Indigenous Peoples of Saint Lucia: Redefining the Kalinago Legacy

The purpose of this exploratory research is to introduce the story of the indigenous peoples of the Eastern Caribbean islands from a less biased and Euro-centric perspective. The traditionalist interpretation of history characterized them as primitive, backward-thinking and savage, in many cases. The social, political and religious organisation of the indigenous peoples revealed in this publication, portray sophistication unparallel even in Europe at the time, thereby warranting the urgent retelling of the story of the indigenous people of the archipelago of islands, we so erroneously call the "Caribbean". This anthropological study critically reviews copies of original manuscripts as well as secondary sources to identify gaps and inconsistencies in the ethnographic research and oral histories; and proposes alternative interpretations. These errors in historical translation ought to be corrected, if more accurate understanding of the indigenous peoples of the Antilles may be unraveled.