Caribs

Caribs

Caribs , native people formerly inhabiting the Lesser Antilles, West Indies. They seem to have overrun the Lesser Antilles and to have driven out the Arawak about a century before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. The original name by which the Caribs were known, Galibi, was corrupted by the Spanish to Caníbal and is the origin of the English word cannibal. Extremely warlike and ferocious, they practiced cannibalism and took pride in scarification (ritual cutting of the skin) and fasting. The Carib language was spoken only by the men, while the women spoke Arawak. This was so because Arawak women, captured in raids, were taken as wives by the Carib men. Fishing, agriculture, and basketmaking were the chief domestic activities. The Caribs were expert navigators, crisscrossing a large portion of the Caribbean in their canoes. After European colonization began in the 17th cent., they were all but exterminated. A group remaining on St. Vincent mingled with black slaves who escaped from a shipwreck in 1675. This group was transferred (1795) by the British to Roatán island off the coast of Honduras. They have gradually migrated north along the coast into Guatemala. A few Caribs survive on a reservation on the island of Dominica. The Carib, or Cariban, languages are a separate family. Carib-speaking tribes are found in N Honduras, Belize, central Brazil, and N South America.

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Carib

Car·ib / ˈkarib/ • n. 1. a member of an indigenous South American people living mainly in coastal regions of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela. 2. the Cariban language of this people. Also called Galibi. • adj. of or relating to the Caribs or their language. ∎  of or relating to Island Carib or Black Carib.

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"Carib." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Carib." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-carib.html

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Caribs

Caribs A people of South American origin, who migrated to the islands of the Lesser Antilles from c.1000 AD. There they replaced the agricultural Arawak culture, killing off most of the men and capturing their women. Many Arawak men were eaten in ritual cannibalism. The Caribs were the first “Indians” discovered by Columbus.

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"Caribs." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Caribs." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-Caribs.html

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Carib

Carib Major language group and Native American tribe. They entered the Caribbean region from ne South America. About 500 Caribs still live on the island of Dominica; 5000 migrated to the e coast of Central America, notably around Honduras, where their descendants still live.

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Carib

Carib name of (i) a race of the West Indies, (ii) a group of West Indian languages. XVI. — Sp. caribe; formerly often synon. with CANNIBAL.

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T. F. HOAD. "Carib." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "Carib." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-Carib.html

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Carib

Caribbib, crib, dib, fib, glib, jib, lib, nib, rib, sib, snib, squib •memsahib • Carib • sparerib •Sennacherib

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"Carib." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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