Timeline
5000 BC
Amerindians from South America settle in Trinidad
4000 BC
Amerindians from Central America settle in Cuba
2500 BC
Amerindians from Orinoco basin settle in eastern and western Caribbean
600
Development of Taino society in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
1100
Development of more sophisticated Taino societies, characterized by
chiefdoms rather than along tribal lines.
1492
Columbus lands in the Bahamas
1493
Columbus’ second voyage – establishes Spanish colony, Hispaniola
1498
Columbus’s third voyage
1502
Nicolás de Ovando sent to Hispaniola to rescue the colony
1504
Ovando destroys Taino leadership
1511
Antonio do Montesinos preaches sermon against the treatment of the
Amerindians
1515
Spanish introduce sugar cultivation to Hispaniola
1516
Las Casas appointed Protector of the Indians
1562
John Hawkins successfully trades African slaves in Hispaniola
1585
Francis Drake sacks Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola
1624
English and French settle St. Kitts
1627
English settle Barbados
1635
French settle Guadeloupe and Martinique
1640-50
Development of sugar cultivation in Barbados
1655
English capture Jamaica from the Spanish
1664
French establish the French Company of the West Indies to supply
slaves to her Caribbean colonies
1672
Royal Africa Company chartered to supply slaves to the English
colonies in the Caribbean
1674
Establishment of first Jamaica Coffee House in London
1692
Port Royal, Jamaica destroyed by earthquake
1697
France acquires Saint Domingue from the Spanish
1733-34
Rebellion in St. John, Danish Virgin Islands
1736
Outbreak of slave conspiracy/revolt in Antigua
1739
Treaty between the Jamaican Maroons and the British
1750
Thomas Thistlewood arrives in Jamaica and keeps important diary
1760
Outbreak of Tacky’s Revolt in Jamaica
1761
Jamaica passes law making it illegal for whites to leave property worth
more than £1200 to any free person of colour
1768
all times
Danish pass law obliging free coloureds to wear a cockade or badge at
1783
First Quaker petition to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire
1787
Establishment of the Abolition Society in Britain
1789
Outbreak of the French Revolution
1790
Meeting of the Colonial Assembly in Saint Domingue
1791
Outbreak of slave revolt in Saint Domingue
1792
colour
French National Assembly grants full civil rights to the free people of
1794
French National Assembly abolishes slavery
1795
Outbreak of Fédon’s Rebellion in Grenada and the Second Maroon
War in Jamaica
1796
Toussaint L’Ouverture made Deputy Governor of Saint Domingue
1800
Tousssaint becomes Governor of Saint Domingue
1802
Napoleon reimposes slavery in all French colonies
1804
Saint Domingue becomes independent and is renamed Haiti
1808
Britain and the United States abolish the slave trade
2
1812
Outbreak of the Aponte conspiracy in Cuba
1816
Outbreak of “Bussa’s Rebellion” in Barbados
1823
Outbreak of slave rebellion in Demerara and establishment of the AntiSlavery Society in Britain
1831
Outbreak of the Christmas Rebellion in Jamaica led by Sam Sharpe
and establishment of the Agency Committee seeking immediate emancipation in the
British colonies
1833
colonies
Free coloureds and free blacks attain full civil rights in the British
1834
Abolition of slavery and beginning of Apprenticeship System in the
Anglophone Caribbean (except for Antigua)
1838
Ending of Apprenticeship System in the Anglophone Caribbean
1844
Conspiracy of La Escalera breaks out in Cuba; Outbreak of the Guerre
Nègre in Dominica
1848
Uprising of the enslaved in St. Croix, Danish Virgin Islands
1848
Abolition of slavery in French and Danish West Indian colonies
1862
Riots in St. Vincent
1863
Abolition of slavery in the Dutch West Indian colonies
1865
Outbreak of Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica
1866
Establishment of Crown Colony Government in Jamaica;
subsequently, in most of the Anglophone Caribbean
1868-78
Outbreak of Ten Years’ War in Cuba
1873
Slavery abolished in Puerto Rico
