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| Kalinago genocide of 1626 | |
|---|---|
 Map of St Christopher, 1666 | |
 Interactive map of Kalinago genocide of 1626 | |
| Location | Saint Kitts |
| Date | 1626 |
| Target | Kalinago people |
Attack type | Genocidal massacre,ethnic cleansing |
| Victims | 2,000 |
| Perpetrators | English Settlers French Settlers |
TheKalinago genocide was thegenocidal massacre of an estimated 2,000Kalinago people byEnglish andFrench settlers on the island ofSaint Kitts in 1626.
During the early 17th century,Kalinago leaderOuboutou Tegremante had become uneasy with the increasing number ofEnglish andFrench settlers emigrating to the island ofSaint Kitts. The settlers soon outnumbered the Kalinago and began to clear land around the island to establish farms.[1] In 1626, Tegremond allegedly began plotting to massacre all European settlers on Saint Kitts under the fear that they would "completely take over the island"; he purportedly dispatched messengers to Kalinago communities on otherWest Indian islands, informing them to come to Saint Kitts bycanoe at night for the planned attack on the settlers. However, a Kalinago woman named Barbe informedSir Thomas Warner andPierre Belain d'Esnambuc of Tegremond's supposed plan; taking pre-emptive action, the English and French invited the Kalinago to a party where they became intoxicated. When the Kalinago returned to their village, a combined force of English and French settlers attacked them and 120 Kalinago were killed in the attack, including Tegremond.[citation needed]
The following day, roughly 4,000 Kalinago were forced by the settlers into the area ofBloody Point andBloody River where battle broke out; historian Vincent K. Hubbard estimates 2,000 Kalinago were massacred while attempting to surrender.[2] The account of the massacre byJean-Baptiste Du Tertre described "piles of [Kalinago] bodies" after the massacre.[3] 100 settlers were also killed in the battle, with one French settler going insane after being struck by apoisoned arrow from a Kalinago archer before dying. Historian Melanie J. Newton says the belief in the plot by Tegremond to kill the settlers was based on "slim intelligence". According to Newton, the settlers' belief that the Kalinago would attack them was rooted in popular depictions of Indigenous West Indians as "untrustworthy cannibals who ultimately had to be eliminated" rather than in any real evidence of a plot.[4]
The remaining Kalinago fled into the mountains, and by 1640, those who were not enslaved by European settlers were forcibly removed toDominica.[2][3]
Through subsequent decades of European colonialism in the Caribbean, Kalinago populations on other islands were subjected to further massacres.[5] German legal scholar Andreas Buser argued in 2016 that these massacres, including that on Saint Kitts, could be considered genocides under the 1948Genocide Convention.[6] This history of genocidal attacks against the Kalinago has led to perceptions that "there are no indigenous peoples left in the Caribbean."[7]
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