to discover. I can’t wait for the day archaeologists, scientists, historians & mathematicians become the icon’s of their eras! I believe they will be more inspiring than the leaders of big tech have become.😊💚
Fascinating to think that Jamaica and the Bahamas were unsettled when so much activity was happening all around them, and also interesting to think about the possibility of contact with the the Calusa and the maritime and fish weir cultures of Florida (though it would've probably been through the Bahamas). But yeah, as you say in 19:06, the region gets VERY interesting, although you didn't get to one of the last Indigenous migrations in the region, that of the Kalinago/Ineri, who were of Carib origin but adopted the local Arawakan language... There are some interesting hypotheses for that cultural outcome. I guess you didn't cover this because you were focused more on archaeological evidence of settlements/earlier migrations? Also, apologies for the quirky-looking map haha.
When I was in college, I wound up missing out on a Caribbean Literature class that I'm sure would've been interesting. Thank you for this interesting dive into the original populations of the Caribbean. Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
I will say this was a great video! I remember from a while back this article published by National Geographic talking about New Evidence and information on indigenous colonization of the greater Antilles. I believe that they talked about genetic traces of the Lucayan people (I believe a subgroup of the Arawak) sailed from Northern Venezuela to Hispaniola, and then from there went on to the Lucayan Archipelago and parts of Cuba. Also also, the Indigenous museum and archeological site in Tibes, Puerto Rico has some information on the political structures of Puerto Rico and even Hispaniola during the beginnings of European contact. Loved this video! So glad someone found interest in such an amazing and overlooked portion if the world :)
Today I thought a lot about this channel while visiting the site of Cantona, and then I realized you had just posted an episode today! What a blessing. Seriously I don't think I would have appreciated the site half as much if I hadn't seen all your mesoamerican civilization videos before hand. Are you thinking of covering the Cantona culture anytime soon? It seems to be a massively under rated site, even here in Mexico.
@@AncientAmericas you're welcome! I really recommend looking at with the Google maps satellite imagery. They say only 2% of it has been excavated, and it truly shows! Rows and rows of the square walled dwellings still covered by nature are easily distinguishable through the satellite.
Well Ancient Americas, your presentation of the history of the Caribbean islands is not short of being academically brilliant, as any of your past work, however I'd like to note a small detail, at the time of the original Caribbeans inhabiting the islands, there was a colony of ground sloths that survived into the Holocene, the Megalocnus, sadly they were among the last of the New World megafauna species to go extinct.
When the first men came to the Caribbean islands, they found a rich and varied flora and fauna. This was especially true on the larger islands. On Cuba, alone there were numerous species of ground sloths, many different hutias, a giant solenodon, flightless cranes and herons, birds of prey and a giant owl, amongst others. For the first settlers on the islands, the large animals were an easy source of meat, and even the smaller ones were hunted. The introduction of the newcomers' dogs, also, added pressure on the smaller species. In a short time, nearly all of these animals had been wiped out and were extinct.
Argentine RU-vidr Claudia with the channel Caminos de la Tierra has a very good YT video on the extinct fauna of Cuba entitled "Conoce la FAUNA EXTINTA de CUBA!"
There are references in old spanish books that the canoas of the tainos where as big as thier ships made out of the caoba trees witch are huge trees. And cristobal colon used an taino sailor to teach him how to navigate using the stars. Theres also an interesting connection between the tainos in PR and the indigenous peoples of the Canary island.
Awesome and informative video as always! Really interesting to learn about this particular region and the migration patterns. Feel like they don’t get enough love haha.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VSj67lmXfLo.html My friend I'm going to show you the video that is going to be generically disgusting but this is why I want this petition to be signed !!! 😎
Awesome video from an amazing channel! Such an unexplored topic in popular culture. I've received the notification of the video and I stopped working just to watch it
Kalinago, Arawak & Caribs, those are my ancestors, literally the same people. I think the Norte Chico were in the Caribbean, the ancestors went up the Orinoco and Trinidad was settled earlier than you think. The Aztecs had slaves and they knew the area well, it's hard to prove, because of the mass genocide and cultural relocation of the original inhabitants. Big up to anyone with the original blood.
I was thinking about how they found the islands in the pacific. They're so tiny and in the middle of so much ocean. But then it hit me the island is a volcano 🌋 it would have a huge beacon anytime it went off.
As far as is known yes. It seems a combination of astrology & the movement of flocks of birds would've helped the great 1st discoverers of the Caribbean islands, as they paddled out in flotillas of corials from South America thousands of years ago. And from evidence available, the Warau, Katina/Carib & Lokono/Arawak Nations were the 1st such star-reading voyagers from out of coastal South America.
I will note that the bulk of archaeological and anthropological research of the Pre-Columbian Caribbean is done in Spanish and French, rather than English. There's many other sources on these topics which are either hard or impossible to find in English.
I find it hard to believe that they didn't master sails. It's just too much of a reach to think they were not smart or capable enough to up some type of sail.
@@AncientAmericas Ummm, That sounds like what they told us about pre-clovis habitation in North America fifteen or so years ago. I have a friend/missionary buddy in Honduras who builds 12" canoes for people (they have run out of big trees to build them with). The natives put leg of mutton sails on the canoes he builds and will sail them to the off shore islands to find fish. They are capable and so were their ancestors. My buddy didn't teach them anything about sails. They already had knowledge.
@@Gronicle1 I'm only saying it's possible but I don't have a way to prove it beyond a doubt. At the end of the day, I don't think it makes a big difference because they were clearly able to navigate the ocean without them.
@@AncientAmericas I agree with you. Just that lack of proof is not proof of something not happening. Evidence in this situation, like many, is fragile and presently not on record. Things may change in the future, time will tell. Keep up the good videos.
You don't need sails. I've lived on the east coast of Australia all my life. Think Bondi Rescue. The winds here are primarily onshore which is towards land. There are strong winds that blow towards the sea in the night and around midday they change and blow towards land. Every day more than 6 months of the year. Indians would know more about small canoe/ boat navigation than me, they didn't have RU-vid distractions.
@ 14:05, Lesser Antilles. How is the water there? There are islands with have to springs, but have to depend completely on rainfall. A lack of water would be a major reason to not settle the islands, though people would have visited, even planted crops and come back to harvest.
I was watching you potato video today and followed it up with some videos on Moray. I would love for you to do a video on that geeking in the agriculture and engineering at that site. Just my suggestion. Thanks for all the work you do to make such great videos!
My wife’s family is Cubarican - Cuban/Puerto Rican. Been there for 500 years. My wife got a DNA test. It showed 0% Native American ancestry. She was pretty much from everywhere else from Africa, Spain, India, Middle East, and Asia, but no Native American.
I'm Cuban myself and took an Ancestry dna test and had my son, of full Cuban origin take one also. Mine matches your wife's. But my son has 4% native ancestry. In checking out his matches, some reach as high as 20% Cuban native ancestry. His mother's home town is Sancti Espíritu, an area with more native people dna survives. We have lots of Puerto Rican distant relatives due to similar migration patterns. Most of them have native ancestry and in higher proportions. The natives exist in their veins and in elements of our culture, though the devastation was horrific for them.
As a Jamaican we do have a very small number of mix race Tainos here. I was looking at a ducomentry on a Amazon tribe in Venezuela. It was interesting when they showed the annotto tree the word they used. Very close to the word annotto which we us in Jamaica.
@@AncientAmericas I'm always bothered by people trying to pass off speculation as established fact. I give a lot of kudos to people who come right out and say "this is what we know, and how/why we think we know it, and here's what we suspect but aren't sure of."
