QUESTION
Research the history of les Antilles francaises islands, including details of the European invasion.
Research the history of slavery in this region,
Find out the origin of the word “Caraibes” and explain it
Explain why French is the language spoken on these islands
Discover what kinds of music and dance form part of the culture of La Martinique and the other islands in the region.
This will be transferred onto a poster so i will put the information in sections ie slavery, population, language, history, european invasion etc so will also need pictures/images
SOLUTION
Les Antilles francaises islands are also known as Les Saintes in French which simply means island of the female saints. These French archipelagos were discovered by St Columbus in 1493. During those times it was the home of the Carib Indians. Initially the Europeans were not interested in invading the Les Saintesbut later, they did to take revenge from them. When Americans were battling against the Europeans for the British Islands, Les Saintes took the former’s side and hence earned grievances from the Europeans. So, in 1778, the Europeans attacked Les Saintes to take revenge from them. For four years this battle between the two were on when the British Admiral, George Rodney fabricated a fort along with a naval base at St Lucia to attack the settlement at Les Saintes. At last, in 1782, Les Saintes faced defeat from the British. This battle is known as the “Battle of Saints” which were headed by Rodney from Europe and de Grasse from France. Peace was gained back with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1815 when the French again got the hold of these islands. (Stephen, 2011)
LES SAINTES
During the stay of the British the economy was primarily based on slavery. With the emergence of the Europeans, sugarcanes and other cultivation was done by the slaves of Africa. During 1794-1802 there was a first abolition of slavery and later in 1848 slavery was finally abolished. But with the abolition of slavery, this place faced dire economic crisis due to the shortage of labor which led to the elimination of white plantocracy. As there were no bound labors, indentured Indian labors were brought to the region which led to the fabrication of sugar industry and entry to the metropolitan capital. The slaves were tortured so much so that they were forced to dance Bele and entertain their masters even after long hours of work. (Burton, 1995)
SUGAR PLANTATION BY SLAVES
Sieur de la Borde, a French man influenced by Jesuit missionary who had a close association with Saint Simon described this term “Caraibes”. Accoding to this man, Caraibes actually means savages. They were had no touch of simplicity in them rather were hostile in nature. They believed in spirits and ghosts and nurtured everything related to it. La Borde describes them as materialistic and unveils the spiritual tales and myths of the Caraibes. He says that these savage people had the capability to think and imagine the evil spirits. They dwelled in the world of the devils and had no language or word for anything virtuous. Science, freedom and logic were not even close to these people. On the other hand, Borde mentions that they were not blessed with the art of developing languages for them. As they were linguistically weak, they could not express anything other than something very basic. Thus we see that Borde contradicts himself. Charles de Rochefort also provides an explanation regarding the Caraibes. He says that the Caraibes definitely knew language but it was unique in nature. This language was natural and exclusive to them like languages of all other nations. He also says that the Caraibes could cope of with the languages of the Europeans much sooner than the Europeans could of the Caraibes. (Jonathan, 2002)
French is the language spoken in Les Saintes. It is the official language of these islands. In 1648 when the French occupied les Saintes, the Caribs did not create any problem regarding the same. With the onset of exceeding French immigrants and the growth of French population led to the development of French as their official language. The population of French people was more than those of the inhabitants. The other reason is that the place was mainly dwelled by the British, Normandy, Poitou, Saintonge and Anjou who hailed from one of the oldest families of France.(Jonathan, 2002) However, the language of the Caribs was Creole. Even though French is the official language of that region and schools too are French medium, the inhabitants of this land speaks in a mixed language of French and Creole.
The enriched culture of music and dance made these islands known to the outer world. La Martinique is an island which is famous for its music all over the world. Their mucical heritage is mingled with its sister island, Guadeloupe. Even though the island is puny in size, they did not stop in expanding themselves though the venture of music. Zouk, a genre of music, sung and composed by them have been immensely popular in the 20th century. In France, Zouk gained tremendous popularity. Calypso, the folk of the Caribs had a touch in Zouk music. In Vaval, the carnival of the La Martinique music plays an integral role. During Vaval, the renowned music bands of the Martinicans march across the island. This vivacious carnival was stopped during the World War II. But in 1980, Vaval came back with the bash. Introduction of new bands and new ways of celebration made Vaval even more joyful today. A Carole song called Binguine Vide was sung by the Martinicans during Vaval while they travelled in trucks or carts. Apart from binguine vide, Bele is another form of their music which is sung prior to binguine vide. Bele is always accompanied by a group dance and drums. It is a type of sing which follows the call and the response style. Bele also influenced Zouk and dates back to the times of slavery. Apart from these, Kandan or Compas was exceedingly famous in these Caribbean regions. With the immigration of the Haitians in 1970 which helped to unite all the French colonies by the initiation of the mini Jazz music. Later, some Dominicans mingled this style with Calypso to give it a new form of music known as Cadence. The Marticians holds pride in their music as they believe that they are one who gave birth to a music which is original and unique. Salsa and Reggae are the music generally listened in other Caribbean islands but Martinique has a different tradition. (Martinique Promotion Bureau, 2007)
Beguine is a special dance form only known to the dwellers of these islands. This style of dance is very similar to that of Rumba dance which was extremely popular during the 1930s. This form of dance emerged from the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Beguine in their language means a white person who is a female. Therefore we understand that this is a dance performed exclusively by women. Latin folk dance and French ballroom dance have a close similarity with Beguine. The dance is slow yet spirited with hips rolling to and fro. The famous song sung by Cole Porter, “Begin the Beguine” made this dance form extremely popular even outside the Caribbean islands.
REFERENCE
Stephen. P. (2011).A brief history of La Saintes. Retrieved from http://www.seaworthy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=438&Itemid=498
Martinique Promotion Bureau Team. (2007). Martinique dances to its own music. Retrieved from http://martiniquenews.blogspot.in/2007/07/martinique-dances-to-its-own-music_07.html
Jonathan. H. (2002).Comparative Arawakan Histories: Rethinking Language Family and Culture Area. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=AdmGQ4Yr89sC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=origin+of+the+word+”Caraibes”&source=bl&ots=1a1W-4xmFg&sig=F1mhh5XoaAvtbSdRgi5dDOE
Ellen. C. Countries and Their Cultures. Guadeloupe. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Guadeloupe.html
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