1876
Outbreak of riot in Tobago and Confederation Riots in Barbados
1880
Establishment of the patronato system in Cuba
1886
Abolition of slavery in Cuba
1887
Marcus Garvey born in Jamaica
1895-1898
Second Cuban War of Independence – death of José Marti
1889
J.J. Thomas publishes Froudacity
3
1902
Passage of the Platt Amendment in the United States limiting Cuban
sovereignty; Establishment of Cuban Republic; Volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelée in
Martinique kills 30,000 people; Riots in Montego Bay, Jamaica
1905
Riots in British Guiana
1906
U.S. intervenes in Cuba
1912
Massacre of blacks in Cuba
1914
Garvey establishes United Negro Improvement Association
1915
U.S. occupies Haiti
1916
U.S. occupies Dominican Republic
1917
U.S. purchases Danish Virgin Islands from Denmark
1923
Association
Arthur Cipriani becomes president of the Trinidad Workingmen’s
1927
Garvey returns to Jamaica from the United States
1930
Crowning of Ras Tafari in Ethiopia and subsequent development of the
Rastafarians in Jamaica
1933
Revolutionary government of Grau San Martín in Cuba
1934
Labour rebellions in Belize following by strikes and riots across the
Anglophone Caribbean; U.S. abrogates Platt Amendment
1935
Riots in St. Vincent and St. Lucia
1937
Massacre of 20,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic; Labour
rebellions in Barbados and Trinidad
1938
Labour rebellion in Jamaica
1939
Aimé Césaire publishes Cahier d’un Retour au Pays Natal (Notebook
of a Return to my Native Land)
1940
Death of Marcus Garvey in London
1944
First elections in Jamaica with universal suffrage
1945
Aimé Césaire elected mayor of Fort de France
1946
Universal adult suffrage in Trinidad; Guadeloupe, French Guiana and
Martinique become overseas departments of France
4
1948
Arrival of the Empire Windrush with the first West Indian immigrants
to Britain; Luis Muñoz Marin elected Governor of Puerto Rico
1951
Universal adult suffrage in Barbados
1952
Fulgencio Batista leads coup in Cuba; Puerto Rico becomes a
Commonwealth
1953
First elections with universal suffrage in British Guiana; Castro
unsuccessfully attacks Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba; Victory of Cheddi
Jagan in British Guiana in 1953
1957
François Duvalier elected president of Haiti
1958
Establishment of West India Federation (dissolved in 1962)
1959
Fidel Castro topples Batista and takes over in Cuba
1961
Assassination of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic; Failure of
invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs
1962
Independence for Jamaica; Trinidad and Tobago; Cuban missile crisis
1965
U.S. invades the Dominican Republic
1966
Independence for Barbados and Guyana
1968
Rodney Riots in Kingston, Jamaica
1970
Black Power demonstrations – also called the “February Revolution” in Port of Spain, Trinidad
1970s
Emergence of Bob Marley
1970s-80s
Independence for many former British colonies, including Dominica,
Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent, Antigua and Belize
1972
Michael Manley elected Prime Minister of Jamaica
1973
Establishment of Caribbean Comon Market and Commnity
(CARICOM)
1975
Suriname becomes independent
1979
Establishment of Revolutionary Government of Grenada under
Maurice Bishop
1980
Assassination of Walter Rodney in Guyana
5
1983
Assassination of Maurice Bishop and invasion of Grenada by U.S.
1988
Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica and much of the Caribbean
1989
Collapse of Soviet Union and of Soviet support for Cuba
1990
Jean Bertrand Aristide becomes president of Haiti; Attempted coup by
Jammat al-Muslimeen led by Abu Bakr in Port of Spain, Trinidad; Publication of
Derek Walcott, Omeros
1992
Patrick Chamoiseau publishes Texaco
1997
Eruption of Mt. Soufrière in Montserrat making two-thirds of the
island uninhabitable
2004
Hurricane Ivan devastates Grenada
2008
Resignation of Fidel Castro and replacement by his brother Raúl
2010
Massive earthquake devastates Haiti and kills over 200,000 people
6